The Eric Chronicles - Part 1

At my place of employment, I have a co-worker who's name is Eric. I'm not sure of his last name by any means, but the kid is an absolute nut case, a stalker, and I firmly believe he will rape a female at so point in his life. While he does all of this, I don't think he understands that he's "in the wrong."

Every once in awhile I am going to explain to you something that Eric did. Something that was well...mind-boggling...that it is hard to comprehend that a human being would do such a thing.

Anyway, Eric rides his bike around my place of employment on his day's off "looking for girls." Keep in mind, Eric is the kid who told everyone he lost his virginity on prom night, however, he probably went alone. Eric recently made up getting a girl's number to "play a joke on us." It made sense to absolutely no one, but we played along.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, Eric decided to lie to his managers about a funeral he had the next day. He said that he found out on Friday that he had a funeral at 10am. He explained that he had to be up @ 5:30 to drive two hours away. He tried to ask to leave work at 9:30 because of this. Needless to say there was no funeral, he really had his other job to goto.

[His other job] - Eric was some form of security guard at a certain bar/club on Long Beach Island. I don't know how the fuck he got this gig, but supposedly his mother threatened some type of law suit. Anyway, he no longer works there because he was caught in his lie and was not allowed to leave work at the requested time off 9:30.

That is Eric: a freckled, overweight kid who at times doesn't even realize what the hell he is saying. I should feel bad about this, but we've explained to him numerous times on what to say and not say. If you're a female between the ages of 16-40, beware. Actually, if you're younger than 16, beware as well.

Expect more stories in the future.

Just Be "You"?

It's always someone telling us to "just be yourself". Just be "you". However, who is "you"? We're all products of other forces so "you" is no different than the melting pot of the United State of America.

Physically and mentally, we inherit characteristics from our parents and their parents and the rest of the stream that the "heriditary characteristics" follows. Our physical features or just a more perfected blend of our parents as if it was Conan O'Brien putting their pictures together form some type of offspring.

Our interests, our talents, etc, generally stem from some trace in our families. Educationally, we're all products of what some textbook publishing company feels the average child should learn. The only different between you and the next guy is whatever your brain, which is a product of your parents, and their parents, and their parents parents...feels it should retain. The term "good genes" is not false at all. Sure some people are self-made millionaires, but their parents either had to deal with problems they could not control or they just made poor decisions. So, I guess that is what makes you, "you."

When you go against the grain, you are being "you." You're not following the same ethical code that the average person follows. There are no "good" people. There are the normal people and then there are people who are below average, your poor-decision makers. Those that go "above and beyond" they're just doing it for self-gratification more than to help others. If they're talking about it, they're trying to help their ego, not the subject they're helping. The people who truly do it just to help people are doing what they feel is normal. They are a product of the ethics driven into them when they were younger.

We're all products and somewhere down the road many of us will become factors. Not everyone, but the majority. So the next time someone tells you to be yourself, especially your parents, tell them you're already too busy being the product of someone else.