Freedom, Money & Corruption
There has been something wrong in society, something that has, ultimately, affected all of us. This is what we call money. We collect things, to show we have money. We use money to replace ourselves, we validate ourselves with it, it has become the basis of our philosophy.
I hate money. I hate that money makes me think carefully, that it can both limit and free me.
The recession has been in the news a lot lately, for obvious reasons, and we can't ignore what an impact this has on us - the individual. Apparently, investing money is a serious task to handle - if it isn't invested in something which ensures profit, we lose. I blame credit card companies for the recession, although I know that the insurance companies in the USA are really at the bottom of this (because of the mortgage stuff). But, thinking about it, credit card companies push credit cards on anybody. Why? Because they have super inflated interest rates which ensures they get a profit. That is, IF everybody actually paid their credit cards. And as we all know (or we should know) most of the people in developed society are poor and only a few are rich. This means a lot of poor people have credit cards that they can't pay off. Compound that problem over and over again, and you have insurance companies going down the tube and a lot less money than we initially expected. Credit card money isn't actually money, its a symbol of money, a symbol which indeed does equate to an actual dollar figure. Giving out credit cards - credit for real money - has proven to be a mass failure. I'm in debt, and pretty much everybody I know is in debt. All because credit card companies made a bad investment trying to make money. But isn't that really the problem with society anyway? Instead of trying to make ourselves sustainable, or educated or whatever, we only want to make ourselves profit. And, with only so much money in our society only a few can actually obtain profit. Its a sad reality that there are, indeed, only a few people with most of society's money; the rest of us happen to be poor.
While talking to my mom about school, she keeps saying how I can make lots of money because I'll have an education. This could be the case, but this isn't why I go to school. If I keep using money as an excuse to do anything, then that would make me a selfish, greedy person. Also, it would be counter productive since I owe $45000 in student loans, if money were my ultimate goal I would've dropped out a long time ago to save it (or at least work instead). I'm probably worrying her when I say such things, but why the hell should money dictate who I am?
The whole money-craze has become epidemic. I live in a sea full of strangers, we don't talk, or if we do its because we bump into each other in the elevator while they're on their way to work. Theres no common ground, hell, if I wanted to go down to the gym or pool I'd still be among strangers although we all live close together. Money, it seems, has brought distance between people. Everybody is so focused on money that they forget about all the other gems in life. Instead of mulling over existence, we mull over bills and budgets. Its sick. Hell, it goes beyond that: if you feel insecure, money can cure your problems! Feel fat? Lipo! Feel like you have a small dick? Buy a shiny new car! Feel stupid, buy a handbag. Thats what society has come down to- people buy false security without realizing that it doesn't actually help...
Money can also hold a lot of people back. It can prevent intelligent people from obtaining an education (and I see this all the time!). It can also prevent people from obtaining proper treatment (this is why we have so many homeless people). If money were as great as they say it is, then we would use it to better ourselves as a whole - free education, free social support services, free health care! But how could we appreciate what other people have if we have it ourselves? We can't. So CEOs, politicians and corporations get to squander the wealth on themselves so they can live in the suburbs and drive a SUV to work everyday. While so many people are jobless and lacking proper resources. But this way we can keep working to be just like them, even if we never see a penny. It inspires us to get more money, to be successful, so we, too, don't have to care about other people and live in the bliss of being a selfish jackass.
We don't realize it, but we affect one another in ways we don't even know. A person jumping in front of a skytrain may displace thousands of people in a day, but I doubt they think about this before they jump to their fate. Just like we don't really realize how we affect each other with our money. The way to keep the economy running is to keep spending money like its christmas, this way people can keep their jobs because somebody is making a profit. However, this isn't good for us in the long run. If we keep buying American-made goods in Canada then that creates a dependency on them. If we keep buying German cars then our own home-made car businesses will fail. The key to keeping our society - our communities - afloat is for us to start buying local. Buying local not only ensures that our society becomes independent and sustainable but it also gives US jobs. Think about it - how much of what we buy is actually made WITHIN the country? Think those red peppers at safeway are grown in Canada? Think again. One day its going to hit us hard, we'll realize that unless we buy a hybrid car we can't afford gas; our globalization ties will be severed because gas (a quickly depleting energy source) won't be as cheap or obtainable as it is now. Goods won't be able to be moved great distances, and I really doubt that Chilliwack has enough farms to feed all of Metro Vancouver.
Humans are community-based people at heart. We love to live in communities cram packed with other humans, but we've lost sight of the importance of community living. Sustainability can both mean being self-sufficient and environment-conscious, this means that we are aware of the world around us, aware of the life beyond the city limits and aware of how our lifestyle ultimately affects others and our natural habitat. Community life has been maintained for thousands of years by relying on each other - not on goods made by distant worlds - we need to remember that our selfishness has disrupted our lifestyle and the world, possibly ruining it for our future generations. Unless we realize how money actually works, all we'll see is a few rich people telling us how to live through mind-melting advertisements rather than something bigger (like education) which can give us humans insight to the world around us.
I hate money. I hate that money makes me think carefully, that it can both limit and free me.
The recession has been in the news a lot lately, for obvious reasons, and we can't ignore what an impact this has on us - the individual. Apparently, investing money is a serious task to handle - if it isn't invested in something which ensures profit, we lose. I blame credit card companies for the recession, although I know that the insurance companies in the USA are really at the bottom of this (because of the mortgage stuff). But, thinking about it, credit card companies push credit cards on anybody. Why? Because they have super inflated interest rates which ensures they get a profit. That is, IF everybody actually paid their credit cards. And as we all know (or we should know) most of the people in developed society are poor and only a few are rich. This means a lot of poor people have credit cards that they can't pay off. Compound that problem over and over again, and you have insurance companies going down the tube and a lot less money than we initially expected. Credit card money isn't actually money, its a symbol of money, a symbol which indeed does equate to an actual dollar figure. Giving out credit cards - credit for real money - has proven to be a mass failure. I'm in debt, and pretty much everybody I know is in debt. All because credit card companies made a bad investment trying to make money. But isn't that really the problem with society anyway? Instead of trying to make ourselves sustainable, or educated or whatever, we only want to make ourselves profit. And, with only so much money in our society only a few can actually obtain profit. Its a sad reality that there are, indeed, only a few people with most of society's money; the rest of us happen to be poor.
While talking to my mom about school, she keeps saying how I can make lots of money because I'll have an education. This could be the case, but this isn't why I go to school. If I keep using money as an excuse to do anything, then that would make me a selfish, greedy person. Also, it would be counter productive since I owe $45000 in student loans, if money were my ultimate goal I would've dropped out a long time ago to save it (or at least work instead). I'm probably worrying her when I say such things, but why the hell should money dictate who I am?
The whole money-craze has become epidemic. I live in a sea full of strangers, we don't talk, or if we do its because we bump into each other in the elevator while they're on their way to work. Theres no common ground, hell, if I wanted to go down to the gym or pool I'd still be among strangers although we all live close together. Money, it seems, has brought distance between people. Everybody is so focused on money that they forget about all the other gems in life. Instead of mulling over existence, we mull over bills and budgets. Its sick. Hell, it goes beyond that: if you feel insecure, money can cure your problems! Feel fat? Lipo! Feel like you have a small dick? Buy a shiny new car! Feel stupid, buy a handbag. Thats what society has come down to- people buy false security without realizing that it doesn't actually help...
Money can also hold a lot of people back. It can prevent intelligent people from obtaining an education (and I see this all the time!). It can also prevent people from obtaining proper treatment (this is why we have so many homeless people). If money were as great as they say it is, then we would use it to better ourselves as a whole - free education, free social support services, free health care! But how could we appreciate what other people have if we have it ourselves? We can't. So CEOs, politicians and corporations get to squander the wealth on themselves so they can live in the suburbs and drive a SUV to work everyday. While so many people are jobless and lacking proper resources. But this way we can keep working to be just like them, even if we never see a penny. It inspires us to get more money, to be successful, so we, too, don't have to care about other people and live in the bliss of being a selfish jackass.
We don't realize it, but we affect one another in ways we don't even know. A person jumping in front of a skytrain may displace thousands of people in a day, but I doubt they think about this before they jump to their fate. Just like we don't really realize how we affect each other with our money. The way to keep the economy running is to keep spending money like its christmas, this way people can keep their jobs because somebody is making a profit. However, this isn't good for us in the long run. If we keep buying American-made goods in Canada then that creates a dependency on them. If we keep buying German cars then our own home-made car businesses will fail. The key to keeping our society - our communities - afloat is for us to start buying local. Buying local not only ensures that our society becomes independent and sustainable but it also gives US jobs. Think about it - how much of what we buy is actually made WITHIN the country? Think those red peppers at safeway are grown in Canada? Think again. One day its going to hit us hard, we'll realize that unless we buy a hybrid car we can't afford gas; our globalization ties will be severed because gas (a quickly depleting energy source) won't be as cheap or obtainable as it is now. Goods won't be able to be moved great distances, and I really doubt that Chilliwack has enough farms to feed all of Metro Vancouver.
Humans are community-based people at heart. We love to live in communities cram packed with other humans, but we've lost sight of the importance of community living. Sustainability can both mean being self-sufficient and environment-conscious, this means that we are aware of the world around us, aware of the life beyond the city limits and aware of how our lifestyle ultimately affects others and our natural habitat. Community life has been maintained for thousands of years by relying on each other - not on goods made by distant worlds - we need to remember that our selfishness has disrupted our lifestyle and the world, possibly ruining it for our future generations. Unless we realize how money actually works, all we'll see is a few rich people telling us how to live through mind-melting advertisements rather than something bigger (like education) which can give us humans insight to the world around us.