Opaque Lucidity

Already On The Way

I'm in one of those moods that I have trouble explaining. It all started today when Kelli and I were in Barnes and Noble. She was looking through the stacks while I hit the Starbucks. I was sort of wandering around aimlessly with my drink when I saw a magazine lying on one of the tables: Adbusters. Adbusters is a magazine and website devoted to fighting the effects of rampant consumerism in our society. While I can certainly agree with some of the magazine's observations, I have trouble with any group of people who complain about the very means by which they exists. The magazine is printed on large, glossy pages, thanks to a printing industry that survives on mass mailings and thick mags full of color ads. Their website is accessible only because of the giant telcos and others who pay to run fiber everywhere you can imagine. You get my point.

As I was thumbing through the magazine, I overheard a conversation between two 14ish girls sitting near me. One of the said to the other, "The average American home uses 20x more electricity than the average home in the rest of the world." "Wow", said the other girl.

I had the almost uncontrollable urge to turn and say, "And? Are you doing anything about it? Or are you just living the life? Here you sit with your little East End life complaining about the very things that make your life comfortable. You'll leave here and go home to your cell phone, iPod, broadband internet connection, hair dryer and hot water heater. Your mommy will take your to school tomorrow in your family's SUV, which is about four times larger than what your family probably needs since, statistically speaking, your parents probably either have only one or two children. You'll graduate from high school and go to college where some egghead professor who's never spent a day in the outside world will indoctrinate you into believing that the nation in which you live is the worst thing to happen to mankind since the Black Plague. You'll hook up with guys who don't give a damn about you and you'll let them have their way with you because you've been led to believe this is just the way it is. When you have trouble with the real relationships in your life, you'll scratch your head and wonder why you always pick losers but never, never will you realize you've never seen an example of real manhood, they kind they don't show on TV. And then you'll have kids of your own and your own house you can't afford and you'll feel guilty about having a good life so you'll vote for some fever swamp Democrat and buy carbon credits and put your recycle bin out on garbage day. And you'll hate your life because you gave up all your dreams in the name of getting along and living a life that someone else chose for you, a group of someones you'll never know: the average American family."

And then she would've cried or called the cops. But there you have it.