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ebonlockQuick LOTR snippet here, read Faramir's scenes through the Google translator clicky please.
And the Ten Minute Version of TTT
I'd been pondering Senator Byrd's words all evening, trying to figure out my apathy and cynicism for all things political in the past few years. What struck me is that back in NY I used to be quite the little activist. I spent two years in the College of Environmental Science and Forestry prepared to become a crusader for nature. Then I realized I wasn't cut out for the hard sciences and shifted back to my first love, art, or more specifically art history, got my degree, and set up and ran a museum. I got to interact with the community, and my favorite thing to do was to lead school groups around. Passing on information to kids, figuring out ways to spark their imaginations and keep them interested made me feel like I was giving something back to the world.
I've been very lucky in life, and since moving out here to the west coast I haven't had to do much in the way of struggling. Being freed up from the burden of just making enough to survive felt almost decadent, and I will admit I wallowed in it for a good long time. Several years in fact. But I noticed that this contentment was turning into complacency, I just didn't know what to do about it. Well being depressed for the past few years hasn't helped.
What I noticed, though, is that along with this apathy I was losing touch with the things I loved, my art, my political activism, and even my religion. They're all tied together, they're all a part of what makes me me, if you know what I mean.
I've given a lot of ideas lip-service recently, I've wanted to do a lot of things and have actually done very few. Dancing has been great, having more creative outlets is a wonderful thing, but I've been using it as an escape. A way to avoid dealing with the loss of so many other elements of my life, and essential elements too.
I'm no longer idealistic or naive enough to think I can change the world all by myself. I got that out of my system in college, thankfully. And maybe I can't do everything I might want to, but I can start making some
changes and taking some positive steps today. Not tomorrow, not next week, not in a few months, today.
The steps I intend to take aren't really all that important, and I'm not going to bore anyone (too late!) with more details than necessary. But it's high time I rejoined the human race and stopped being a cynical, bitter, angry hermit. There's a lot of bad stuff out there, a lot of pain, but there's a great deal of good too. And dammit, it's worth figting for.
Oh jeez, now I sound like Samwise...
And the Ten Minute Version of TTT
I'd been pondering Senator Byrd's words all evening, trying to figure out my apathy and cynicism for all things political in the past few years. What struck me is that back in NY I used to be quite the little activist. I spent two years in the College of Environmental Science and Forestry prepared to become a crusader for nature. Then I realized I wasn't cut out for the hard sciences and shifted back to my first love, art, or more specifically art history, got my degree, and set up and ran a museum. I got to interact with the community, and my favorite thing to do was to lead school groups around. Passing on information to kids, figuring out ways to spark their imaginations and keep them interested made me feel like I was giving something back to the world.
I've been very lucky in life, and since moving out here to the west coast I haven't had to do much in the way of struggling. Being freed up from the burden of just making enough to survive felt almost decadent, and I will admit I wallowed in it for a good long time. Several years in fact. But I noticed that this contentment was turning into complacency, I just didn't know what to do about it. Well being depressed for the past few years hasn't helped.
What I noticed, though, is that along with this apathy I was losing touch with the things I loved, my art, my political activism, and even my religion. They're all tied together, they're all a part of what makes me me, if you know what I mean.
I've given a lot of ideas lip-service recently, I've wanted to do a lot of things and have actually done very few. Dancing has been great, having more creative outlets is a wonderful thing, but I've been using it as an escape. A way to avoid dealing with the loss of so many other elements of my life, and essential elements too.
I'm no longer idealistic or naive enough to think I can change the world all by myself. I got that out of my system in college, thankfully. And maybe I can't do everything I might want to, but I can start making some
changes and taking some positive steps today. Not tomorrow, not next week, not in a few months, today.
The steps I intend to take aren't really all that important, and I'm not going to bore anyone (too late!) with more details than necessary. But it's high time I rejoined the human race and stopped being a cynical, bitter, angry hermit. There's a lot of bad stuff out there, a lot of pain, but there's a great deal of good too. And dammit, it's worth figting for.
Oh jeez, now I sound like Samwise...
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Re:
Date: 2003-02-13 10:07 am (UTC)"Even the smallest person can change the world."
And I'm reminded of Gandalf's words too: "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." We can decide to sit idly by and watch the world go to hell in a handbasket, or we can decide to do something about it. Maybe it won't be a big thing, but it's something. Even if it's just changing our own perspective and trying to be the best people we can.
no subject
Date: 2003-02-13 10:40 am (UTC)