The Golden Gate Bridge: an icon smothered by countless romantics.
I find my feet impatient, tap-tap-tapping in a dreary line of bland sedans, having no more gusto than a deficient tabloid floating down the winding hills of San Francisco by the Bay. Just a leaf littered by the wind; observant of time, its props, and their respective patterns. I regret, I am, I regret. My words fail me. Ink stains become lost in blankets of fibrous nothingness, unlived potential floating into a world of dismal repetition. I am a pawn in this inactive, passive reality, and I want out.
Our world is rapidly becoming a platform for indifference controlled by the mindless enterprise of technology. I am not writing this to denounce technological advancements and their obvious beneficial impact on society. However, when you can order any product imaginable and have it show up the next day, we start to fall into a mindless state of convenience and forget our primal state of curiosity. We lose our inner-child always questioning why and our passion for ideas, slowly becoming these corporate robots running from work to lunch to work to home. A never-ending repetition of a blindly passive state allowing no room for creativity, and certainly none for defiance.
I spent a month of my summer working as a canvasser— basically one of those annoying people with the clipboards that talk at you about various societal and environmental issues. Not only did this job teach me how to deal with a multitude of personality types, but it taught me that having an opinion is one of the most valuable traits one could have. Being passionate and outspoken about your opinions on a subject ultimately attracts people. Vehemence shows a beautiful side of the personality where a person is able to talk passionately for hours about the simplest of subjects. In addition to it being an alluring quality, it also holds great value in the politics of opinions. Choosing to sit on the fence is choosing the side of the oppressor. For some subjects, this holds no relevance, but for many controversial topics, this cannot be stressed enough. Not voting for Donald Trump isn't going to stop him from becoming King of America. Ignoring acts of violence or bullying is essentially siding with the perpetrator. Action and voices of change are important, and there are so many people with similar ideas, it's ridiculous nothing has changed.
A woman vying for socialism approached me the other day as I was walking to my bus stop. She asked me if I thought it was possible to change humans, society, and the negative aspects of living in a capitalist society. My immediate answer was a brisk "No." I often fall into spells of pessimism where I find myself pursuing money, finding safety in wrinkly paper bills that are probably covered in thousands of germs. Needless to say, this day was one of that pessimistic nature. I explained that it was futile for me to raise my voice when no one would join me, ironically proving myself wrong by engaging in such a conversation. She encouraged me to speak my mind, enticing me with her articulate speech and brightly colored fliers. Her face was bright with interest and I could tell she genuinely wanted to hear what I had to say. She wasn't just passionate about the cause, but she was vividly intrigued to hear what value I could bring to this conversation. Not only did her discourse convince me, but her willingness to engage and be excited to inspire pushed me away from the pessimism that I hold so dearly. She both passionately held a strong opinion, and she showed me that there is hope in action. I felt good leaving that conversation, knowing that she would be able to inspire more people that day.
Honestly, and so I don't get too cheesy, I was a little disappointed because she had ruined my earlier idea for an article which would have been centered on why opinions are useless. In my previous pessimism, I had stumbled upon a quote from Dostoyevsky which had claimed that being "too acutely conscious is a disease." Similar to the familiar "ignorance is bliss" saying, he was claiming that awareness would ultimately lead to an unsatisfied being. I still regard this as unfortunately true, but I don't think he meant for us to be so passive and submissive. In actuality, this unrest, or disease, is key in installing passion within a community. Life is going to speed by no matter what we choose to do, so why not be productive and use the power we have instead of allowing corruption and demise to pass unnoticed?
