As I enjoy some older generations ramblings, I often hear that age old axiom of "You young people just don't... [X]". Lately it's been, "You young people don't care about what's going on in the world."
Here's a fun thought; the people who I hear say that are of another generation, of another time, who have set up a system of living and status quo that they wish to uphold, and through their progeny, expect them to uphold as well.
Has it ever occurred to them that a system with inherent flaws will never find a solution? That curing symptoms will never cause them to cease to exist?
Has it ever occurred to them that young people might not WANT their fantasy or idea of the world to exist? That it might simply not be worth fighting for?
Let the stocks tumble! Let the banks fall! And if the Fed decides to bail out financially irresponsible institutions, fuck it!, because I don't make enough money anyway to make a significant impact in helping to foot the $85B+ charges to the citizens of this country.
Anyway, to all you old people who occasionally bitch at me: You have stocks and money. You know I as a young person have the power to decide and change it so that you can keep those stocks and money. All I have to say is get your bartering and haggling skills up to par with what life has in store for you next. Get some camping gear. Learn to make fire. Eat things that have fallen on the ground/floor. You might not have the luxury of food in the future. And be nice to your children, because in the end, they'll be the ones choosing your nursing home.
Also, this whole rhetoric about "change". Change is going to happen. You can REgress and that'll be change. You can PROgress and that'll be change. So let's change the language to "Progress" instead of "change" which is just too vague for me.
Either way, I don't really want to live in the USA anymore. A fundamentally flawed idea is not an idea worth fighting for.
Love,
-e
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There is this fundamental flaw with that line of thought: no system is perfect for all times or places, ergo all systems are fundamentally flawed.
Wherever you go, whatever you do, you cannot find any perfection and you take your flaws with you. Because you (the general you, including me) are systems, too: cells, ideas, inherited habits of thought and behaviour, freak combinations of unique skills and attitudes, untested or tried and true (though only within your own milieu, that is, the system of your life.) The flaws may be any thing, invisible maybe, perhaps apparent, potentially positive under the circumstances. They only show new (not true, in its real sense) colors when there is change. Progress can become cancer; democracy, larceny. Even the "enlightened" socio-political systems of the world have their negative sides, you only have to listen long and close enough to their members to hear the same story told over and again in different tongue and detail.
Change is indeed a nebulous thing, one of those capital-letter-iconic-conceptual-Idea words Plato spent time talking about, because it manifests in infinite array of forms; but its effects are generally pretty predictable. Initial chaos and concurrent discomfort; shifts in relationships--though rarely any lasting rearrangement of those of power--subtle, slight, slow, sudden, dramatic, extensive, whatnot; a period of adjustment, long, hard, brief, easy, what-have-you; then, a new status quo. This applies to biology, sociology, physical systems, ideology, whatever, etc.
Don't get me wrong, i don't disagree. I've certainly been crucified on my parents simple greed, on their need for me to believe. I tangled with those thorns early, lonely, long and long, and can only come to the conclusion that they are on the wrong side. Having set aside my ancestral patterns, i was set aside from close familial connections. But i would change (hardly) nothing: not a belief, not a commitment, not a choice, not an act.
Still, though i have not the least wish to inhabit their world, neither do i wish them harm. So let the stocks slide, let the banks fade: change is best when there is reason and direction, when it is best for the most. In the end, i think that those systems have done more harm than good--to our psyche and the earth--and should be done away with, but for such systemic broad change we need time to be gentle with one another, the better to build a better future. And i do mean we... each of us will need every other one of us to make the most of the opportunities offered by this turn from the past toward whatever we choose to make of the changes before us.
I can make fire with my hands, find food in many different lands, cook well whatever nature offers, stay warm in winter, create shelter in the storm, find the path, know where to go when seasons come, and know where to go to find clean water or solitude. And i will teach others these skills, as i have already done for many. But i cannot create companionship from mountains, seas, and trees; telling jokes to too many squirrels is a bit nutty; and i cannot teach myself things i don't know. It is for the human family to share itself with one another, the simple, central wealth of gathered souls and stored up wisdom which is that most important thing forgotten by "the system" created by our fathers and mothers (though it is not what they meant to do.)
I might not want to live in the US anymore; i've said as much for as much or more than a decade, more now than ever. But i do wish to make a difference, want to take part in shaping this change. And though i don't love ideas ("the US") as much as people and the earth ("the Colorado Plateau," friends and family, the kindness of strangers), the idea of sitting tight and making the most of what i have and make real what i want the most is what makes most sense to me. How else do you find food, when unknown poisons and hidden delights fill the rest of the world with which you are not so familiar? Why start from scratch when the building blocks of community are already in your very own area?
Can turning your back on parts of your life system that you love, to leave for systems you neither know well nor hardly understand, align with a more human vision? After all, it is those systems in which you have no stake (money, stocks, banks) in which you find no saving grace. Grace, i say, is found in the mundane, in the details, of your own life; and, perhaps, this simple, tangible aspect of life offers specific tonic for the vagaries of vague change.
hmm.. very cool. i wish i knew who you were!
What a thoughtful message. I think the disillusioned young members of our society who feel alienated could do with people who put it like you do, and who lead by example.
And Eric, I miss you terribly, and love you to bits.
I cannot compete with Anonymous above... but I wanted to mention that I can relate to your feelings.
The biggest gripe that I kept hearing was that "my generation" doesn't know how to protest a war. All these people in their 50's were walking around as sanctimonious as hell about the fact that they actually shoved flowers up the barrels of National Guard riflemen during the Viet Nam war. And the 20 and 30 year olds today are barely protesting the war in Iraq.
Of course, there are so many flaws in this argument that I don't even want to start addressing the content of their complaint. The part that actually made me angry was this holier-than-thou attitude that folks in their 50's were giving me. (I mean, these guys are the ones in charge of society right now fergawdsake!)
Hey Eric,
Indeed, every comment seems useless after anonymous ;) But still, we can try :p
Anyways, I know what you mean. It's like those comments of old(er) people who say: "Those younger people nowadays..." They complain that people don't get up for them in busses or trains, complain that they can't get in front of the line etc etc. But if you look at their own actions, they're just as 'bad'! They 'blame' us for the same things they did or do!
But eventually, you can just think like this: let's say 'those' people are about 30/40 years older (or more) than you and me.. What are they complaining about?? They have lived their lifes, we've only just begun! If their world is crap, they only have to live in it for about 30 years or so, but we have to live in it for about 60 years then! So, just ignore them ;)
Old(er) people can't blame us for wanting to move on/forward or to move at all!
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