| |
The Big Pendulum Swing
Current
mood: ???
Category: Life
When we are 'out of ourselves' enough to be really
listening to those intense innermost thoughts and
impluses that call upon us to take action about
something, we are often rewarded in heeding the call. I
only wish I didn't doubt those impulses as much as I do.
One would think that the experience of heeding a call
would be a natural thing, almost instinctual, but it is
after a few misses that the hits become less noticeable.
When we act upon these whispers of perceived truths,
sometimes, we are merely a messenger, a "link in the
chain" for someone else. It may not be about us at all
and we might never know what the experience was about.
It can leave us confounded.
There seems to be so much anger. I've heard folks say
many times that there is so much more war and hate and
visciousness than ever before. But that's not right. We
have always had all of these evils. Each of us have
these capabilities if given certain circumstances. I
can't imagine ever having to deal with war first hand,
or hating someone so much that I would kill them. But
still, if we are to embrace ourselves as who we really
are, it means embracing the good with the bad.
I look at the youths of today and see unreigned
passion. I see fragments of my past in their faces. I'm
not sure if it's because I recognize the innocence of
that age or if it's because they are wiser in so many
more ways than I was at that stage in my life. The
information that is poured into them, upon them, around
them, fast paced living, conveniences that were none
existant in my younger years have created a generation
or two that seems foreign, yet strangely familiar if I
look closely enough. I find that we are not all that
different in wanting a meaningful position in life, and
love. (the pun wasn't intended, but it's a pretty good
one) The techno-gadgets, the sleazy clothes, the
punctured flesh, the gansta-rap does little to change
these basic desires of the human heart. We can
masquerade it, we can try to drown it out with loud
music, booze and drugs, we can be in denial for fear of
the pain in facing what we are lacking, but it all boils
down to one thing. Acceptance.
I look at pictures on myspace of youths involved in
artistic ventures and see ghostly images of my teenage
years. I recognize the similarities between these faces
of strangers and those of yesteryear friends. Some of
these people, I am proud to say, I still stay in touch
with today. I have seen the changes in us
brought on by the years of experiences that have worn us
down or smoothed us out in comparison with the energy,
amazement, expectancy and hopefulness of the young.
It seems such a cheap, cosmic joke if we are only to
live our lives once. It could be likened to being given
one test that was worth your whole grade and never been
given the information on the content to be tested.
A friend and I were visiting via email about the
strangeness of making friends via the Internet. He
shared with me: "don't get
me wrong i love the fucking internet, but it sure can
spawn the seedy side of human behavior. Here we are,
interacting in MySpace (a virtual bar, club, library,
cafeteria, whatever)....who really knows what is real?"
As far as the seedy side of human behavior of our
society, it is definitely here at myspace. We feel leary
of some myspacers because we are missing the
components needed in making a full assessment of
the person in which we are dealing. We get a
lot of truth from how someone carries themselves, how
they use their body language, their facial expressions
and their eyes. The tone of their voice is also
important. So with us communicating in such a limited
sensory fashion, it is definitely more challenging to
separate the wheat from the chaft.
I see life as a big pendulum swing. We see things go
from one distant view to another. A huge swing this way
into porn-dressing, another huge swing into
puritan-ways, a huge swing into non-expression, to the
drastic opposite of being drama junkies. I could go on
and on about how many times you can observe this through
the centuries, but I know you see this already too. When
one looks at the differences today compared to
yesteryear, last century or even since the beginning of
time, we've just become more gadget oriented. Our basic
natures, our desires for love, our inclination for
connection with ourselves, others and our world have
stayed the same.
So instead of worrying about things changing, I
should think that I would be much more worried if I
saw no change at all.
© deborah leeson 2005
 |
Currently reading:
Citizen
Girl
By Emma McLaughlin
Release
date: By 04 October, 2005 |
9:08 PM - 8 Comments - 6
Kudos - Add
Comment - Edit
- Remove |
