Whee oo
Well, yesterday was good - went downtown shopping with Kayla and bought a lovely t-shirt from H&M. It's a grey polo with green stripes and it's soooo soft and perfect. And I got three pieces of jewellry, two plastic rings (one purple with white hearts and one rainbow striped) and a white heart with a sunflower on it as a necklace piece. We also sat in a park outside of Kensington market, and smoked a joint. It was so cool, because I didn't know this park existed, and it was just a bunch of people sitting calmly enjoying the warmth and knowing others were nearby. There were two men walking on a tightrope they rigged between trees, and they'd help these asian men who wanted to try, it was sweet. Kayla and I were joined by this fellow Sean, we had a good hour long conversation, except Kayla and I were a bit out of it. But it was lovely. I was so at peace with the world.
Anyway, on with my new findings. My new mission for education - to be informed of the world events to the best of my ability has grown into a really nerdy but intensely fun part of my day. Except when I read really disturbing articles that once again, instill within me a measure of despair that makes me ponder the eternally debated question: Are we really progressing?
I guess you could say, in one light, yes we are. Advances in technology are astounding - especially the one I'm using now, the computer and the internet. Which has changed the way in which we communicate so completely that we are suddenly given a wealth of information at our fingertips if we only search for it. This is all very good and impressive. But it seems as though as complicated and as astounding scientific reasearch continues to be, we'll always be thrown by the basic questions and attributes of our human lives. Such as are we only given these amazing new tools for learning, and growth (alleged, that is) if we are also given, hand in hand, large problems such as Aids and world hunger and poverty. The whole "good and evil" concept comes to mind when I think about this. Because I have often said we only can experience good when we are given it with evil. It's the whole idea of value. Good things have no value if they aren't beside evil. If they weren't, they would just be things. Now I wonder if we can get to that place. Where world hunger is solved, and it's no longer "good" because there is no "bad" about it, it's just the course of events.
But with world hunger being solved, we also have to address the scary issue of resources. In Canada at least (don't know about the US) in geography we focus a lot of time on the concept of resources, for which I'm actually thankful. Now I'm somewhat prepared for the eventual war over water that I'm sure will be instigated by some country against Canada. Most likely the US. My friend Nora is convinced this will happen in about 50 years. I believe there are books about it, too. Cheery. Anyway, in science two years ago my teacher opened me up to a whole new idea of the fact that we could not live as we do in North America and some parts of Europe if people in Africa don't starve and are merciessly taken advantage of. That is disturbing. But the thing is when I really consider it, would I actually be willing to give up all I have?
I'm not actually sure. The sad thing is I'll probably never have to seriously act on what I choose because I'm fairly certain in my lifetime, we won't be in a position to give up what we have here where it would actually help others in different countries. But something I can't ignore is that humans are excellent at aclimatizing. Meaning that we in this part of the world are very used to the luxeries we have, and that those in Africa are (I think..not sure..obviously have not been to Africa to confirm) used to what they have. That's not to say that they are discontented, but I would think if they had even a tiny bit of what we have they would be content. Meaning food, clean water, shelter, and then some. So I guess when you think about it, those who have it all couldn't potentially lose very little in order to save very many. But again, this is all speculation and could not prove to be true.
I have decided at this point that the best thing to do is try our best to acheive balance. But things are so off balance in the world right now that it seems almost impossible. My science teacher maintains that the key to changing how things stand is helping the countries that aren't able to is to teach them how to be self -sustainable. But it's a catch 22, seemingly, because if we do that, we can't have the same standard of living that we're used to. And I'm willing to bet that most of us (myself included) aren't really willing to igve it all up.
But then, this is a cop out I know, but it is true - my generation has been left with a lot of shit to deal with because of our ancestors. And I guess we're going to have to try our fucking hearts out to correct all the wrong that has been reaped. But are we equal to it? I guess this all comes back to my goal: education. If we can all be aware of what's going on, then maybe we can work together to come up with a workable solution. But we humans are so fucking contrary that it is a daunting task. Hopefully we will be proven to be equal to it.
Something I do want to someday be able to address is the problem, I think, with the food industry. Again we seem to have made progress but with it comes larger and scarier set backs. I.e. the whole surplus thing. That's the whole problem with the food industry, it seems to me. We are making too much for the wrong populations. The excess of food in my own house is scary. Most of it rots away. I blame my mom (because she has not taken the time to teach me how to cookand make things tasty, so I just don't use it because if I try by myself ,I waste everything anyway) but the excess in North America is scarier. Balance again comes to mind, we should learn how to provide the food that is needed, and not too much. North America provides itself with far too much, lots of which goes to waste, and other poorer nations cannot provide itself with nearly enough.
Frustrating. It seems almost impossible to make any headway.
Grargh.
Anyway, on with my new findings. My new mission for education - to be informed of the world events to the best of my ability has grown into a really nerdy but intensely fun part of my day. Except when I read really disturbing articles that once again, instill within me a measure of despair that makes me ponder the eternally debated question: Are we really progressing?
I guess you could say, in one light, yes we are. Advances in technology are astounding - especially the one I'm using now, the computer and the internet. Which has changed the way in which we communicate so completely that we are suddenly given a wealth of information at our fingertips if we only search for it. This is all very good and impressive. But it seems as though as complicated and as astounding scientific reasearch continues to be, we'll always be thrown by the basic questions and attributes of our human lives. Such as are we only given these amazing new tools for learning, and growth (alleged, that is) if we are also given, hand in hand, large problems such as Aids and world hunger and poverty. The whole "good and evil" concept comes to mind when I think about this. Because I have often said we only can experience good when we are given it with evil. It's the whole idea of value. Good things have no value if they aren't beside evil. If they weren't, they would just be things. Now I wonder if we can get to that place. Where world hunger is solved, and it's no longer "good" because there is no "bad" about it, it's just the course of events.
But with world hunger being solved, we also have to address the scary issue of resources. In Canada at least (don't know about the US) in geography we focus a lot of time on the concept of resources, for which I'm actually thankful. Now I'm somewhat prepared for the eventual war over water that I'm sure will be instigated by some country against Canada. Most likely the US. My friend Nora is convinced this will happen in about 50 years. I believe there are books about it, too. Cheery. Anyway, in science two years ago my teacher opened me up to a whole new idea of the fact that we could not live as we do in North America and some parts of Europe if people in Africa don't starve and are merciessly taken advantage of. That is disturbing. But the thing is when I really consider it, would I actually be willing to give up all I have?
I'm not actually sure. The sad thing is I'll probably never have to seriously act on what I choose because I'm fairly certain in my lifetime, we won't be in a position to give up what we have here where it would actually help others in different countries. But something I can't ignore is that humans are excellent at aclimatizing. Meaning that we in this part of the world are very used to the luxeries we have, and that those in Africa are (I think..not sure..obviously have not been to Africa to confirm) used to what they have. That's not to say that they are discontented, but I would think if they had even a tiny bit of what we have they would be content. Meaning food, clean water, shelter, and then some. So I guess when you think about it, those who have it all couldn't potentially lose very little in order to save very many. But again, this is all speculation and could not prove to be true.
I have decided at this point that the best thing to do is try our best to acheive balance. But things are so off balance in the world right now that it seems almost impossible. My science teacher maintains that the key to changing how things stand is helping the countries that aren't able to is to teach them how to be self -sustainable. But it's a catch 22, seemingly, because if we do that, we can't have the same standard of living that we're used to. And I'm willing to bet that most of us (myself included) aren't really willing to igve it all up.
But then, this is a cop out I know, but it is true - my generation has been left with a lot of shit to deal with because of our ancestors. And I guess we're going to have to try our fucking hearts out to correct all the wrong that has been reaped. But are we equal to it? I guess this all comes back to my goal: education. If we can all be aware of what's going on, then maybe we can work together to come up with a workable solution. But we humans are so fucking contrary that it is a daunting task. Hopefully we will be proven to be equal to it.
Something I do want to someday be able to address is the problem, I think, with the food industry. Again we seem to have made progress but with it comes larger and scarier set backs. I.e. the whole surplus thing. That's the whole problem with the food industry, it seems to me. We are making too much for the wrong populations. The excess of food in my own house is scary. Most of it rots away. I blame my mom (because she has not taken the time to teach me how to cookand make things tasty, so I just don't use it because if I try by myself ,I waste everything anyway) but the excess in North America is scarier. Balance again comes to mind, we should learn how to provide the food that is needed, and not too much. North America provides itself with far too much, lots of which goes to waste, and other poorer nations cannot provide itself with nearly enough.
Frustrating. It seems almost impossible to make any headway.
Grargh.