"What do you say when a homeless man asks you if you believe in God?"
I shook my head, taking a bite from my burrito and spilling it's contents all over my plate. I must look like a slob.
"I don't know. What?"
"I don't know either. I mean, I didn't know what to say."
I looked up. His sincere face stared back at mine, gorgeous crystal eyes searching my own plain brown ones, questioning.
"Well, I guess I would tell him the truth about my beliefs. That I don't really believe in the classic Judeo-Christian God, it's more of a living force really, something not idolized or given a human face, but a kind of power connecting all of us and creating us to set the universe in motion."
I am a Deist by nature, the religion of our founding fathers.
He nods.
I crave conversations like this. With people you don't have to worry about offending, people who make you feel like you can say your most intricate philosophical thoughts to, however crazy-sounding, and who understand them, people who allow you to bare your soul.
It's connections like these that make me feel like my opinion matters to someone.
As teenagers, we usually find solace in people our own age. We don't normally get the opportunity to state our philosophies. Adults tend to think of our entire generation as spaced out technology-addicts, glued to our bright screens and and drawn to mindless chatter on social networking sites, MyFace or Twitbook, or some nonsense like that.
But not all of us accept the ideas that are force-fed through MTV or the mindless crap that is played endlessly on the radio.
Some of us actually believe that's there's more to life than mechanical computing boxes or hand held communication devices.
But sometimes I just get so sick of everything.
I get angry at my generation, at the decade that I'm a part of. I get so disgusted with the world, and with myself too, because I am a part of it.
I can't help but gape at stereotypical advertisements and hear to the meaningless rap songs blasting out of cars or see people watching "reality" T.V. shows about dramatic, selfish people with petty problems.
It's enough give our entire generation a bad name.
Some days I can't help but feel like I'm living in some dystopian nightmare equivalent to Fahrenheit 451 or Feed.
I feel brainwashed and lied to.
I wish for simpler times...if such a thing existed in the turbulence and disarray that is human history.
The technology changes, but human nature never does, not really anyway.
I stare at my fellow contemporaries and can't help but worry about the future of humanity.
But not all of us are cause for worry...the idealist in me sees hope as well.
I take another bite from my burrito, it's guts spill over its tin foil straight jacket and land with plop! on top of my corn chips.
"Yes, I agree with you. What you said about God."
"So what did you say to the homeless guy?"
"In the end I told him I believed in God. And then I gave him my chapstick because it was cold outside and his lips looked chapped."
I smiled.
How sweet...
I shook my head, taking a bite from my burrito and spilling it's contents all over my plate. I must look like a slob.
"I don't know. What?"
"I don't know either. I mean, I didn't know what to say."
I looked up. His sincere face stared back at mine, gorgeous crystal eyes searching my own plain brown ones, questioning.
"Well, I guess I would tell him the truth about my beliefs. That I don't really believe in the classic Judeo-Christian God, it's more of a living force really, something not idolized or given a human face, but a kind of power connecting all of us and creating us to set the universe in motion."
I am a Deist by nature, the religion of our founding fathers.
He nods.
I crave conversations like this. With people you don't have to worry about offending, people who make you feel like you can say your most intricate philosophical thoughts to, however crazy-sounding, and who understand them, people who allow you to bare your soul.
It's connections like these that make me feel like my opinion matters to someone.
As teenagers, we usually find solace in people our own age. We don't normally get the opportunity to state our philosophies. Adults tend to think of our entire generation as spaced out technology-addicts, glued to our bright screens and and drawn to mindless chatter on social networking sites, MyFace or Twitbook, or some nonsense like that.
But not all of us accept the ideas that are force-fed through MTV or the mindless crap that is played endlessly on the radio.
Some of us actually believe that's there's more to life than mechanical computing boxes or hand held communication devices.
But sometimes I just get so sick of everything.
I get angry at my generation, at the decade that I'm a part of. I get so disgusted with the world, and with myself too, because I am a part of it.
I can't help but gape at stereotypical advertisements and hear to the meaningless rap songs blasting out of cars or see people watching "reality" T.V. shows about dramatic, selfish people with petty problems.
It's enough give our entire generation a bad name.
Some days I can't help but feel like I'm living in some dystopian nightmare equivalent to Fahrenheit 451 or Feed.
I feel brainwashed and lied to.
I wish for simpler times...if such a thing existed in the turbulence and disarray that is human history.
The technology changes, but human nature never does, not really anyway.
I stare at my fellow contemporaries and can't help but worry about the future of humanity.
But not all of us are cause for worry...the idealist in me sees hope as well.
I take another bite from my burrito, it's guts spill over its tin foil straight jacket and land with plop! on top of my corn chips.
"Yes, I agree with you. What you said about God."
"So what did you say to the homeless guy?"
"In the end I told him I believed in God. And then I gave him my chapstick because it was cold outside and his lips looked chapped."
I smiled.
How sweet...
8 comments:
I am absolutely enthralled by your post. I have totally been working on something similar to it the past couple of days, and finally posted it this evening. I'm so glad to see that not everyone buys in to the lies that are continuously fed to our generation. Stay strong(: It's the people like us that will make something out of this world.
I love this.. It's not often these days that you can have such a conversation with people..I spent quiet some time surrounded by people whose highest aspiration was to be seen as hipster cool.. those were the darkest days of my life, devoid of intellectual conversation!
Hell, is other people - Jean-Paul Sartre
This was fascinating and beautiful. Thank you.
and then there was 14
wow i love this post. the picture look similar to the ones taken on holga camera's. would you mind checking out my blog and maybe following me?
Question...if you're disgusted by "our generation" then why conform? Do you think that just because you dress in a certain way, think a certain way, and listen to a certain type of music that you're smarter and better than the people who are attached to their cell phones and listen to what you call "mindless"? You are whining about things you cannot change...it has been done before. Face it...nothing you are saying here is original...it has all been said before by other whining people who are so discontented with themselves and their lives that they have to point the finger at everyone but themselves.
Dear Anonymous,
I am not offended by what you said because everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It because we choose to think differently that makes life interesting.
However, I guess you neglected to read this part of my post:
"I get angry at my generation, at the decade that I'm a part of. I get so disgusted with the world, and with myself too, because I am a part of it."
Does that really make me a "whiny person who who points the finger at everyone else but themselves"?
I guess you didn't really understand the whole point of this post.
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