Life is full of contradictions.

Take the very premise that America was built on:  Fearless determination, courage, imagination, and nothing more than a dream mixed with a pocketful of hope.

America was built on the backs of the stubborn, the tenacious, the rebellious – those who would not accept no for an answer.

They started with a belief.

From that belief grew a vision.

And from that vision grew this country.

Thereafter, the cycle continues to repeat itself:  This country continues to develop and refine its beliefs, which turn into visions, which forevermore keep our society in a perpetual stage of growth.  Though, the word growth might do better to be placed within a set of quotation marks.

However, while on the surface it seems that our core values remain the same – namely that of risk and reward – we are no longer the same, and what constitutes risk and what constitutes reward are no longer the same, either.  The modern day definitions are a watered down version of their historical counterparts, therefore producing a watered down society–one that can no longer differentiate between his/her own beliefs and those of the crowd, and one that will punish the person who does, in fact, notice a contrast and attempts to act on it.

These days, you aren’t rewarded for risk – you’re rewarded for complacency.

This explains why when someone like Nina Yau tries to move beyond mainstream conventional–when someone like Nina Yau tries to take a big risk–she is met with hateful opposition, rather than enthusiastic encouragement.

It’s evident that while we may preach risk, we really value safety.

However, just because society may not place a high value on risk–REAL risk–as evidenced by the fearful, robotic masses, that isn’t to say that we shouldn’t.

The reason is this:

Only those who go too far will ever know exactly how far they can go.

Think about it.

-

Warning: I am about to use the word “bullshit” far too much than any human being ever should in a blog post.  Or anytime, really.

We put up with far too much bullshit in our lives.  So much so, we’ve even stopped recognizing it as such.

We’re numb to bullshit.

We eat bullshit for lunch.

We smear it all over our faces and then dutifully smile for society’s camera.

Yet, even though it surrounds us and we’re practically choking on the stuff, we somehow still manage to swallow and look the other way.

We’ve convinced ourselves that surrendering to bullshit is necessary in order to get ahead (the ever popular default goal–also bullshit), and we prance around in bullshit all day because we’re too chicken to do anything about it.

Bullshit runs our lives.

Almost.  Every.  Waking.  Minute.  Of.  It.

And we let it.

• Bullshit is the politics that drive decision-making processes instead of what’s best for our citizens, consumers, elderly and children.For example, teacher salaries often being tied to students’ scores on the PSSA’s. I can only imagine that those particular teachers aren’t very welcoming to, say, immigrant students coming in their classrooms, because their lack of English proficiency will inevitably bring classroom scores down, and their paycheck will be smaller because of it.  As a result, we’re marginalizing a rapidly growing population that will eventually be running this country, mostly in the name of money, but also out of fear.  Teachers feel awkward if they can’t communicate with a child, and so they don’t.  Obviously this stems from a far bigger problem, but it’s a terrific example of how bullshit runs our political agenda.

• Bullshit are the values that we’ve been spoon fed since day one, encouraging us to idolize all that is superficial, and shove the rest under the rug.  We get high off of purchasing big ticket items, and as soon as the high comes, it goes, leaving us with nothing more than the angst to do it again.  We’re akin to nation of crack addicts, always looking for our next high…except ours comes in the form of consumerism.We disregard the value of people.  Of relationships.  Of human beings and authentic, genuine interactions. These things are all of secondary importance, because we’re taught that we’re only as good as the car we drive. (By the way, if you really want to see someone fighting against the consumerist movement, check out my friend Everett.  You’ll be amazed & will want to throw your TV off the roof, as he says.)

• Bullshit are the federal agencies, such as the USDA, who have marketed themselves nicely as a watchdog agency looking out for our safety, but in fact, the USDA is nothing more than another big business.Many of the high-ranking staff members of the USDA are otherwise affiliated with the meat and dairy industries.  So if the people responsible for the safety of all of those meat, dairy, poultry, etc. products are the same people who they’re suppose to be protecting us from…that’s sort of a conflict of interest.  A convenient one, alas. On another note–just as interesting–consider how the USDA has been known to pay farmers not to produce at full capacity.  Why?  So demand continues to exceed supply and prices can remain high.  It’s another example of acting on behalf of profitability versus that which would best serve the interests of the people.  It’s almost like looking at a starving child directly in the face and saying “nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!  I’ve got this food over here…and I’m not going to use it….but you can’t have it either.  Because I need to be rich and successful!” Not very flattering, is it?

• Bullshit is the way we can justify engaging in war over oil, yet sit back and do virtually nothing about the way many of the women of the world are more and more commonly victims of acid attacks, rendering their faces beyond disfigured so no man will ever find them attractive again. Go ahead, I dare you to click on that link.  What about that little problem?  Why don’t we hear more about that?  Why isn’t there a war going on over that?

What it comes down to, in the end, is the mighty dollar.  We’re so desperate for it, that all bets are off when it comes to ethics.  And I find that unacceptable.

But most of us will continue to ignore the bullshit; we’ll just keep climbing to the top of it, and then maybe eventually hope that some suit and tie corporate manager will let us have a slice of the pie someday.  And then it’ll be even easier to swallow & turn our heads, once we’re making the big bucks.

Because after all, isn’t that all that matters these days?

-