I started taking the train to work last week. The first time, the train was about a half hour late. I asked a lady at the station how often the train is late and she said it's often a few minutes late, but almost never this late. This morning, the train was also about a half hour late. I wonder if I have jinxed the system.
In
Riverside, California, there are many busses but only one goes to the train station. The train is supposed to get there at 7:36am, but the bus gets there at 7:09 and 7:49. I suspect a
conspiracy.
A long time ago I heard that auto dealerships or manufacturers a lot of shares in and therefore influence over LA public transportation. LA was all set to have a trolley system that would have rivalled the one in
San Francisco, but these selfish bastards did their best to get people into cars instead of onto
trolleys. If anyone can point me to information on such a conspiracy and perhaps debunk it, I would have one less reason to be as cynical as I am.
I've boiled my
cynicism down to this belief: A good 80 - 90 percent of us would rather things be unfair in our favor that objectively fair to everyone. It begs the question: why would anyone want things to be objectively fair rather than unfair in their own favor? The simple answer is religion, but it's kinda hollow because we have no instinctive drive toward heaven, and many of us believe that death is the final end anyway. For me, the answer is natural karma. Someday perhaps even after I
die, people I love will suffer the same kind of unfairness that is benefitting me now. If I can fight against the unfairness and show it, I may succeed and suffer the loss of benefits, but anyone who benefits from the move toward objective fairness will appreciate me and (I have faith) I will benefit from their appreciation. So you see, I'm really being selfish when I try to make the world a better place.
One of the biggest problems I have is that I believe we're borrowing an awful lot from our children, grandchildren, and later generations. This problem is at least in part a result of the widely held belief in an eventual
armageddon, and the more sinister corollary that our time here is temporary and perhaps even meaningless. Most
religions teach that armageddon will come and that our goals in this life should be about securing a good position in the next life. I suppose armageddon will come if not because of
supernatural will then because the
universe probably has a finite life. But borrowing
oxygen and
clean water and
public goodwill from the thousands (at least!) of generations yet to come cannot be justified by that.