So what.

Why? Because I really haven’t done shit.

The guys in the restaurants I’ve worked in after college, they have done shit. They got it tattooed on their body- names of those they give their 60+ hour workweeks at 7 dollars  an hour to. Creases on their faces. Their bodies are worn down by the weight of the people that depend on their labor to keep them alive and afloat.

The paychecks go to new backpacks for their kids, pills for their mother, surgery for their wives, debts to myriad faceless unknowns. To Western Union for a family far away aching in their absence- but aching as well for the money earned through their lifeblood.

These people have done shit- and are worn completely for it.

But their spirits are strong. Stronger from the ordeal that is the hand they were dealt- surely stronger than mine. And if I am lucky I will never have to go through that forge.

I have learned a great deal of knowledge via my luxury to learn. It has revealed to me a vision of how we got to this place, and how we are to best evolve. I have studied the big questions and I have answers inside of me. I have followed the world’s guidance through my youth to the letter to achieve this. Thus as youth- I am the key to societies best future.

We are the best and brightest. As designed.

“Live the life you have imagined” is an adage that has strikes me in this vein. Put the hopes and dreams instilled through our moment as the continuous scion of generation. Lead.

But our keep of the preceeding worn individuals has a pressing threat that threatens our contribution. Not only by the brutality of our world: the 60 hour/7$ and the evictions, health problems and evaporated dreams. But by the self-important and the vitriolic.

The wolves on the news. The powers that determine can and cannot- should and should not. The authoritarian voices that tell you, who they wish to be sheep, that you are dumb, incapable and helpless.

They tell you explicitly sometimes. But more often they cleverly present you their twisted world with a spoonful of sugar to wash it down. They fatten with half-truths, simplifications, and platitudes. Welcome to the real world- it is in a state of perpetual pissing on your leg and calling it rain, all the while waiting for a knife in the back.

The people. The would-be sheep. The blood, bones and all. They know what is going on but are nevertheless besieged.

For us to lead- the best, brightest, optimistic youth who own tomorrow- our task begins at the altar of their body that has bourne us to this point.

And to worship is to respect. And respect is mockery without honesty.

If a good future is to come to us all, we the youth cannot be sidetracked and stymied by contests of who can fill the room with smoke blown up other people’s asses. Of who can make their platitudes the sweetest tasting or who can puff out their chests the farthest.

That would be more of the same bullshit that has turned a majority of lives on this planet into a living hell.

They have raised us to be their heroes, not sheep dogs who condescend or wolves who predate.

Success and survival means we must state our beliefs and “Live the life we have imagined” without fear, for they are of our own flesh and blood.

God knows they’ve earned this respect and our honesty. Our willingness to speak out and fight.

And as we go into the future we will not be alone.

Image a composite of works by Jared Tarbell (http://www.complexification.net/) and ‘Lovrsend’ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lovrsend/)

“How broken is Washington? Beyond repair? A day in the life of the president reveals that Barack Obama’s job would be almost unrecognizable to most of his predecessors—thanks to the enormous bureaucracy, congressional paralysis, systemic corruption (with lobbyists spending $3.5 billion last year), and disintegrating media.”

“American workers are mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore. That’s the clear message of flight attendant Steven Slater’s emergence as a “working-class hero,” after he threw his job away with a tirade against passengers and a slide down an exit chute. Slater’s fifteen minutes of fame may be winding down, but his heady time in the spotlight—he was the subject of numerous tribute songs and his Facebook fan page drew more than two hundred thousand people—suggested just how frustrated employees are with stagnant pay, stressful working conditions, and obnoxious customers.”

A thought

————–

Falling falling falling falling

deeper into these thoughts of mine

they take me take me take me where I dont care to look

————————

Easter morning

————

Two paths I hear spoken

oft

which are I dont know but my mind conjures it instinctively

——–

A mind not grown I type for you even though I am afraid

of what I am expressing is What exists as you

Power i fear this power

For you

-Ed Witten

“For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.”

-Aristotle