I just wrote this in my journal, and I’d like to share it.
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“Weapons do not cut it, / fire does not burn it, / waters do not wet it, / wind does not wither it.
It cannot be cut or burned; / it cannot be wet or withered; / it is enduring, all-pervasive, / fixed, immovable, and timeless.”
- The Bhagavad Gita, Second Teaching
As I’m writing this, 33 Chilean minder are being rescued after 69 days trapped underground. The quote above is from the Bhagavad Gita, which I just finished reading for one of my college courses. I was watching the rescue efforts on CNN in the background, but now I’m starting to think that these two things lined up the way they did simply because human will, good nature, love, pride, decency, humanity, and the ability to believe in something bigger than the individual have prevailed in times where we see these things only rarely make it through.
I don’t believe in divine miracles, or god, or even that there’s someone up there playing with a Lego version of the world. What I do believe, however, is that those 33 men are alive because they believed in themselves, their country, and in the world. They were trapped underground for more than two months and the whole country, the whole world even, believed in them. The story on Yahoo!News reads: “After the first capsule came out of the manhole-sized opening, Avalos emerged as bystanders cheered, clapped and broke into a chant of “Chi! Chi! Chi! Le! Le! Le!” — the country’s name.”
Holy shit, right? When’s the last time you heard a chant of “USA! USA! USA!” that wasn’t at a partisan rally? When it wasn’t a way to forward the idea that we’re a better country than everywhere else?
Let me say, that meanwhile, back here, we’re calling each other witches and bullying homosexuals until they commit suicide. No wonder “god,” or “fate,” or whatever you want to call it blessed Chile first. Tonight everyone should realize that we’re not #1, no matter what jingoistic slogan you have in needlepoint on your wall. Tonight we, as Americans should realize that, despite those faded bumper stickers from 2001, we have forgotten something.
It shouldn’t take a disaster for us to realize that we need to cooperate to save something. We’re drowning right now - flailing around and yelling for help. But at the same time, we’re tiring ourselves out. If we stop flailing, stop the derisive partisan arguing and stand on our tippy-toes, we’ll realize there’s a bottom down there, and that- oh - we can touch.
About a week ago, my dad finished his part of my financial aid statement and sent it to me for confirmation and to sign it. After I did that, I had to bring it to the Financial Aid Department and drop it off. I got the package in which the statement was mailed and I reviewed it, signed it, and set off to bring it to the Financial Aid Department.
Now, the financial aid department is in Admissions. I said this to myself as I left my classroom in the English Department building. Instead of going to Admissions, I went to the Business Office, where they told me, “no, you need to go to Admissions.” I smacked myself in the forehead and then said, “why the hell did I go to the Business Office. Dammit, Mondays.”
I left the Business Office and instead of going to Admissions, I went to the Administration Building (the whole while muttering, “you idiot, you have to go to Admissions. ADMISSIONS”). I casually walked into the Administration Building, and without noticing, walked into the Registrar’s Office and said,
“Hi, I have this Financial Aid stuff.”
“You need to go to Admissions,” the lady behind the desk replied.
“Son of a BITCH.”
“Monday, huh?”
“Mm.”
So, I set off to Admissions, having first gone to two buildings in a span of five minutes and telling myself that I needed to go to Admissions. I get there, drop my shit off, and meander back across campus. Probably to the wrong dorm. In fact, this doesn’t look like my room at all. Shit.
I’ve been here three years and I have no idea where anything is.
Today, my professor was discussing the neoclassical, natural law version of the supply/demand model in comparison to the heterodox, socially influenced one. He was criticizing the naturalization of a man-made and man-regulated economy when he said that we should all be wary of anything in the news justified because it is “natural.”
The first thing that came to mind was the argument against global warming as climate change. That kind of thing is exactly the naturalization of a synthetic issue. There’s scientific evidence that the 19th Century industrial revolution had a significant effect on the environment and the ecosystems surrounding the polluted centers. Hell, even without science we can see the way humans have changed the natural world (i.e. the Exxon Valdez, dolphins in tuna nets, animals with their heads stuck in those plastic 6-pack rings, etc, etc).
It makes sense to me now that the opposition to global warming is that it’s a natural thing. The easiest way to justify doing nothing is to say, “nah, it’s cool, it’ll just fix it self like it usually does.”
And THAT reminds me of this old joke from elementary school:
This guy is in a bar and he sees this hot young lady with blond hair. He walks up to her and asks, “Is your hair dyed?” She says, “It’s natural.” and brushes her hair with her hand.
Later, he sees a hot brunette and asks her, “Is your hair natural?” She says the same as the blond.
Suddenly, he sees a hot girl with green hair. He asks, “Is your hair dyed?” She pushes her hand over her nose, covers it with boogers, wipes it in her hair and says, “It’s natural.”
No, it’s snot.
Yesterday, in my economics class, this guy started arguing that people have an intrinsic need to want. That people are born wanting to do nothing more than consume. In this way, advertising and other influences from the media do nothing to make a person want something more. They just want it.
The professor started arguing with him, asking the student how long advertising has been around. Turns out that, in the course of all humanity, advertising has been around for a fraction of the time that people have walked the earth.
He then mentioned that the first people were hunter-gatherers that worked in a team to share everything that they could kill just to stay alive. They didn’t have possessions, they just had relationships and what they needed to survive. He explained that the communal living of early human tribes were the basis of what humans intrinsically need or want.
The whole time this is happening, I’m in the back of the room with my mouth agape. Normally I’m the person who argues with the student who says anything like this in class. Yeah, I’m that douchebag. But this guy, with a doctorate and a nice suit, just completely leveled this kid. At best, I would have kicked him in the shins and run away. At best. His was a completely rational argument based in reality and there was no way to rebut it.
It may not be economics, but I think I can learn a lot from this guy.
I just got done watching John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show, and Janeane Garofalo’s bit about flip-flops.
About two months ago, I saw 28 Days Later and decided I had to re-think my choice of footwear. I stopped wearing flip-flops every day as per my usual pedal wardrobe. Instead, I started choosing shoes based on the ability to run from velociraptors and/or the undead.
Now, I have one pair of flip-flops, a pair of boat shoes, checkered slip-ons, running shoes, and two pairs of converse. I don’t have “professional shoes” or high heels simply because living is more important to me than appearance.
