You know, I had high hopes for this year. Had.

Eight days. Eight. Motherfucking. Days. You're already slipping, humanity. Maybe it really is too late for us all. . .

We're only eight days into the new year, and I decide to walk to the convenience store down the block. I figured "Hell, it's not too cold." (19F isn't too bad, we're used to it here.) You want to know what I saw when I got inside? I saw one of my former classmates harassing an old man over by the pop freezers. (call it soda if you must) He was giving this old man quite the hard time and, unfortunately, I wasn't able to diffuse the situation before this guy, this freaking 20-something prick, storms out, rather loudly 'muttering' would be the best word . . .i guess . . . anyways, he was muttering something about "Damn vets think they're useful. No one wanted fucking Vietnam. Pieces of shit."

It took a lot, I mean a lot of willpower for me not to turn and fucking deck him. I don't give a flying fuck who you are, you don't pull asinine bullshit like that.

So, once he left I went over to talk to the guy. I knew whatever had been said must've been painful because he flinched when I sat down next to him. (Yeah, they actually have a few tables set up inside. Weird, I know . . . ) I told him who I was, and asked how he was doing, thanked him for his service. I told him I'd heard what happened, and that the guy who said it isn't worth worrying over.

Here's the fun part: This veteran had only served in Korea. If that jackass had taken a minute longer to look at the patch on his jacket arm he'd have seen it. I doubt it would have done anything though . . .

So, I offered to buy the drink he had come in to get, he declined, and I went about my day grabbing the pop and bag of chips I'd gone for. The cashier knocked a dollar off my bill "You're a much better man that that other guy was."

See, this is the kind of shit I'm talking about. One of my fellow 'millennials' (I hate that word, you know . . . ) wasn't even smart enough to look at someone for more than five fucking seconds before going off on them. I'm just sitting here thinking "What the hell, man? You weren't alive back then. What gives you the right?"

Hell, what gives anyone the right?

So, I propose a challenge to anyone who reads this: Go out and make 2017 a year to remember. Instead of sitting around, whining and complaining, actually fucking do something. Even something as simple as a petition can go far. You'd be surprised, because believe it or not, a long list of signatures can do a whole lot to change something.

At this point, I feel like it'll only get worse.

Please, prove me wrong.

I'll leave you with this:

Listen to it, no, I mean listen to it. Think about what you hear.
Think about what you can help change, whatever it is, to make the earth a better place to live.