Sounds of Truth: The Me-Me Man

Once upon a time, there lived a man
who took everyone for granted.
When he was young,
his parents would service his every need,
but he wanted more.
More toys. More chocolate. More vacations.
Not a word of gratitude ever escaped his tongue.
“It was their job,” he intoned,
to take care of their only child.
They would need to do a lot better first
before expecting thank yous.

The Me-Me Man went to college
and found a lovely girlfriend.
She tried her damndest to impress him,
but our man would not be impressed.
“You are not the best I can get,” he crowed,
but she was truly and madly in love.
“I will marry him,” she thought,
and maybe he will grow fonder of me.

The Me-Me Man married the kind girl,
and soon there were two little kids.
They were the apple of his eye
and trophies for him to show off
until they became too rowdy to his liking.
“Your mom has not taught you discipline,” he would screech.
The Me-Me Man ruled his house like a king
while his wife was overworked like a pig.
She was everywhere, doing everything:
from cooking and cleaning
to washing and housekeeping,
from paying bills
to raising kids,
dawn through dusk,
all through the year.

“You can do better,” the Me-Me Man would scream.
“You are neither smart nor organized. I deserved better than a dunce like you.”

Eventually, the kids became older and settled down elsewhere.
The Me-Me Man’s parents passed away too, in old age.
One day, his wife fell sick.
“She has just a year to live,” the doctors said.
The Me-Me Man was angry.
“When will you learn to not fall sick?”

The wife summoned all her will on the hospital bed
and screamed from the very depths of her being:
“You are a selfish fucking bastard,” she cried aloud,
stunning the entire ward into a chilly silence.
“With zero concern for anyone other than yourself, you deserve to spend the rest of your life rotting on earth awaiting hell.”
And she walked out.
Just like that.
To spend the last year of her life
in total and unencumbered freedom.

The man who took everyone for granted
felt the world’s weight descending on him,
and he grew depressed and dark.
He never heard from his wife or kids again.
A decade passed in grayness
until something burst within him
and broke into a million pieces.

In just a moment, his life washed over him in slow-motion reels,
with acts of cruelty repeating in endless loops
to make him viscerally relive the wounds shaped by his words and deeds,
done in pursuit of false pride and vanity.
Just as it all sunk into him,
the Me-Me Man who took everyone for granted
died a lonely, terrible death
to await an unknown future
where there might be no one to take for granted.

PS: Sounds of truth is a series of stories and poems reflecting my random observations on life. They are loosely inspired by a constellation of real world experiences and fictional stories, and do not refer to specific people or situations.