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We are in the golden age up to our necks.
-Voltaire
Summer's just about here and above all other senses, I can feel it. But the vibe still rebounds off every other sense as well. You can see it every morning in the thinning number of scholars zombie shuffling to class. Waking up for class isn't even worth it anymore for some folks. You can smell it around high noon as all the grills fire up around the hill, for whatever occasion if not just for the beautiful day. Where's has the urgency gone? What have we done to be so laid back about? What laurels are we resting on? We haven't done anything yet, but we think we have. Or even worse, we know we haven't, yet we are all perfectly fine to reap all the benefits of hard work without actually putting forth an effort. Lifted nary a finger. Adolescence is a term that didn't even exist a hundred years ago. Once you were old enough to work or have children, you did because your livelihood depended upon it. Only with the rise and creation of the middle class did this feeling of prolonged childhood suddenly come into play. And its not a bad thing by an means. Most nations of the world would kill to have the stability and comfortability that the United States has been blessed with. It's absolutely a good thing, if used for comparative advantage. But is the opportunity being seized or completely squandered away? How long do pressing concerns such as morale, justice, the environment, architecture, ecology, social well being and art have to take a backseat role while Americans chase safety, wealth and power, three fantastic concerns to have if the much larger perspective isn't lost in the process. We're mighty blessed but we've lost our points of reference. There isn't anything to build on or improve upon when the classes aren't threatening each other's necks with knives at night. Where are the economic and industrial innovations or the second comings of a cultural rejuvenation? The Western Civ class I'm bearing through just wrapped up the age of explorers and the Renaissance which is fascinating to read about, just not in class. The Renaissance was one of the most influential time periods in all of history and it was three century long mess, absolute upheaval in every spectrum of daily life, social and political pandemonium as well as artistic and intellectual transformation. The populus was making moves, toppling the towers of power and ideas, clashing, questioning, challenging, provoking, living life at an upbeat rhythm. To get academic, the catalyst for it all stemmed from the enormous influx of money that poured into Europe from the expanding trade with Asia. Economic prosperity and cultural advancement seemingly go hand in hand, which point towards a host of parallels that can be drawn from 14th century Europe to 21st century United States, except for one obvious truth. We haven't done a single fucking thing. Of course we've done plenty, especially considering the crazy pace technology is exponentially growing at. But in comparison and given the grand possibilities, its lacking. The potential that exists hasn't even been touched, much less met and matched. I think it all points towards one single variable, a truth so evident it has slipped past our collective consciousness and become almost universally accepted as normal in our society. We simply don't feel good about ourselves. How can we stand ourselves when our norms for time, joy, work, the entirety of our environment are dictated solely by the measure of others around us rather than a higher calling, something that demands us to be greater than ourselves, better and beyond the buying, selling, judging, fucking production line of ease and boredom this world runs on. All major cultural, academic, and intellectual innovations of history has seemingly happened in time periods where mankind has felt good about being human and acted upon dreams in hot pursuit. And to be human means a whole lotta more than sitting tight and watching the soap operas of modern life fiscally secure concerns that bleed time and glorify the lie that says all this right here is the only thing in Life you'll ever need.
Why does this have to be true? I like to think that it all comes down to perspective and identity. The Western world has a very fragile sense of identity. One needs no more than one broad look around to see that to be so. For guys, its all truck lifts, good grades, money money money, twenty beers, muscles, smashing gals and grilling out, at least that's true for here in Kentucky. For girls, you've got image and a whole lotta other stuff. How we see ourselves is naturally going to be reflected in the many doings we chose to involve ourselves in, but nowadays our point of reference to self is long gone and who we are is solely defined by everything we have and do, not in who we are. Our culture have reached a point where too much is not even enough. We've lost sight of the truly important things of this world. Voltaire said it best above. We're in the Golden Age up to necks. Today's society is comfortable living in a stalemate, a cloud of obliviousness that has emerged from years and years of consumerism and individualism. The United States has found itself so far on top, economically and politically, we've lost perspective and the bleeding colours can be seen nearly everywhere, from the lofty heights of the upper echelon where money's the be all end all to everyday happenings, where capitalism skews perspectives to see the truly important things in life like people and relationships not for their beauty but as resources to be used for gain and progress, all the way to the middlings of Welfare Nation, where doing absolutely nothing to contribute back to society is perfectly acceptable and even encouraged, just as long as we've got your vote. 40% of 18 year olds in Tennessee do not graduate from high school. What in the world are they going to do to contribute back to society? I read that somewhere the other day and it tore me up a little bit because it hits home closer than most facts due. My only first cousin lives in North Georgia, hasn't graduated high school but is hoping to, since she's now got a child to feed. How is that allowed? What would it take for a law to be passed that stated, "If you don't graduate high school, you can't have a driver's license." Incentives truly are everything and if you offer people a square enough deal, you can get anything you want in return. It's just hard to see the light.
The purpose of all this yarning isn't to promote some crazy anarchy or skullduggery. Fight fire with fire and everything will burn, yeahhhh. All I know is that its beautiful outside. The sun isn't the reason behind all this but something about the past few weeks has really been a blessing. It's swell and it can only get better from here. This ain't nothing really. I've been taking time off to sit back in the sun, connect some broad dots and simply slow down in hopes to truly be aware of Life as its happening. Now, here. The hardest part is just having the eyes to see the joy offered in endless abundance that's hidden in the passing seconds of every single moment every day. The ways of the world blind us from seeing the truly important, beautiful affairs that point us towards living beyond ourselves. When the world respects private property more than it cherishes human life, something must be done. And true change comes from an active lifestyle. So jump on the soul train, dig this sound because for just once, its just us kids living, playing the day away, kicking over statues to the rhythm of the beat. There's no danger in exploration and searching. To live and be alive means to question and to love means we ought to be able to say yes before no. Nothing but hope and revolution and its very real, happening right now.
