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About A River in Egypt PDF Print E-mail
Written by Jason Brink   
Friday, 14 May 2010 05:26
We all feel things, currents and emotions that swirl just beneath the surface of our psyche.  Usually, these are hidden, nothing more than eddies in the opaque dark waters of the soul; we cannot see the current itself, but we can see the flotsam of expression and action pushed to and fro across the surface.  However, occasionally there will be a flash of illumination, a tiny star of correct expression to illuminate the depths and allow the bottom of the pool of soul to be seen.

I was speaking to a friend today, and I had one of those moments where I was able to actually express one of my currents that has flowed within my heart for a long time.  We were discussing the various polarities of beliefs within our area, and something occurred to me.  I will never be "satisfied" with my knowledge of the world.  I will never be able to close the book and say, "Well, that's it, that's all I need to know."  I came to this conclusion upon the realization that there are two types of people who are "satisfied" with what they know about the world.  They are:
1.  The apathetic.  Nothing matters, they don't care, and no amount of new information will persuade them that anything in life is worth giving a second look at.  These people are satisfied with what they do not know...these are the people who care so little for the world surrounding them that the most wondrous sights could be arrayed before their eyes, and they will not even see them.  It is not that they are trying not to see them, just that their mindset makes it impossible. 
2.  The willfully ignorant.  These buggers are the ones that really get to me.  These people care, sometimes very deeply, but are unwilling to see anything that does not fit the script of the world in which they have chosen to live.  Every piece of new information is immediately held to the rubric of their world-view and analyzed for adherence to this often very narrow view.  Anything that falls outside this view will either be taken out of context to fit it, or discarded altogether.  They choose these scripts because it is a way for them to feel safe and accepted, regardless of the workings of the outside world.  Most dogmatic systems, whether political, religious, or otherwise, fall into this category...the willful denial of fact that contradicts the talking points they hold so close to their hearts.

I will never be able to fit into one of these categories.  I am too enamored with the light and beauty of the world to be apathetic, and too hungry to truth to hide from the things I see around me.  The thought that I might be wrong about something horrifies me, so if I find fact to contradict something I have held to be true, my own beliefs must then be altered to match the observable facts...whether I like them or not.  To be able to accept the world as it is, not just as we want it to be.  To know that all in the world is not right, and that it is up to us to fix it.  To borrow the words from Mahatma Ghandi, to "be the change you want to see in the world."  We have the ability to do things, to change things, to take the ugly truths of life in this world and do what we can to tug the balance in the other direction.  In each and every thing we do in our lives, we can make tiny differences.  A grain of rice is nothing, but with a few trillion of them we can feed a continent.  

Last Thursday I went and got immunizations for my upcoming travel plans... HepA/HepB, Tetanus, H1N1, and a Typhoid pill series.  I just got wiped out by the things...my body needed to deal with all the hostile forces injected into it...and I began the Typhoid series Friday...and it REALLY kicked my ass.  I am feeling fine and dandy now, but that's alot of new and nasty things for the body to deal with all at once.  I think I am going to go ahead and get the rabies vaccine too... I just figure that would be the worst and most incredibly stupid way to die.  If I get taken out by and earthquake or fire or shark or bear or something...I am ok with that.  Don't get me wrong, I am not going to hurry into it or anything like that, but if I go down freezing on the slopes of Everest, or punching a great white in the face...I can deal with that kind of defeat.  If I am walking down some jungle path and get bit by a little bat...and die of rabies, I would be pissed.  

I leave for Haiti in 72 hours.  It is going to be quite an experience to be back out in the world again.  It has been too long since last I have seen the sun rise in other lands.  Too long since I have felt the warm wash of foreign voices crashing around me.  Too long since I have left the safety of the Hilfiger-clad and McMansion housed all-too-washed American masses.  It will be nice to be around people who truly understand what it means to appreciate the small things in life.  The tiny things that we as Americans gloss over in our rush to get from cradle to grave and accumulate as much stuff as possible.  When was the last time you turned on a light and thought, "Wow...that's cool...light with the slip of a switch...I am one lucky dude.  Whats this?  You mean clean water comes out of this tap when I turn it?  Awesome!!!" 

We really are incredibly fortunate to be where we are.  Chances are, if you are reading this, you are better off than huge chunks of the global population...and good for you...but don't ever let yourself take it for granted.  It is all too tempting to fall into the complacency that luxury affords us.  I know I do, and I hate myself for it sometimes.  Don't just soak up the world around you...get out there and change it...make it better...be worth the life you live.  

If you have a second, check this link out.  It will be a bit of an eye opener for you.  Put a ballpark of what you made last year in there, and hit the button...its kinda eye opening, I was blown away by it.  

On another note, after having been asked by a friend where time goes, I have determined, after careful calculation and observation, that missing time actually goes to the house of a small widow living in the district of Rogaland in Norway. She was married to a man named Bjorn, who built her a fantastically large closet. When he died in an unfortunate clock-building accident (these things are best left to the Swiss) she decided to get vengeance on the world by taking trips to Greenwich and stealing extra minutes, packing them away in small multicolored boxes, and stacking them in her huge closet.  She has been known to focus on snatching time away from students attempting to finish papers before deadlines the next morning.  She recently signed a deal with Facebook, promising to assist them in the silent thievery of our lives in the form of inane posts, pointless status updates, and those damn quizzes. ;)
Last Updated on Friday, 14 May 2010 05:51
 

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