It goes without saying that we live in a hard, turbulent time. This is such a recurring image that it seems that we have never had a quiet one. And we’ve learnt to live with this turbulence, we’ve adapted to it so well, that we now can’t bear any sign of calm at all. We just can’t allow anyone to escape the turbulence we live in.

“How can you just sit here when such things are happening?” - a girl next to me is asking her friend, a weedy college kid, who is sorting through tetris combinations in a mobile phone. "Me?" he asks her, confused. - "I'm not calm at all, on the contrary, I am very disturbed indeed”, he says in a very calm tone, without looking up from the screen. Exciting time should excite everyone, it's almost like the law of gravity. And if you don’t succumb to the general cheer, don’t join the applause - or if you don’t shout in outrage together with the crowd, you risk if not making enemies, then at least having a few stones thrown at you.

Remember the expression "touch a nerve". It's like everything is hurting us all right now. Try saying publicly that the Earth is round - you will immediately get an outpour of indignation in response. How?! Don't you respect the views of the past?! Don't you appreciate traditions? So you don't care about the wisdom of past generations?! Have you decided to sell yourself to this stupid progress?! And do you know that without respecting the past, you will not build your future!

Or vice versa. Try saying that the Earth is flat. And you will get a portion of this – "Dense, stagnant retrograde! What darkness, what hopeless stupidity! How dare you bring such a shame on – here you can substitute everything you need in the context of the conversation – "the country, the education system, the party, the government, the Church or even our own local high school, year 19-something?!

Generally, anything at all can suddenly become an occasion for outrage. It's like swinging a pendulum. Push it lightly and immediately get vibrations on both sides. It will stop eventually if you just give it some time. But, for some reason, no one ever does.