I sat in a Wendy's today sporting a fashionable 32oz. Horkley's mug eating my $3.58 meal (two burgers and an order of chicken nuggets). Having spent, virtually, the last of my money, I was expecting to try to enjoy my inevitably finite meal, realizing it was surely my last "spending spree", thrifty or not. I had decided to indulge in a little "high class" lunch. I had not, however, expected a crowd of roughly forty middle school kids to break into my Wendy's. At the first sign of intrusion i quickly jumped first to irritation before settling back down into indifference after calmly and efficiently setting myself down and reminding myself it was pointless to react in such a dismal way. Besides, it’s not that they were really trying to be obnoxious or rude,rather, they were ignorant to the effect they were having. I pushed in my Skullcandy "asym" headphones and felt around my thigh for the play button through my corduroys' pocket. My new local infatuation band, Spondee, began to play with a fun ukulele intro. As I sat there tapping my toe to my music I watched as the young newly pubescent kids began to separate into groups. They would clot into exclusive groups or pretend to be a little bit cooler, prettier, or a tad more worth attention than they really were.
I laughed as I thought back to the days when I was a part of these ever so eminent circumstances. Each kid before me, girl or otherwise, was awkward in shape, thought, and action. None of them had any idea what they were doing. Often times I imagine what it would be like if I were forced to be sent back to my past, and to relive it with the remarkably larger yet infinitely lacking amount of knowledge I had stumbled upon in my life. I figure, after a lot of time running (I was an exceptionally chubby boy), I could most likely have been a much "hipper" kid. Not because I am in any way cool, in fact I would ague I am probably the furthest from, but simply because now I know how to act. In the end, isn't that it? Ignorance? These kids could run around in the middle of a Wendy's and be so care free and alive because of their blatant ignorance.
I stood up and noticed a few of the girls staring, affection or disgust? I couldn't tell you, though, I would guess the later. I threw on my jacket and walked between the aisles of kids towards the door. I’m pretty sure I got a glare from one of the chaperons. It was mostly likely because she thought I was one of the middle schoolers leaving without permission. As I walked out to my car I blew awkwardly into the frigid air so that I could see my breath. I was stuck on the concept of bliss coming from ignorance. In the past, I had always been against the idea that one was happier when he/she was oblivious. Yes, a little girl can't be sad if she doesn't know her little puppy is dead, but this isn't Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. we aren't genetically altered to not question. She would eventually find out. Plato presents an answer to this question. In his allegory of the cave, he explains that the majority of the world is chained to the wall of a cave, fully content with the insignificant musings of shadows. The few that become freed and make their way up and out of the cave would find a beautiful, full, and delightful world. If you take the time to understand Plato’s classic allegory, you would realize he is saying that though there is indeed a level of happiness to be found in ignorance, once we are aware and enlightened we are open to a whole level of happiness we could never have before imagined. In fact, later in his dialogue, Plato explains that no man having left the cave could go back and actually enjoy the witless competitions for useless honorsthat he use to take part of. So why is it that I find myself distraught as i become more informed?
It seems that as I have indulged in philosophical musings, I have gained an awareness of the world I did not expect. As I work to leave Plato's predescribed cave, I become aware that I have entered this "real world" a few millennia too late. We are living in a world obsessed with the "self". Pleasure, power, and fame are the driving factors of this world. It seems, we are either doomed to resist the enticings of the world and to be wholly aware of its horrid effects, or to accept all it has to offer and slowly become it. Devendra Banhart, a modern indie music talent, says, “As I get older, everything in me is dwarfed aside from my greed, bitterness and racism."
As I sat down in the bucket seat of my little red Tiburon, I began to envy the young children inside. They could cry and worry about such menial affairs as who could sit with whom because they were blissfully unaware of everything going on around them, each more infinitely more important than the next. Is ignorance the only environment to which happiness dwells? Once a man works his way to the top of the mount, will he ever be able to see anything than the dim existence I now see? I cannot really say.
This is a Melancholy world we live in. it is full of hardship, corruption, and dismal circumstances. But as I started my engine and "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service came on and my heart quickly rose, I decided that in contradiction to all I knew, I would still be happy. This, ultimately, is what this blog is about. We live on the melancholy side of existence (the melon side if you will), but we can still find a way to supersede the happenstances, and to simply live happy, happy on the melon side.
Art: An artist with whom i have the greatest respect. one who has brought me happiness ever since i was a little boy. even now i cannot look at her work and not feel warmth in my heart
Music: A little piece of my happiness
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