The death of a muse, the reincarnation of a resolve
During the school year I placed a great deal of faith on the ever hope inspiring summer. I had faith that time would be more plentiful then ever and my many aspirations and goals could be realized. As many of you now know this is not the case. The reality of the real world begets the destruction of our aspirations. The common saying, "welcome to the real world" doesn't happen in the real world, in the real world no one has the time to formally welcome you. It’s straight out of the frying pan into the fiery depths of reality. Money is essential, work is inevitable, the mundane is inescapable and time is irreplaceable. These are just a few of the harsh truths that we all come to realize as we make the transition from the nearly fairy tale world of the young. These are all thoughts that seem to skim past my consciousness as I meander through my day at work. Then I start to make some realizations. I am going to throw out some existential blabber here but its just to make you think. What is reality? Who defines it? Inarguably much of our reality is defined by none other then ourselves. Now this is either trough our state of mind or through our outright actions that shape it. Either way reality is an ambiguous term. It is something malleable. It is something we can change.
The key here is to actually believe that. Our culture, generation, society, whatever you want to call it. We... we have been conditioned unconditionally since birth to believe that the way things are, is the way they must be because that’s the way they are. It is that type of circular argument that keeps us all chained down to this current reality. So how do we escape this condition that we suffer from? This conditioning that has made us believe change on a major scale is futile? Much of you with level heads and you who are full of logic and reason will exclaim that it simply IS futile and over enthusiastic. However, this discussion is not meant to be about that. Our goal here is to figure out "why" we believe that is reality is the default one. That, "this is just the way things are" is sufficient explanation for the world’s state of affairs. If we discover "why" this is common belief then we have a fighting chance to help change that.
I constantly make the same arguments for what needs to be done to exact [positive change throughout society. Although action is a necessity, the direct action of many charitable organizations is something that has been done many times before. It is not working. A group of a few extremely hard working people can make a difference. However they are just a few. The key is to change attitudes. We need to make people believe in the world and themselves again. What better way then to lead by example.
I now purpose a second step in our plan to make a difference. However, this time we need full participation among as many people as we can get. No half assed poster making. (I have a whole bunch extra if anyone wants some to put up wherever.) This time I purpose we do an internet campaign. I hate to suggest it but I say we hit everyone up with our own brand of chain letter. Perhaps couple that with a word of mouth campaign. These are just suggestions to be worked on. I was thinking that the chain letter/campaign could be a challenge proposal. Perhaps we should come up with a challenge for people to educate themselves and another or to participate in making a difference in their day to day or in an organization. We could promote our discussion site and our way of life and thinking. There are limitless possibilities. Just think about how many people are on your msn list. Now take that number and multiply it by the few of us that frequent this site. That alone is a lot of people. Put that to the power of whatever amount of people they send it too and we have ourselves a wild fire of positive change. Take my idea into consideration. Perhaps throw me some ideas of how to go about this letter. Let’s see what we can do.
posted by SilentFrank at 9:22 PM
4 Comments:
My poor dear eric, the rona grind has finally gotten to you eh. I was having a conversation about, lifethe other nite and I gave my reincarnation thesis again, and won over a few more friends. But the end point was that the comercial consumer society that we live in is just too good to to give up. No matter how many hours, days weeks we 'waste' in the circular pattern that is western society,what are the alternatives?
An end to the end offers not an alternative but an outlet from which it may come. But [and i appologise for my pessimism, but you can delete this if you want] chain emails? I believe that you had the right idea with the posters, but i saw it as a uber vigalante sorta thing, like taped to cereal boxes in gorcery stores or on those stupid advertisment screens at gas stations.
Half of the ppl on my msn list i have b.c. they know ppl who i wouldnt have on my list, but may need in the future. them like u and me, don't have the luxury of reading through email from people they don't really know or like. but if you hit them when they're least expecting it, then they're forced to think and defend themselves.
ANYWAYS i will take up the cause none the less then strike up prevocative conversation with chums at work and people in bars. I will speard the url like a virus and champion free thought.
Your cause is nobel and u nobel in turn for not letting this heat melt your passion.
peace brother
will
Well yet again Will, you have provided us with postive suggestions and much needed enthusiasm. I appreciate it very much. I know what you mean about the e-mail. I suppose we should try a round 2 for the posters. I have a ton of them left over. You also bring a good point up about the alternatives to our consumer society. In our eyes there is not much option. I don't think chnage can be drastic here. A gradual adjustment would make a world of difference. Thanks again for your ideas. Keep thinking. Don't give up on thought.
Eric
Hey there friends…
Here are a few of my thoughts on the subject...I hope they help in some way.
Like Will has pointed out before, we are the upper-middle class privileged, with a guilty conscience and ambition that is somewhat smothered by our everyday obligations. We work our $10-an-hour jobs to pay for our all-important educations at our fancy universities. We read in our $100 textbooks about entire families living on a dollar a day, yet we can rarely finish an entire meal at the Keg. We’re working towards the degrees that may or may not earn us respect when we finally hit “the real world”. Then, we’ll scramble over one another to land that promotion or turn a profit, and we will go home at night telling ourselves that we are somehow making a difference in the world. The question is what type of difference we are hoping to make.
Of course, this is a completely typical rant. At this point, it doesn’t help to simply blame ourselves for being the “McFuture”. Like you say, we have been conditioned to see the world this way. We will probably always have goals of comfort and wealth in our minds. What we can do, as you have repeatedly suggested, is educate ourselves. We may only think about the state of the world when are prompted to by a professor, an employer, or a friend, but at least we are thinking about it. And we should always encourage others to do the same, whether it’s through posters, emails, or blogs. The important thing is not necessarily that you drop your pennies into UNICEF boxes at Halloween, although that always helps. The important thing is to think about the big picture and always ask yourself what else you can learn, and what else you can do. Like I said, we are the privileged, and so our views will always be biased, but with every dinner-table conversation or news article we read and actually THINK about, our views become a little worldlier. With our worldly views, we can teach our children, and with every generation, attitudes will change. We can pound our fists all we want, but this change will only happen if it’s gradual.
After all of my ranting and preaching, I just want to say that E² is on the right track, and you guys should keep on truckin’. Even if I’m the only person who read your blog today, at least someone read it, right?
~Kath
Every time I hear from someone on this blog I feel a new found sense of hope. Every conversation I have on this or a similar subject brings into the light just how many people are out here with the intellect and good conscience to take a deeper look into the world. There is no question Katherine that we could in our privileged states live life without once putting forth a genuine effort to make a difference. I agree that thinking about the issues are probably just as important if not more important then those cope out effort like tossing pennies into UNICEF bins. I think if a number of intelligent driven people sit down and genuinely put forth an effort to come up with some solutions to these societal problems then it is quite possible we will hit upon one spectacular idea that will make a real impact. In fact I believe that with enough effort something like that is inevitable. So I am extremely happy you took a few minutes to think. Due to your thoughts, you have me here thinking and writing. It is a chain reaction this thing is. It is good to hear from you.
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