So Leah Caldwell, this wonderfully awake columnist at my university (which by the way now has 52,273 students) wrote this awesome column about the state of apathy of the "youth" of the nation.
Fact is that America as a whole is so fat and happy that it doesn't really care. You know how we all feel after a big old family dinner when you've eaten more than you should have and you're sitting in front of the TV with your mind a happy and woozy blur. Thats exactly how the majority of America feels right now, especially the 13-23 age group. In general this age group's biggest concerns are the next episode of Friends (yes this is a guilty pleasure of mine as well), what options to pimp out the ride with, and if that skirt really matches that top. Honestly though is it wrong for a society thats achieved its riches to fully enjoy them? I don't think its wrong at all, America has more or less rightfully achieved its riches and deserves to enjoy them. However there are a few key problems with this idea. In achieving these riches America has become a mercantile society where profits are the only thing that matters. Morals, rights and civility be damned.
Some of the other facts that have to be faced are that America's younger generation has not faced any real challenge. The terrorist acts of 9/11 as horrfic as they were, were not a real test of anything. Compare 9/11 to say for example of WWII or the Vietnam quagmire. Prior to WWII America was facing the Great Depression, and during Vietnam the country was as close to a political revolution as its ever been save for the Revolution. Also during those times it was hard to avoid these topics because they composed a majority of all social discourse. Nowadays its totally possible and easy to hide under the proverbial rock and detach oneself from the day to day happenings and reality. Its odd to see that the children of those who lived during the times I mentioned have lived the type of lives they have, so coddled, protected and self-serving. These citizens of my generation in America are so happy and satisfied with the state of things that they don't really have any compelling reason to expand their political and cultural boundaries.
Also this same generation seems to have grown up with the idea that learning is a cause and effect concept. Meaning you have to learn about 'x' because 'x' is effecting you. (Remember all the stories of books on Islam and Afghanistan selling out after 9/11 because American's wanted to learn about these topics?) As human beings the boundaries of our existence must always be growing in order to truly fulfill our existence and these boundaries can only expand if we attempt to understand the world beyond the world that exists within our immediate sphere of influence. It really doesn't hurt to learn about things that potentially may never effect you at all. Thankfully unlike our computer hard drives, our brain is never going to be full no matter what.
Furthermore American society is based on a very strong central core of individualism. This type of societal mentality reduces the accountability one feels for the larger community. The way I was raised in India was to put others before me. Honestly I think this sytem works, because if everyone takes care of everyone else than society as a large should be able to function rather well. Clearly this Utopian vision doesn't work, just look to India's corruption and class issues. Its like arguing about Marxist philisophies. However this purely individualistic society doesn't work either.
None the less I don't think America will be waking from its fat, happy, well funded stupor unless something akin to a huge economic downfall or a (Mo/God)zilla type monster eats a small northern California town. This is the problem with all successful societies. From what history of the world that I know I've never seen a society so hung up on profits and filling its coffers that every possible tenet of individual freedom is being attacked and that too by faceless nearly untraceable entities. More on that next time.
Some random danger time, same danger URL. Stay tuned!
...dancing in the shower without falling down.
...a restaurant full of beautiful women.
...the joy of the colour blue.
...angry pancake toting waitresses.
...capitalism run rampant like an elephant on acid.
...carbonated soymilk.
...baby monkeys playing in the river.
...living with the permanent absence of Vitamin V.
...overheating dual AthlonMPs.
...being introspective when you go home.
...being home.
...Jersey bagels and Jersey pizza.
...love lost and love sought.
...arguing with Captain Strateg0.
...trying to not fall down stairs.
...chanting at the HEB with da Shlep.
...flying somewhere with the seat next to you blissfully empty.
...trying to count it all on my fingers.
...a pantless long weekend.
...having an innie.
...hoping.
...the surprise of finding yourself on Earth.
...bargaining for a better deal at Walmart.
...moving on with life without Vitamin V.
...wondering if a family member's refrigerator is 'running.'
...dreaming of a vegan world.
...being first on Google.
...duct tape decorations.
...a jalsa account left forever unbalanced.
...waking up and then immediately running into a wall.
...falling asleep in class and almost falling out of chair.
...wondering if anyone will ever "get it."
...no pants? Full service!
...|| computing distracting me from blogging. Ummm vector math.
...getting an empowerment boost from the Shal.
...RECTANGLES!!!!!!! (word up Patrick)
...never sitting on 'the fence'.
...wondering, "WHAT?!! would Ram do?"
...can I eat that?
...never putting soap in your mouth.
...imitating the nuke from EE.
...pants and the blissful lack thereof.
...knowning that I am powerful.
...perching atop Mt. Fury at 30MPH.
...ending this blog.
Today is proving to be much much harder to bear than I ever thought. It doesn't help that everywhere I look I've got reminders of the events being fired at me like so many tiny emotional missiles.
Not a dry eye in the audience....by audience I mean life.
Oh how I wish I could be in Manhattan today. Maybe grab some pizza at Avelino's and just be in Battery Park.
Its the one year anniversary of the short term "triumph" of some who believe they are solving the world's problems and appeasing the will of their God. For me its the one year anniversary of losing what to me was my personal symbol of America.
On July 5th, 1990 around 3:30pm(EDT) my mom woke me up just as our flight was getting ready to land at Newark International bringing my family and a little me to America for the first time. Out of the small airplane window with sleepy eyes the very first sight of America I saw was the late afternoon sun gleaming a brilliant vermillion off the façade of the two World Trade Center towers onto the Hudson. I will never forget that sight for as long as I live. A short hour later our flight landed in Newark and I began my journey into America.
I wonder why when I look at the skyline I still see the buildings there as if they were never torn down. I wonder why my nose still stings and why my eyes gets blurry every time reality snaps me with a rattail and lets me see the sky where the WTC towers would be. I wonder why its so hard to go to the Liberty State Park. I wonder.
Nothing will bring back the WTC and with all the hoopla about political correctness and appeasing every single person who has any say in what happens to the land where the WTC towers stood...we can be nearly certain that what rises there will not have the character, grace or bravado of those two square towers that stood there.
For me it is as much a day of mourning and contemplation as it is of hope in mankind. For as much evil and perversion there maybe in the world we are still capable of producing and appreciating the magnificence of life.
So my friends....heres to hope.
For any of you that haven't seen the video for Weezer's Island in the Sun I strongly urge you to. For that video captures the gyst of my ideal existence. While I come up with a more content filled and though provoking entry...check out these lyrics:
Weezer - Island In The Sun
Hip hip
Hip hip
Hip hip
Hip hip
When you're on a holiday
You can't find the words to say
All the things that come to you
And I wanna feel it too
On an island in the sun
We'll be playing and having fun
And it makes me feel so fine
I can't control my brain
Hip hip
Hip hip
When you're on a golden sea
You don't need no memory
Just a place to call your own
As we drift into the zone
On an island in the sun
We'll be playing and having fun
And it makes me feel so fine
I can't control my brain
We'll run away together
We'll spend some time forever
We'll never feel bad anymore
Hip hip
Hip hip
Hip hip
On an island in the sun
We'll be playing and having fun
And it makes me feel so fine
I can't control my brain
We'll run away together
We'll spend some time forever
We'll never feel bad anymore
Hip hip
We'll never feel bad anymore
No no
We'll never feel bad anymore
No no
No no
No no