I had a thought, or maybe it was something closer to a fantasy. I imagine somewhere in the future, maybe 50 years from now, and assuming the internet still existed in a similar way to now. I think about someone important, by some random chance, stumbling onto my blog and seeing the posts I have made about 50-60 years ago. I feel like that person in the future will label me as 'one of the great thinkers of our time'. How could that possibly be? I am just one person with one blog in the sea of millions of blogs on the internet. I do not consider myself important, nor would I ever anyone else consider me as important, or even go so far as to call me 'one of the great thinkers of our time'.
This whole thought that I had is obviously unfettered bullshit, but this thought led me want to take this blog post and redefine what this blog is; what 'Cultured Individual' really is. The 'Cultured Individual' blog is unequivocally me. I talk about my interests, whether it is about video games, or sports (mostly football), or my travels around the world. More importantly than that, I talk about my feelings and life experiences on a personal level. I talk about my greatest triumphs and the lowest points of my life. I may not post as much as I should, but I am happy with what I have created in this blog, and I regularly go back to some of my old posts and read it, if I ever needed a pick-me-up.
There was a time in my life where I felt like my whole identity came into question, and when this very blog felt like nothing more than a parody. This was not a specific event, but rather, my interactions with a former co-worker from a previous job. I always tell myself never to compare myself to other people, as everyone's path in life is unique. In this instance, this person was everything I wished I was in life.
She had this radiance about her that attracted many people to her. I do not know if it was her beauty, or her general 'social butterfly' personality, but many people gravitated to her, especially many guys, where it seemed like they were under her spell. I think this was also the first time I got to know someone who I considered to be 'ultra-wealthy'; she would travel somewhere seemingly every week, and her social media posts were always her at different places in the world. Have you ever met someone where you thought our current consumerist society was tailor-made for them? I think this is what perfectly describes this girl. Although I was cordial with her at the beginning, deep down I was feeling some resentment and even some jealousy, because doing something like travelling is a special occasion to me. I would work hard and save my money to travel and enjoy myself and for her, it is like money is not a thing to her, and it is just another weekend.
She had a dark side to her as well, because of her affluent background, she tended to act entitled and spoiled. She was arrogant, ignorant, and extremely manipulative. She knew how to get what she wanted from certain people. She was also downright rude on many occasions, such as walking away from people in the middle of a conversation. I felt like this was also my excuse to not be very nice to her as well. The friendship became strained and we ultimately fell out with each other. We tried to salvage the friendship with a heart-to-heart, but the friendship could not be saved. Maybe I could have made a better effort to rebuild the friendship, but sometimes, people just do not mesh with each other, and I do not think it is the fault of either person. Things are the way they are.
My interactions with her entrenched my disdain for wealthy people and their excesses, but deep down, I wanted to be one of those wealthy people. Imagine how easy life could be where I do not have to worry about any stresses that money could solve. This girl was the quintessential definition of the "Cultured Individual" and it made me feel inferior. It made this blog feel inferior and put its own existence into question. I am glad I persisted with this blog because I still feel like I have some stories left to tell, and I will try to never compare myself to other people who seemingly have it better than me.
I will say this last thing about this girl. She is not from around here, and she has a distinctive accent. I tend to have a penchant for mimicking other people's accent not in a rude way, but in an endearing way. On some rare random instances, I would catch myself talking in her accent, and I would laugh every time. I would not laugh because of the accent, but because of the brief friendship. I can laugh about it now, and I can move on from that.
The "Cultured Individual" still lives within me, and I will never let that flame die out.
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