Kaleidoscope Eyes

We as individuals must pride ourselves on having a unique perspective, one which proves we are not drones, that we have identities, and that we breathe because we want to… instead of because we have to. We first answer to ourselves, and we speak for our convictions; we do not speak on convictions. We take in dissent and allow it to round the discussion. We do not splinter off and sequester our arguments but attach to common roots, we become entangled, only to break free and break new ground again.

When a new outlook is born, what do we see? We can choose to believe all views are centered and in tidy compartments, where one is clearly right and the other clearly wrong. Or, we can choose to tolerate ambiguity and accept that views can be fragmented because we are a polarized people. This means that we present facts as facts from which we all draw conclusions and then develop opinions. We must accept that our opinions, however founded upon fact, are sometimes swayed by emotion, past experience, and a simple disconnect between the subject matter and the reality to which it applies. That is, we are polarized not because theory, fact, and law contradict one another but.... because the course of history has written codes by which large factions of people abide.

These codes, these disciplines, are lifestyles centered on morality or a total lack thereof. Because of this, ethics sit in the middle ground; these are used as justifiable means. Ethical people measure their means in a very formulaic way, by calculating the aggregate benefit to society and themselves… playing the almighty. If it did not directly affect their standing, the ethical, immoral person would not question the effects of a course of action; this is done out of self-servitude.  When ethics are taught, it is so because they are somehow not inherent. So, ethics is learned behavior. Internalizing ethical conduct creates a pretense; people can pretend to have moral interests when these do not come from moral codes at all. Ethical interests serve as appropriate behavior, like manners being taught to a kid, where moral interests serve a more unconditional belief that the act is right and good.

As society and self come together and apart, we regress and we grow. After careful consideration, we filter out the things with which we do not agree, and we blend in those that we admire. People offer amazing ideas, opinions, and valuable information but also introduce undue skepticism, bias, and completely wayward advice. As we walk the halls filled with our lives’ passers-by, look through a different scope. View the world with kaleidoscope eyes. 

The World We Get Lost In

Beneath the wealth is a fallen society,

where money has out-priced family…

…been force-fed religion and group therapy…

“no, counselor, you don't understand me...”

I really think the gleam of wealth is blinding,

not really what it seems…

higher livin’ aint peaches and cream,

not coupled with high self-esteem.

Members of the human race:

I stand and challenge to unite,

not divide and fight, but combine to guard our rights...

We give up more than we take away,

and to this day, not much good has came...

but I digress... all consumption a function of stress,

each person doing more with less, working to be the best...

…shit, an uphill climb, here I come again…  where should I begin?

It's a race to the finish that I've started all too much,

running from the problems on a broken crutch,

chasing the gain - fighting mental strain...

sure, I could abstain, but with all the disdain,

disruption, and just plain destruction

can I not aid the pain??? 

I came to you to explain that this is no game…

…the effects are known, but the momentum carries on.

Not sure where I’m goin’ but I know I’m not there.

You know where I’m coming from?

The lot of you can make the same claim…

I don’t doubt you’ve had your share of change,

but only so much can I bear…

One minute you’ve got someone and not the next year….

Can we settle into a groove? It’s not something I have to prove…

That it feels more natural to fall into a behavioral pattern…

Let me say, there’s one thing I’ve got…. a perpetual groove... no more turns... 

Solitary Confinement

A deep, dark moment in the corner of a room.

A shadowy presence sparks a dismal gloom.

You can control your own mood… don’t let it loom.

We need to massage, and we need to groom,

If we want someone else in the room.

Tragic affairs bring oneself to mourn…

…have lived a life ensconced with scorn….

This born from want to piece together what’s torn.

A lot is forlorn, but more is forgone.

Always wanting what we lost all along.

To build a lonesome resolve, we can risk the rest….

…asking not for another’s respect….

…stealing hope from the lives we dissect.

A tempered manic or a simple disgrace.

Humanity knocks, do you answer with grace…

...or step out of the race...?

The bags are packed for a trip to nowhere.

The mind creates stories. A real one is rare.

The sickness creeps on, locked up in despair.

A moment had passed that felt like a year.

I wind back the clock and run the gamut on fear. 

Anti-Social Networks

Let’s talk about social networks.  Do they entice people to socialize or are they simply tools that allow people to pseudo-interact with one another? The space between our interactions as real people, as opposed to virtual people, must not always be filled with online check-ins, proof of existence, self-accolades, or veiled criticisms. The virtual space that we occupy needs more substance; elsewise, we are living like vapid fools amidst infinite information.

Should a friend not virtually check-in, they might be assumed dead or otherwise living a life of tear-jerking boredom. In this way, social networks can be very much enslaving. They can be a slow amalgamation into oppression, where introversion proliferates each successive generation by the same rate at which technology has propagated our society’s youth. This is all very much sacrilegious to the true act of living life, which has become but a sheer reenactment of life. We sit in a place with set parameters. A pre-defined portal.

Should one actually bring to light a topic of real discussion, one of great controversy, one with actual merit, they must carefully phrase themselves to an audience of lurkers ready to pounce on anything outside of the realm of widely accepted.

Should one remain personal and open enough to speak on their conviction, they will run the risk of complete disregard, chastisement, or the online equivalent to being “shanked”... bare buttocks and all. This is what it feels like to have one’s persona rejected by what digi-merica says are the only friends that really matter. These friends, these online reaffirmations, dare I say those who are apostles for idolatry, are sometimes mirages of drought-like proportions, under which we are actually sucked away from the people who transcend it all.

We “like” things rather than actually live. We share rather than create. There is no punctuation because there is no sentence structure.  The real meaning of anything becomes suspect.  We sink with perfect posture and a rising tolerance for mediocrity.

And so I ask: At what point did we all succumb to the temptress who drew us in…. the thief who taught us to live vicariously through others? Others… among which is a large faction of people who are mirroring all the others, along with which is an even greater set that is actually begging for credit from peers, through transparent and pathetic acts, in what is the furthest thing from a meritocracy that an environment could actually depict?