I had occasion to say today that I pitied someone. It wasn't that they were poor, or that they were hurt in some physical way, or that they were otherwise worthy of pity in some popular sense of the word. It is difficult to explain, especially without going into details, but I will.

There are people wandering around who are constantly trying to do things, raise themselves up - and such people do not deserve pity. Instead, those people deserve respect. Then there are those that try to move ahead by being sly, and in some ways that deserves respect as well. But when they try to be sly and consistently fail, when they try to raise themselves up by trying to take from others without methods worthy of respect, I used to get angry about them. Now I pity them. In a way, it is like knowing that they are trying to climb out of a barrel but the inside of the barrel is covered in oil. You watch them almost make it a few times, and then you watch them slide right back down. Mostly they make lots of noise while doing this, but at the end of it all they always remain in their barrels.

It used to be fun to poke them with sticks, torture them, tease them - but I outgrew that part of my life before I hit my teenage years. Then, you might be in the barrel with them and tire of them trying to step on your own head. On another day, you may simply be afforded the luxury of watching them from a distance and knowing that no matter what they do, they will remain in that barrel. They will continue trying to do what has always resulted in their own failure. Maybe they don't belong in the barrel, but they certainly don't seem to belong anywhere else.

The sun rises, the sun sets.

Maybe I'm getting soft, but I feel pity for them. Knowing that even if you showed them how to get out of the barrel they would continue as they have, what other way to feel about it is appropriate? Frustration? No, only if you care about what you think they could be (not what they are). You could cheer for them, I suppose. But these days I feel pity. A powerless sort of pity.

So you look away, watch the sun rise and the sun set, and you find something worth your time - pity is a poor use of time.