Getting Back at the World

Anyone out there who knows me knows that while I don't get mad all that easily, I do, however, get righteously indignant on a somewhat regular basis.  Most of the time it's the usual suspect of societal injustice (in one form or another) that gets my ire up to ranting level.  My dear younger brother is really good at saying things to raise said ire, sitting back with a smirk, and watching me get worked up as I school him in how the world is supposed to work.

Every once and a while, however, when I feel I have been personally injusticed (it's a word because I wrote it), ranting is not enough.  I need to get back at the world.

One example of this was when I was taking a psych class on childhood development.  Our TA's all gave guest lectures and the prof made it very clear that these lectures were examinable material.  She said it many times.  She was basically giving us an exam freebie, forewarning us of what at least one of the questions would be about.

One of the TA's, unfortunately, I found to be a turd.  He got the class talking about corporal punishment and was totally close-minded about it, presenting a very one-sided argument and then trying to make anyone who presented rational arguments to the contrary sound dumb.  I didn't like him.  So much so that I decided to get back at him by not studying the material from his lecture.  What better way to get back at the world for making me sit through that one lecture than not studying material that I knew would be on the exam.  Especially since I essentially measured my self-worth by my grade point average at that time in my life.

I distinctly remember sitting outside the exam room, doing my last-minute review, and coming across my notes from his lecture.  There was a large flowchart-type graphic laying out some turd-like theory he was teaching us.  I gave it a cursory glance-over, making a point to not actually try to remember anything on that chart because I did not want to give that man the satisfaction of learning what he taught us.

Well, you can guess how this story ends.  Not only was there a question about the chart on the exam, it was worth 10 points.  Against my own will I seemed to remember a few points that I was able to fill in, but that was about it.  This did not bode well for my self-worth/GPA.

And yet, did I learn?  Let me answer that question with another treasure from my more recent past: in the last couple of months, whilst going through my aforementioned emotional trauma, I occasional felt like the world was injusticing me.  This feeling was especially strong in the later hours of the evening, as is often the case with feelings.  While getting ready for bed I would get all mopey/angry and then want to get back at the world for making me feel this way.

That is why, a couple of times a week for that two month period, I would not floss my teeth.

Take that, world.

I'm sure my dentist will appreciate the logic.

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