On the subject of wank

One of the things I really don't like is wank, and there seems to be a lot of it going around. It's always very thinly disguised as some kind of lifestyle choice, and often espoused by those who think that they are living an Alternative Lifestyle*.

The one that seems to be thrown around by so many of my peers is that of going to another country to Find Yourself. Young wankers, the country over seem to think that through some miraculous transformation, jetting off to the other side of the world is going to help them in their quest towards meaning in their otherwise consumer driven lives. The part of themselves that makes them Unique is out there just waiting to be stumbled over, but not locally, no, it's so Unique that they have to go to another country** to find it. Now I've been to other countries, and one thing I've noticed it that being thrown into an unfamiliar situation often makes it difficult just to find the local supermarket, let alone that very special piece of yourself that makes you Unique. Seriously, if you can't find yourself in a city you know, how on earth are you going to manage in one where you can't speak the language and need a map to navigate?!

The other wank I hate is this whole idea of Who You Are being an excuse for completely crappy behaviour and character flaws. "I'm a Taurus, so I'm supposed to be stubborn", or "I'm an Aires, so I'm selfish" are not excuses for being a dickhead. After all, while you may have been born into a particular star sign, you've had since birth to work on these things. By all means, if you enjoy your character flaws then continue to promote them, but at least take responsibility. Rephrase: "I only think about myself, and I don't really want to think about other people, so that makes me selfish" or "I don't want to think about things from another perspective, and I enjoy ignorantly sticking to my original thought or idea no matter what evidence to the contrary is presented, which is why I'm stubborn".

Of course, if you're a real Wanker, then you can top it off with a combo. The Who You Are wank can also very closely follow the Finding Yourself in another country wank, because of course once you've found what makes you Unique (by working in a bar in London for a year before you go back home to university), then you know very well Who You Are, and of course all of the associated character flaws that go along with it.

* The irony here is that it's not really very alternative when so many people are doing it now is it?

**remarkably this is most likely the same other country that everyone else who is Unique goes to, usually it's in Europe with a high probability of being somewhere in the UK