New Term: Haughty Suffering Complex

This week, I shall attempt to describe new terms that are apt in appropriately conveying specific situations or individuals; some may be funny, most will not be. My hope, humbly, is to accurate describe a situation that many people undergo. Many of these contain snark, something that may be on the rise as I suffer through my biannual sinus infection.

What is Haughty Suffering Complex?

Obviously it has to do with individuals looking down upon other people, hence the placement of "haughty."

The definition I use for Haughty Suffering Complex is that HSC is where people believe in a quantitative measure of suffering, ie an individual thinks he or she suffers more than you regardless of what you are going through.

A typical conversation might be like this:

"Man, I'm really having a bad day. I got a fever and a cold and couldn't go into work today; all I did was stay up all night and sit around."

"Pst. Please. You think you're having a bad day? I got a fever, and a cold, and AIDS, and I had to go into work today and work with a 106 degree temperature and a diminishing immune system."

As you can see from the previous conversation, even though person A is having a bad day person B is not impressed by said bad day because they suffer more, always.

My dad is a notorious with his HSC. Whatever you've done, my dad has had worse. Had to wash a lot of dishes at work? My dad had to wash 7,000 dishes while on the USS La Salle. Have a cyst on your rear? My dad had a cyst somewhere worse. Get sunburned for a week? My dad got water blisters while in Bahrain.

People who have HSC always suffer more, and if you complain they will ensure you that they suffer more.

Truth is, of course, suffering isn't quantitative. It is qualitative. Therefore, having a haughtiness about your suffering is asinine because suffering is a) fairly relative and b) everyone suffers. There's a brilliant Monty Python skit, "The Fire Yorkshiremen," that expresses HSC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo.

There is a sub sect of HSC, where people who have HSC are specific in their HSC through age. For instance one may say "It's hard eating just ____" and an older person says "In my day we were lucky to have any food at all. You kids are spoiled."

This is called 'Andy Rooney Complex.'

On Post-College

Don't avoid real life. It's not too shabby. 

You have to face it sometime. Just jump in. It'll suck, you'll have struggles. I did, most certainly. It's how you find out what you're made of, though. You realize you're doing the right profession, or the wrong profession. It helps you figure out what you want to do better than college because when you're facing back rent, student loan debt, or whatever, you begin to realize if you're making the right decision, or if you need to change your direction. It helps you prioritize what you want to do in life, whether it helps fuel your drive to succeed in your current pursuit or if it makes you decide to explore options. 

Then there's graduate school. Graduate school isn't for the faint of heart. Graduate school is designed for people who know what they want. If you do not know what you want, you should not go to graduate school. And unless you have experience working in a profession in the real world, I'm inclined to not be sure if you know what you want. It's, in a simplistic metaphor, like buying shoes that you're not sure if they fit. And graduate school is a really expensive pair of shoes. You certainly want to make sure they fit, especially knowing that graduate school WILL NOT guarantee you a job.

When you do get a job that's nice, you'll see that it is quite nice. There's nothing lovelier than spending your day earning money and having a social life afterwards, rather than going to classes and being in debt or poor to have a social life or working your ass off at a job.

My advice to graduating or upcoming graduating classes; 22 is a nice young age. Explore yourself. Explore your options. Don't settle down yet, but have enough self awareness to have direction or objectives. Don't be aimless in just working odd jobs.