lets look upon ourselves:
we are a culture of weak minds (spirits shackled voluntarily, willingly, titilized even.) enamored by our own weakness. we love weakness. if for a moment we felt too strong we'd turn on a television. turn towards a billboard. what is it that you most want? weakness as a virtue. buy an i-phone. i need it. listen to the way the word "need" is used by those around you: it will yield--
we are a culture of blindness. we do not see the effects of our actions on a world scale. in america, we do not know how to be world citizens. "but we are not allowed to know!" some weak in different ways, cry out against oppression. but we are not oppressed. we are the gifted. the righteous. the high and mighty. the crying out "oppressor!" is a subscription to oppression. why should we cry out? because, for some of us, we are made to feel guilty for our pleasures. our lovely wares. so there are two types of blindness. those blind who think they are sighted and those sighted who complain about their shutters.
we are a culture of hope. we believe that there is light in this world. that someone, namely ourselves, can be the hero. (or perhaps that someone other than ourselves will do the heroics.) there is optimism in our words. that at the end of the day, there is opportunity here. the black man who cannot save himself is his own problem because we believe in our own economy. we believe that we have our money because we earned our money. (we are good at making money.) we deserve what we get in this life. how soft are our palms! to think that in this life we end up with what we deserve, all in one life! still, hope abides and many flock to a crumbling empire because it represents hope itself. infectious.
we are a culture of individuals. each of us is special to us. we all have our own destiny. the hope of individuality is perhaps the strongest force contributing to the proliferation of the herd mentality. to have the product in a different color. to have a different set of aps.
so i look upon myself:
i was once told by a master musician that i must reconcile where i come from. my upbringing, my inheritance, my birthright. these are unchanging. these are my contribution. i am an optimist and forever dig for gold. hope. i am the individual. i am the hero. these things i do believe. i am weak. but i am not blind. i fight against blindness. always tugging at the rug beneath my feet. humility is a virtue: but so too is audacity (the same virtue.)
