Below is where the idea of this blog started. (posted to some friends on facebook) I’ve decided not to edit the original text so it doesn’t lose the written at 4 in the morning/ passionate rant feel.
“It’s 4:04 am as I’m writing this. You can thank my roommate’s snoring friend if you end up liking what I have to say.
A lot of you I haven’t talked to in a long time but we were probably somewhat close, some of you I talk to, but perhaps not on a deeper lever (if you have been tagged there must of be something special about you), few of you know me well and this is just to update you on a few things.
This past winter was extremely hard for me, yet my life is at it’s “best”. I got into my first choice college, Sean is only an hour away and I see him every weekend, and I’m studying a subject that I have always been interested in, environmental studies. Yet at the same time I have realized all the things that are wrong with life; not just mine, but other people’s lives too. People don’t live at all.
There are so many things I want to do with my life. Actually there are so many things I don’t want to do with my life. As an environmentalist major, I feel I am obliged to hate consumer culture. But when I look at my class, I know that not even a fraction of them would sacrifice their next trip to Walmart / Wegmans to save the earth. The world seems to consist of either people completely apathetic or people who pretend to care but are too afraid to make any real sacrifice. I honestly think there are more people afraid than apathetic.
You hear excuses all the time. “I would stop shopping at the mega mart, but there is nowhere else to go!”, “I would stop driving my car if there were more public transportation!” The list goes on and on (way past my rein of environmental issues).
I have been thinking lately about how I want to purge myself of consumer culture. How I am going to go about doing it, how I am going to let others know what I’m doing (because if you care enough about anything you do it’s awesome to let others know). I have been reading some things on eco-feminism, green anarchy, and anti-consumerism and it all fascinates me. It sound so easy, but living the “college student” life it’s not.
This post to all of you is my first real initiative. I want to literally cut all the crap out of my life.
This includes
Buying useless shit
Using stupid excuses to get out of something that I know is right
being afraid of everyone and everything for no reason
eating meat
treating myself as if I’m not smart enough to pull an extreme life change off
letting my past (and the past of others) effect my future
being a stupid college student
The reason why I am posting this pubic is that I have lost connection, not made connections when I could, just want to make sure the connection is still there with all of you. All of you inspire me in one way or another. All of you I trust to understand what I’m going through, I’m sure many if not all are/have going/gone through something similar.
I hope to find the support / inspiration I need to pull myself out of the lifelong depression I’ve been in. I need to get out of the drab mindset that mainstream culture has shaped.
I will be blogging on my experiences (because it’s a format I learn from). I will post the link up soon, and feel free to follow. If not I won’t be offended. Once again, I need this time to be a real change, before I fall into something too deep to climb out of. ”
Well here it is, I’m finally ready.
Amanda,
You have inspired ME so much! Both by being the brave, soulful person you are and, specifically TODAY, by sharing this post.
This alone has given me an enormous helping of food for thought: “The world seems to consist of either people completely apathetic or people who pretend to care but are too afraid to make any real sacrifice. I honestly think there are more people afraid than apathetic.”
Thanks for including me in your thoughts and life!
You are very welcome Nancy. What I will probably elaborate on later is that I don’t think those people are just pretending to care, I know many really do, they are just too afraid there is nothing they can do to change anything. I was stuck in that category for a really long time (still climbing out of it) and I can easily understand that perspective. Society has put the fear into us that we must not question the current system, and made it easier to live the way they want us to (by supplying us with stores like Walmart, public schools, some forms of medical care, etc…) to trick some into feeling as if there is nothing to complain about/ criticize. What people need to learn is that as citizens of the earth it should always be safe to criticize/question any system that has any sort of power over you (whether it be work, school, state/fed gov.). It is our right as people. Correcting my above statement about people and their caring will probably be an upcoming article.
Thanks for reading, it means a whole lot to me.
I look forward to keeping up with your blog!
[…] my correction to that statement from what started it all. […]