If I really want to go into politics some day, one of the hardest things to do will be to develop a thick skin. I’m just going to have to deal with people who will hate my guts, for no good reason. Or maybe even for good reason. That’s just the nature of the beast. There will be tons of people who know essentially nothing about me, only what they’ve heard second-hand from their self-selected filters, but they’ll still find time to hate me. They’ll write nasty things about me and my family. In the public eye, one is subject to intense scrutiny and will be the constant target of satire.

Lincoln was hated so much that the other side went to war when he was elected president. Talk about his bipartisan war-time leadership doesn’t change that.

Thomas Paine, a hero during the Revolution:

“Thomas Paine had passed the legendary limit of life. One by one most of his old friends and acquaintances had deserted him. Maligned on every side, execrated, shunned and abhorred — his virtues denounced as vices — his services forgotten — his character blackened, he preserved the poise and balance of his soul. He was a victim of the people, but his convictions remained unshaken. He was still a soldier in the army of freedom, and still tried to enlighten and civilize those who were impatiently waiting for his death, Even those who loved their enemies hated him, their friend — the friend of the whole world — with all their hearts. On the 8th of June, 1809, death came — Death, almost his only friend. At his funeral no pomp, no pageantry, no civic procession, no military display. In a carriage, a woman and her son who had lived on the bounty of the dead — on horseback, a Quaker, the humanity of whose heart dominated the creed of his head — and, following on foot, two negroes filled with gratitude — constituted the funeral cortege of Thomas Paine.” — Ingersoll (found link via Wikipedia).

… alright, I don’t think I’ll have to worry about being Thomas Paine…

Anyway, I’ll just have to learn to take certain criticisms in stride while also not being completely immune to all criticism.

Also, I fucking hate high-minded, self-righteous opponents. If I can’t disarm them with an initial charm attack, I’ll forceably knock them off that high horse. Okay, or I’ll just take it all in stride.

Perhaps that’s where my absurdist views come in handy. If everything is meaningless, then surely I can realize that little events are essentially meaningless, and I can take them in stride.

All I can do is live my life with as much integrity and civility as possible. In fact, the greatest victory would be for the general opinion of my detractors to be: “I hate him, but I don’t hate him. Do you know what I mean?”