Okay. So, this is going against every professional/subprofessional/not-even-remotly-a-set- of-standards that I may or may not have.Every journalistic theory, website posting, parental unit friend, mentor, teacher anything even REMOTLY to the idea of posting on line is explicit. Don't post personal stuff. Like, ever. You could get identity stolen, and peole will ruin your life. To that I say, with a bleak sense of doom- My Facebook is the first thing that comes up on Google. If those two haven't already bared my soul, a little read blog post is not going to do anything. 'Course, in my mind, theres some psycho already planning to steal my Identity with this blog. Okay, oh well.
So here's the thing. I'm gonna call this a Revelession. Its a revelation and a confession. Confession first.
Bless me father for I have sinned...not quite. For the past few weeks I have been struggling with the idea that I am mediocre. By my reckoning, I just don't stand out from the crowd. And before people self diagnose me with depression or anything, its the sad truth. " The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Doesn't mean I won't stop trying to be good, but ( as in life) there is always going to be better people than me, always the superstars. I am kinda okay with that. Not hugely, but someone will always be able to do better than me. This ties into my next revelation. I recently read a book my teacher gave me called "No Impact Man" It's by a man called Colin Beavan. It documents this one man's quest to leave no trace on the enviroment. Literally, no impact. No carbon footprint, no environmental poluttion whatsoever, anything. Its facsinating, but a bit preachy at times. Here's a couple of ideas I got from this book.
I love this quote.
" Our institutions don't reflect our human kindness. We allow our corporations to focus only on profits. We allow political institutions to focus mostly on reelection. We must insist that our insitituitons reflect the full truth ot the humanity they are supposed to serve. We must, in our roles within those institutions, act the samw way we would act when we find an old person having trouble crossing the street."
Also, he describes the idea of the treadmill of consumerism, which is, in a nutshell- WE go to a job to be able to buy new things. Commercials continually tell us we can't be complete or whole without buying the products they are promoting. So, we continually work to be able to afford these products. When we get the money, more products come out and we need them. The cycle continues.
I also like his idea of working together to be better overall. Additionally, the idea that the manufacturers build in redundancies for their product is particularly intriguing. What if our products could last a lifetime, instead of a new one every 10-20 years?
Mainly I think he presents a set of good ideas, and is a little overblown on the rhetoric. Unfortunatly, I am happy with my lifestyle. I want to improve others lives, sure, but I think at my core I am a selfish American youth. I have no idea what is outside of the borders, and I have no idea what to expect. I have no idea what defines me and how I stand out as a unique individual. So yeah.
I don't doubt that I will look back on this post and cringe. And I don't doubt that at least two people will talk to me about it. (coughMaureencoughDad) Well, it's out there now.
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