The world is coming apart at the seams. No matter where you look, the stitches that have held together the fabric of society are being stretched to their extreme, seconds away from breaking. Our trek through civilization has been circuitous, at one moment repressed until life reaches a turn that leads to freedom, only to revert once more towards oppressive propriety. There are many circumstances that lead to these moments and they are all tied to connecting with our humanity.
We are free when we accept who we are, but can easily be co-opted when a stray thought shackles us with belief. Oh no, there is nothing wrong with belief when it is tempered with hard-earned knowledge. The type of knowledge that is paid for through one’s own blood, sweat, and tears. The kind that rips off the rosy-colored glasses that skew our vision. Remember when you were a child and was told not to touch the flame? What did you do? You looked at the adult talking to you, and waited until they turned away for just a moment. And in that moment, you were confronted with the biggest temptation of your young life: accepting the warning or learning for yourself. Most of us touched the flame and writhed in painful agony while we were mindlessly scolded for our action. But even at that age, we knew that understanding came from personal experience.
As we got older, the need for personal experience was supplanted by rote learning. Schools, books, newspapers, sermons, seminars…all geared to take away that drive to understand. It made being an adult easier when the bad things kept repeating: job loss, divorce, loss of faith, incarceration, disease, and even death. There was no need to feel the emptiness that replaced a childhood full of wonder.
The skin of civilization is getting thinner and thinner because we fail to experience anything worthwhile. Excuses built upon decades of pressurizing guilt have stripped us of the ability to learn through experience. Those excuses come in the form of one-dimensional religions, blind laws, and false courtesies that masquerade as polite society. But humanity has little to do with a polite society because it is always made messy because of individuality that pokes hole in the fragile fabric.
We’ve grown whenever one of those infrequent fringe lessons steers civilization one step closer to responsible maturity. Those outliers were the stray threads that ruined the perfect lines of a false social masquerade. These martyrs are hunted to the edge of time by jackals that stood as the true false guardians of this masquerade. These false guardians are easy to spot simply because they all sound the same, look the same, and act despicably the same. Nothing is too much sacrifice when the good of polite society is at stake.
This polite society revolves in every avenue of our lives, and is too focused on propriety to notice that the foundations of civilizations aren’t as stable as they intended. And when cracks form, those who stand apart can finally get a chance to be heard. Protests may seem futile. Contacting your representatives may seem useless. Volunteering may not make a dent on the list of needs that keep growing. But every moment that sees one more person connecting, talking, and learning through experience, then one more layer thickens the skin of civilization. It creates a heartier protection that allows us to take another step forward towards a light that feeds the urge for real knowledge.
Keep feeding that urge for knowledge.
p.s. If you’ve been following the unveiling of global digital surveillance and the saga of Edward Snowden, then you’re probably feeling as angry as I am. So many countries have used his important act as a PR opportunity to tout their own superior thinking with seeming little thought to the circumstances of one lone man who must feel like he’s standing alone against the world. It’s becoming disgusting to witness. This is the outer face that polite society is putting on as they uphold their own selfish goals. All I can think is what HORRID examples these leaders are, and how stupid we were in allow them on those pedestals. There are a lot of people who are enraged at these imposters who claim to be leaders. Check out Umair Haque’s latest to hear more.
