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A good hour...
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A good hour... |
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smalls Member
since 2002-12-20
Posts 62 |
A Good Hour… I spent a good hour with him. The funny thing is… I didn't know I was going to, nor did he. A stranger in sight for one minute, a piece of your soul the next. Two young men of 22 coincidently hiking up the same mountain, in search of peace of mind. He was the balance I had been looking for. Two different young men; different nationalities, different family structures, and different aptitudes of educational exposure clearly based on necessity of two different cultures. I understood why he was meant to be there, on that same path as I turned the corner. Before hand, I had stopped by another stranger and his dog for a quick chat. But my purpose that Sunday morning was to run into a guy, that at first, I hesitated on chatting long with because I didn't want him to slow my work out. We grew into conversation as we hiked. He also played soccer, more importantly; he had goals even with limited social and human capital compared to today's standards of American culture. Honestly, his goals weren't as lavish as ours, but he was more than satisfied with them. In his native Mexican culture, his goals were normal for a society that is considered a 2nd world country. He was content with his job as a plumber and his 1988 Mustang, whereas, I know people that would call that "ghetto." He had been one of the most positive people I have been around. He told me things that helped in guiding my thoughts for this next step in life, post college graduation. To think that I was going to pass this guy up because he may have slowed me down. That is funny to me because I then began to realize how preset, routine, and stubborn our lives can be. As long as we have to get to where we are going first, then we can take time to understand other people, right? What about we can't change anything individually so why even care? If we think too much about all this we are going to think ourselves to death? Or even your idealistic ways won't work? Of course, what am I thinking? I'm a freaking idiot. I heard a saying, "The biggest sin of all is the indifference of good men." These are the people whom have the capacity to make a difference but remain silent. So I began to think about how we as a culture ended up being so indifferent to issues that don't regard us on both individual and social levels. Far too often we take things for granted. We live in bliss of living in our middle class neighborhoods, or attending institutions of higher education, or even being able to have our own car. For the most part, can you say we are more than fortunate? Really, what are we stressing about? How bad are the daily stressors we go through compared to the world on a whole? There are people living in Israel getting blown up every day, but it's only our concern to make strong efforts against terrorism only when it occurs on our nation's soil. In no way am I meaning to disrespect those whom have passed in "9/11" and their families, but I'm emphasizing a point. Here's my concern with all this. The effects of this ethnocentric and egocentric culture keeps us so misguided by the attainment of "successful" living that we are often times unaware of issues that don't necessarily directly affect us. We remain unaware of our sense of self and our place in a worldly context. If you say you're stressing, imagine other people that are crying. Really, the only stressors I encounter from a day to day basis, branch upon the hindering of my success goals; making money for survival. For example, not doing well in school, or not being able to secure a stable job. How is success measured in our culture? Money! Our goal as young adults is to achieve the best academic grade in hopes that it will bring the best job; the highest paying job possible. In consequence, we can afford the ten-bedroom house although we only have two kids; we can buy a different wardrobe for every day of the year; and we can buy five cars because we are going to drive them all at once. These are status symbols by today's standards. This is not to say one is at fault for placing such value on these things. How can we be at fault for something that which we are not aware of? Money is the key to these material successes, and trying to achieve that "A" is the foundation for it. When our parents drop us off on that first day in kindergarten, we begin to climb that ladder to success. Guiding measures to this is the letter grade. You get an "A" for excellent and an "F" for failure. The "A" makes you want to show everyone your good merit, but the "F", the "F" you have to lie about not receiving your report card in the mail. This simply is because the letter grade is considered a measurement of aptitude, which is seen as a determinant in who will be making the money. There is so much emphasis placed on getting that "A" that all else just seems secondary, or not good enough for your parents. You continue on this misguided mission. It's like all this information is shoved down your throat and you have to digest it, learn it, accept it, and live by it. If you don't you will be considered a failure in society. Why does knowledge attained in the classroom carry far more weight than external classroom knowledge? Why can't we get that "A" for coming to class and telling the teacher that we learned not to judge anyone on their nationality and skin color, but on the content of their character? Or that we realized over the weekend that it is necessary to establish healthy relationships with people that go beyond the superficial and touch the spiritual, intellectual, and emotional? When you go looking for that job, that "A" that sits fat on your resume is going to give you that job, right? That's what we have been working for all these years, right? Not necessarily, because that "A" single handedly won't richen your social networks and awareness outside the classroom, nor will it make you smarter than the next person. What happens when you go into that interview and unfortunately you only know one thing and that's the book your nose has been in all your life. When it comes to understanding people, the freaking things you interact with everyday, you are clueless. Your capacity to understanding someone other than yourself is limited. You lived a life of routine, predetermined by society and now when it comes down to what you really know, you are without substance. You have been misguided into believing that if "I just keep my head down, work hard and focus on what I have to do, things will be great." What about... "If you keep your head down, life will pass you by." Please check out my poetry online |
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Sunkissed Senior Member
since 2002-12-03
Posts 610 |
BRAVO!!  Sunkissed. |
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