To counter the constant negativity about my personal life in my journal, I figured it's time to post about something that's been on my mind for some time now. This may turn into a really long post, a moderate one, or one where I've left out many things that were on my mind (as is the case with most of my entries), but I feel the need to document it
somewhere. I don't have statistics, and I don't have textbooks to have legitimate support for what I want to discuss, but I do have observation, intuition, and I'm surrounded by it. I want to talk about the condition of over-industrialization.
I haven't lived in Dominican Republic for as long as I would have liked to (if it were up to me, I'd have moved here in my teen years), but living in America and having a separate culture to compare it to has shown me one very evident notion: money comes first here. It is all about money. It's about bureaucracy. It's about socioeconomic class. It's about what you want and disregarding what you have, and also disregarding what you're
capable of having. It's about being able to do anything you want with the thought in mind that there is nothing that can stop you from getting there, and in that mindset you ignore the harsh realities of taxes, of credit, of interest, of loans, and all those financial burdens that each one of us are basically forced to have. Perhaps in a place like Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, or those really happy countries, all your finances really do function idealistically, but while I live here in America, money is the burden and the weakness. I fucking
HATE money, in case you guys didn't know. I think anyone who gloats about the amount of money they have is really not going about living a personally fulfilled life, covering the complex depths of this world like they should. They just think that money will take them everywhere that any human being needs to be, and some people can make that a reality. If they worked very hard for it, then by all means, they should reap the benefits they've made for themselves. But when money becomes the object and not the tool, I think something's very wrong.
There are three words that I have a lot of resentment toward, and they're very common. You hear them all the time, so you have to get used to them. They are "price," "pay," and "discount." Each one of them carries such a weight of self-interest and I really can't fucking stand it. I will sound like the most rampant hippie and typical college-age know-it-all archetype saying this, but money is the root of all evil. Almost everything terrible has to do with money. I rarely hear of a man-brought tragedy that entails the death of innocent people that didn't have some sort of monetary aspect to it. Slavery, war (although there are many reasons related to them, needless to say), drug cartels, political corruption, and I'm sure there's a much longer list. I'm just tired of seeing socioeconomic conflict everywhere and people not giving a shit about each other.
Maybe this is just the ranting of a boy who's had it with retail and with the topic of money really ruining his home life, but at this point, I need some sort of release. I feel good writing this. I'm sure I'm ignorant in some points and probably don't even know what I'm talking about in others, but I can't be the only person who feels this way. Customers will fight through their teeth to get a lowered price on anything, no matter how much inconvenience it causes any party involved (say, a cashier, a retailer, etc.). And producers are certainly no less self-involved. Way back when it was the age of cavemen and cavewomen, I don't exactly think that getting a $12.49 battery pack for $3.59 because it was misplaced where the $3.59 batteries belonged was such an issue for them. You'd think that past the point of survival, an intelligent species would finally learn how to use its resources and really create an almost ideal society (which is NOT a hard concept to come up with, but instead impossible because of humanity's innate corruption and greed due to this rapid increase of industrialization), but look at the world now. There are still genocides, there is still hunger even with the abundant resources on this planet (which go to waste more times per day than I'd even like to measure), still racism, still prejudice, still bullying, still utter and complete misunderstanding for those that we share the planet with (like species or otherwise), and it's beyond me how people as a whole are so incredibly... STUPID.
The industrialized society benefits those that are hard-working and intelligent, or just plain lucky. If you know how to function around it and work through the system, then you should be fine so long as all works well (with your level of optimal economic choices and the government in which you live, as well as other factors considered). But even in the system itself, people are just too entranced by their fantasies and disregard what they can and cannot have. Why am I getting a million people calling me about the new iPad when I'm sure that a good amount of those people are probably struggling or behind on their mortgages, or bitching about how they have to take care of the kids that they've chosen to create? I once, against my own control, gave a very disdainful look to a woman who told me she was buying an iTouch for her 8-year-old's birthday. I immediately felt sorry for the girl, being given something so advanced so early, which will probably cause her to join the group of ignorant people who haven't spent enough time reading and examining the world before going off and taking the modern manifestations of its progress. They become entrenched with the latest bullshit, and don't really question anything.
I am not a member of the Peace Corps. I am not helping with Sudan. I am not heavy into recycling. I do not pray. I rarely donate. I am not a saint or a monk. I know this. I know that I am an ant to this society just as anyone else may be, but even with that in mind, I try to be as considerate as possible to the people I encounter. Whether I see you every single day or will only see you once in my life, I will respect you and be nice to you. It's unfortunate to say I'd be naive and frankly, stupid, to expect 100% reciprocation. There are some people I really aspire to be like in this world, and I consider myself really lucky because the people I've met offline and on have really made me feel like there are others who want a progressive turnover in their lifetime. There are a lot of parts of this world that I really love, and make me really value the earth I live in. The global public's attitude, though, really has me with some very mixed feelings.
Of course, this entry is oozing with hypocrisy too. I'm typing this from a Dell Inspiron 1545, I have a Droid 1 (at which people scoff at, because I didn't get the latest phone at the time of my upgrade... see what I mean?), I'm in the comfort of my own room on a nice day before heading off to work at Target in a few hours, and I'm looking for a couple of thousand dollars to borrow for school. If I were really 100% true to what I'm saying here, I'd sit out on the streets and avoid money completely. I'd be homeless. I'd beg for nothing and be incredibly nice to everyone I'd encounter, even if they'd be creeped by that random boy who appears homeless. I'd walk everywhere and stopped driving. But who would listen to me? Certainly less than those of you who have read this far. Industrialization really forces new essentials on you. I am careful not to call them "necessities," because even the most basic business class will show you the clear distinction between "needs" and "wants." We need food, shelter, and clothing. There are other needs too, such as love, affection, and sex. Business classes leave those out because they're relative, but health classes don't. I digress, though.
I'm not going to disregard many human accomplishments by saying that I'm completely disappointed in the world and that I don't want to be human. There's been a lot of progress made as a society, but it seems like modern-day people just don't acknowledge everything that they really should to make this world a better place to live in for themselves and for everyone else involved. It's all about getting there first, about getting the most and being in control. In the end, we're all going to end up six feet under and it'd be best to live a life of harmony, especially with the unpredictability of death. It obviously wouldn't matter how I'd feel if I were to die today, because I'd be dead, but if I were to hover over myself, I'd probably be pretty satisfied. I know that I'm not malicious and genuinely care to even the slightest degree about most of the people I come across. There's still so much I want to do in life and I'd really love to look at what I've done and feel completely fulfilled (and that would not be measured with money... EVER). I'll just keep striving, though, to keep being a good person and actually have an impact in some life or lives.
I think I'm finishing here. My train of thought was interrupted by some phone calls and favors asked of me, but I guess this is all pretty clear. I may be incredibly naive when it comes to the complexities of this world, especially when I hope that people could all just get along and stop thinking about themselves, but it doesn't bother me to be ignorant in that sense. If realism is coming to terms with the evils of this world, then I'll be willfully ignorant.
This is just an elaborate layout of what I think every single day.
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