Escape Artists

This is Metoprolol weight gain something that What is Allied home mortgage effexor used for I have, just recently, begun to Buy Isoptin Online think about extensively. As frustrated with our current political system as I am, I have started wondering what one person (me) can do to change things or at least to help. I took a couple steps back from my life and really tried to see who I am and what I might offer to encourage change in our nation. I have begun writing several essays for my site dealing with the problem of “self” in our society; the need to, above all else, fulfill my wants. I want to be constantly entertained; I want to reach my full happiness (whatever that is), and all at the expense of everyone else around me. We are fed this mentality on a daily basis. Just look at what is advertised on our media outlets. “Fulfill yourself; find yourself; do what you want to do; be whatever you want to be.” Some of these aren’t even that bad until you mix in the “at all costs” bit. Fill your little heart up with whatever it is you desire with no thought to how it will effect those around you and all under the guise of “the American dream”.

Society works when people work together to achieve a common goal not when each individual works independently to achieve his or her own personal fulfillment. When people selfishly attempt to bring about their best with no thought to how it will affect the people around them it will eventually bring a breakdown in society. A big part of being socially responsible is being aware of what is going on in the world. Being informed. Taking the time to thoughtfully examine world events and being able to respond to them in a positive way. This is the part I want to talk about today.

We are becoming a society of escape artists. What I mean by this is we are a society that finds any way possible to escape from reality. There are so many ways to escape these days. You can wrap yourself up with video games, movies, TV shows, fashion, friends, sports; the list can go on and on. Don’t get me wrong, I can and do enjoy a relaxing movie or sporting event. The problem comes when we dominate our time with these things that distract us from important things that are happening on the world stage so much that we cannot intelligently respond when a situation arises. The numbers of people actively participating in our political system is dwindling. There are still many people who vote but the percentage of those people who really spent time researching the topics discussed and intelligently thinking about them is not very large. I am worried that this is a trend that will continue as my generation becomes the ones responsible for our future. There are so many people that spend hours and hours playing a video game or watching sporting events and then managing their own fantasy league that they don’t have time enough to be informed. If you try to bring up current events with people they will know about them and usually have an opinion about them (thank you drama-news networks) but if you ask for a solution to a problem they will get out of that conversation quickly or avoid it altogether. I would wager that there are a good number of people who know more about what is going on in a soap opera or in a celebrity’s life than they do about real issues. We don’t want to critically think about problems and come up with solutions. We are content to sit on our couches in our TV playland while the world goes on. We think that someone else will take care of it, they always have in the past. There will always be those who will take care of it, but the question is how. How are they dealing with the problems that effect us all? Do we care enough to know? If we are not careful we will become so complacent and wrapped up in our play-worlds that those in power can do whatever they please knowing that we will do nothing. We will be mindless idiots at the mercy of power hungry politicians. The less people in a society think, the easier it is for them to be manipulated and used.

Do I really think it will come to this? It could, but if we as a society stop trying to escape the reality presented to us and really take on the hard issues that face us this can be avoided. Do some research. Listen to a debate and then, instead of listening to people tell you what you should think about it, turn the TV off and figure it out yourself. Do some critical thinking. Stop using the majority of your time doing pointless things and do something that really matters: take your future into your own hands. There are so many distractions around us. Can we see through them and focus on what really matters?

Brian