It's late and lately there has been no way for me to process the last few months. There's no time to write about life and when there is..my life seems unimportant compared with everything else going on in the world, so I ignore this blog. But for a moment I'm going to make an attempt to share a little bit of what's been on my mind and it starts with the Beatles.
So in all reality it didn't start with the Beatles. But today I was listening to the radio and a lovely station was playing only Beatles in music in honor of John Lennon's 70th birthday. (Happy B-day John) I was thoroughly enjoying myself as I navigated nasty wet roads in my car when I caught line from Strawberry Fields that I had never really noticed or understood before and this is how it goes:
Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all that you see
It's getting hard to be someone
But it all works out
It doesn't matter much to me
Yeah, I know you all know the song. And I apologize for taking it out of context, but it summed up a lot for me.
But before I go into that...let's rewind a bit further.
I'm going to school for Social Work/English/Sociology...yeah that's a lot of slashes. But the point is it's all come down to a few ideas this last semester. One of them being the idea of being a citizen. In American society (Western society, Portland/Seattle/City Society/ middle class society... call it what you will) there's always been this idea of the "American Dream." We laugh about it, we think about it as this outdated, prehistoric concept that people used to strive for. But the reality is ...we are all still working for it, it just looks different. So whether your dream is a family, a dog, a suburu and a nice neighborhood, or maybe the perfect art loft and wine to swirl while talking art history, or maybe it's music, or maybe whatever. We all have some picture no matter how nice or grungy it might be. The thing is as much as we want to help and be involved in the world, we are all working to create OUR own dream. This inevitably influences the way we act, spend our money, spend our time, the way we vote.
This idea of citizenship is that, no matter how self-made we think we might be, the reality is we are standing on the hard working backs of the generations before us..or maybe even further back. Life is only as it is because other generations cared not just about their dreams but improving their societies. So as crappy as we might think things are now, it would be a lot worse if people before us hadn't strived for their people. My point: being a citizen is more than just living in a society or community it's actually contributing to that community.
Here's the problem. Little secret you all know.
Being involved in the community takes a lot of work! (I'm not referring to your house or best friends..I mean your actual neighborhood..your city)
It takes a hell of a lot of effort to get up every day and instead of solely focusing on your own agenda, consider what is going in the world. Reading the paper, staying updated on current issues and not just from the standpoint of the media, but actually finding out. Over and over I have been amazed at what has happened in my own city that I had no clue about.
This isn't the first time I've thought about this and I'm sure it won't be the last. See the problem is life seems to get in the way and I get lazy. There isn't time to read the paper, to go to community forums, to volunteer, to know my own neighbor. The reality is no matter how much my schedule frees up..there will never be "time" until I recenter my life. If I could recast my "American Dream" of a living in artsy neighborhood, having a creative loft and working the perfect job. If that could be content to live in a regular neighborhood and actually know the people there, people who are different than me and learn new ways of life and new ways of thinking. If my new "American Dream" would center around improving the life of others and not just my own, how different things would be. I mean really, imagine if that is how everyone operated. (Yeah go ahead, slap the Idealist stamp on my forehead..one can't help but dream)
Back to the Beatles:
When you live with your eyes closed, the few glimpses you get of the outside world..let me tell you...you're likely to misunderstand it...Go ahead, close your eyes and maybe YOUR life will work out.
I know keep saying "You" but I really mean "me" and hopefully someday "we."
So really stop reading this blog (all 4 of you :) and try reading something that will tell you what's happening in real time.
Some suggestions:
A little history: A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki
Buried My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
A little "chicken soup" for a citizen's soul: Soul of a Citizen by Paul Rogat Loeb
Then maybe check out the news: there's a lot going on around us.
I wish I could find the links to some videos I saw at a conference on Immigration last weekend, but they don't seem to exist, so maybe later. That in itself is its own story/blog.
And while I'm sounding like a bright-eyed, fresh-faced idealist let me add the cherry on top:
As a Christian, this is what drives me:
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
To loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the wanderer with shelter-
When you see the naked, to clothe him and not turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn and your healing will quickly appear-"
~Isaiah 58
Another thing I'm learning...I don't want to be a charitable person. That seems to point to a bending down from a higher position to help. Nobody wants that. Rather I want to join with people around me.
No comments:
Post a Comment