My Beacon is Lit

My favorite part about Tuesdays With Morrie, is the constant message Morrie sends about the difference between what we perceive as necessary, versus the realities of the human condition. We live in a culture where the artificiality of materialism and popular-culture are passed down to us as ailments to the maladies which plague us. Wealth, and its inflated sense of ego, does not determine our happiness; yet if you turn on the television, we are told the exact opposite.

I try not to be cynical about things like this, because I know it is wrong to assume the ignorance of others, or to believe that I am above people who buy into things which I don't agree with or understand. It is difficult to draw the line between a pretentious lecture, or a healthy discussion. The trick is not to take things personally, and to give each other the benefit of the doubt. After-all, as a whole we are a peaceful, hardworking, family-orientated, and intelligent population of 300-million people. We can point our fingers at the bad apples, or blame others for the problems that concern us, but it never really gets us anywhere. 

It is important to utilize our experiences, i.e what we know, as beacons that we can light for others to see. We cannot guarantee that other people will steer their ships in our direction, but we know that we did what we could, using what we believed to be truth. The problem with television, materialism, and popular-culture is not that they are inherently wrong; it is simply that they cannot be substituted for the culture that we spent so many thousands of years creating through our genuine experiences. 

Life does not differentiate between expensive mansions or a house built out of necessity. Nor does it differentiate in the same way with cars, televisions, bank accounts, designer clothes, shoes, phones, jewelry,  etc. And most importantly: the value of a person's life is not determined by their ability to acquire or create any of the above.

Whistle While You Work!

In my experience, whenever I hear someone complaining about their job, it is almost always because of a co-worker, employer, or customer. It's as if our work wouldn't be that bad if it weren't for other people making it so. And I bet if you asked the co-worker, employer, or customer, they would complain about the person who was complaining! We are all locked in a perpetual machine of blaming others for our perceived misfortunes. It makes you realize that the jobs we are doing aren't even that bad (with exceptions of course), but it is the people involved that can really 'grind our gears.'

Whenever I, or someone else, says that their job makes them unhappy, the first thing I wonder is: what could be changed? Can we press a magic button to get along with each other? Doubtfully, maybe that's why Offices do those ridiculous "team-building" exercises out in the woods, who knows. We could always ask Snow White, she seemed to have things figured out back in 1937:

See how happy those animals are?! Now-a-days, someone would say: "I didn't mess up this room, screw you guys, clean your own crap."

Why can't we all just whistle and sing together in harmony?!

Ad·ver·tis·ing ˈ(advərˌtīziNG/ noun) - The art of ensuring that the ends justify the means.

Advertising first began on Madison Avenue, in New York; after the end of World War 2. Hundreds of thousands of men were coming home victorious, with the hopes of starting a family and a career. This was a HUGE market to take advantage of, and with no competition from Europe, Germany, or Japan; the United States was poised to set the path for the next industrial world.

In America, that path came in the way of the suburban dream: a house, a lawn, a car, two children, a dog, and a loving wife. It began innocently, as thousands of companies competed for the attention of this new market. Everything was fair game and with such limitless opportunity. Markets were created, seemingly out of thin air, thanks to the creation of credit cards and mortgages. It all seemed to make sense. However, sooner or later, the German and Japanese markets would rebound. Sooner or later, competition for natural resources across the world would increase. Sooner or later, the population would double.

This is where we are now, and why the lifestyle of the 1950s' and 1960s' are still being sold to us by advertisers, even though they bare no resemblance to reality. In my view, the products are becoming cheaper, the fantasies they sell are bordering insanity, and all the while the people on television seem to act as if nothing is wrong.

I wish our media would stop coddling us as if we were children: unable to handle the complexity of the real world. By promoting what they do, these companies are endorsing a culture of blissful ignorance. I want corporations and governments to be honest with us. 

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• Don't tell us your Apple iPads and iPhones are "alternative" to corporate America; when the Foxconn sweat-shops that manufacture your products have to put up nets to catch the weekly attempted-suicides by your workers. And don't tell us you are "green" when the facilities which process the Rare Earth Minerals are some of the leading cause of pollutants in China.
• Don't tell us your Natural Gas is cleaner than Coal or Oil, when we know for a fact that Fracking releases enormous amounts of Methane into the atmosphere, which is four-times more harmful than Carbon.
• Don't tell us your Cars are American Made, after you destroy two cities worth of industries just to ensure you remain profitable by importing parts from Asia and relocating your manufacturing plants to Mexico.
• Don't tell us your Bank cares about American progress: when it did everything it could to remove a provision established in 1933 known as Glass Steagall, thereby ensuring the 2008 economic collapse.
• And don't even get me started on the Politicians who let it all happen! And then they pay a media consultant millions of dollars to convince us that they're "different" than the other guy.

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Ok that's the end of my rant. The fact that I could go on like this for HOURS means that there is something seriously wrong with our media. 

5 Photo Essay

Books and Television: The Technology of Stories

Technology changes everything, and it's awesome. We live in a time where, in the span of 60 years, we have harnessed the fission potential of Stars, sent dozens of vehicles, probes, and satellites to every moon and planet in our solar system, and revolutionized every aspect of our societies and cultures. But where did it all start?

When we comment on the great catalysts of civilization: we always reference the invention of the wheel, or the first uses of fire. I, however, believe the seminal link to our technological and cultural success is in the processes by which we translated oral language into the written word; thereby inventing Books. People don't seem to realize it, but a Book is by definition, a piece of technology. Sagan remarks on this with his famous quote:

The process involved in building a book is fascinating in itself. First, a seed falls into its chosen spot, then it germinates, sprouts, and eventually blossoms. Many years later, the tree is grown: filled with a hull of fibers and canals to send sap every which way. It is then cut down, and those fibers are compressed into a 'mulchey', gooey pulp. That pulp is beaten, and beaten until the right consistency. It is then drawn out into sheets, and arranged into small rectangles or squares. Finally, after it has dried, it is purchased by a great thinker like Albert Einstein; and on it he writes about a dream he has the night before. That dream is eventually worked into his theory of Special Relativity, and the world is changed forever.

Despite how far they have taken us, I feel like books are somehow being threatened by the technology they helped create. I am finding that as we entertain, learn, and live more through the mediums of Television and Video games, we are losing a vital part of our ability to grow. The benefits associated with reading a story are outlined in this documentary by the BBC:

Essentially, the documentary highlights the benefits that reading has on our neurological health, growth, and abilities. By reading, the areas of our brain related to experience, learning, and memory become incredibly active. This is because when we read, we emerge ourselves into a story, and relate to the characters in it. This is why the movie is never as good as the book, and why the cognitive abilities of someone are always much stronger when they spend more time reading. 

Your Brain on Fiction

By ANNIE MURPHY PAUL. New York Times

"Brain scans are revealing what happens in our heads when we read a detailed description, an evocative metaphor or an emotional exchange between characters. Stories, this research is showing, stimulate the brain and even change how we act in life."..."individuals who frequently read fiction seem to be better able to understand other people, empathize with them and see the world from their perspective. This relationship persisted even after the researchers accounted for the possibility that more empathetic individuals might prefer reading novels."

(http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-on-fiction.html?pagewanted=all)

When we watch television, we seem to be allowing others to experience the story instead. It is a very passive form of learning, and by showing us what the story looks and sounds like, we lose our ability to imagine those things with the power of our own brains. The most exciting part about a story, in my opinion, is when you perceive the characters and the surroundings they are in. I find that this is why television can be so boring. There is no sense of adventure or mystery because everything is laid out in front of you to absorb, and then you are much more likely to forget it. The impact on you is less, which means the story does not carry the same power that it would of had if it were adapted to a novel.

What worries me the most, is that the more we sit in front of the television, the more we give in to the conformity that Corporations shove in our faces. Their advertisements for cheap crap, and their brain-washing media are an actual threat as they continue to control much of what drives our culture. Books, on the other hand, combat this conformity and teach us to be unique and adventurous. Almost every accomplished author, in every time-period, was actively writing 'against the grain' of standard-thought; and worked to encompass a story not just for the sake of itself, but to imagine and portray the realities of the human condition.

Denying the Tides

Old and rugged, yet defiant;

The boulder builds its smooth shape according to the ceaseless currents,

Constantly eroding to the will of the clashing water.

The boulder belittles this seemingly infinitesimal liquid, disregarding it as but a drudge,

Crumbling, however, through the mold like the ruins of an ancient civilization.

The boulder lies and denies in contempt of its subversive shaper,

Continuously to permitting time, in the belief that they both are on the same side.

5 Looks On The Book

Anagnorisis – Jonas's sudden realization and awareness of the colors, and history of the world.

Epistemological – The transfer of knowledge, from Giver (Oldie) to Receiver (Jonas).

Limerence – Jonas’s attempts of Giving falls on deaf senses.

Mutual – Everyone gains, loses, and sacrifices together.

Arduous – A lot is expected of Jonas, he has a strenuous and rigorous life ahead of him.

Sondering Around

Sonder - n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own – populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness – an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.

Some people take it as a cynical “we are all just ants who don’t affect anything”, but I don’t see it that way. Instead, I find it beautiful how it encompasses the complexity and seemingly infinite nature of life; all within a tiny five-letter word. We all have a unique story to tell.

(And, who doesn’t love people-watching in the city on a busy Saturday morning?)