Lowest Common Denominator

I've always just called it "ugly" but as I've grown into the person you see today, I've started to call it "the lowest common denominator."

Ugly only refers to the behavior that I find to be classless, tasteless, ignorant, selfish or just plain mean but the idea of the lowest common denominator classifies a person or persons who routinely engage in ugly behavior and then blames everyone else for the impact this has on their own life.

Let's look at an ambiguous case study: you have negative relationships with family members, friends, co-workers, and authority figures like employers. You have problems keeping a job, a house, and commitments to others. You have legal problems, financial problems, issues with violence....the list can go on and on and on. And yet, you can't see that the only thing that is the same in each and every one of these problems is you. That's the common denominator. You.

I've had too much exposure to the lowest common denominator as of late. It's interesting how you can think of someone as a friend and then the lowest common denominator comes out fighting. I believe that a person shows you over and over who they are but unless you, yourself, are coming from a negative place, it's hard to see the bad and ugly in others. And then, when you're down yourself, it all becomes surprisingly clear.

I don't waste time on the negative. I'm not good at it. It can trap me for minutes, maybe hours. But soon enough I'm off again with something better, something truer. I just hope that our "lowest common denominator" can do the same. But I'm not expecting to "shine sh*t," as JR put it this past weekend. I'm not that talented. ;)