Struggling to live
Last month my daughter and I went for a two week visit to Japan. My mom wanted Jasmine to go before she turned twelve to get the cheaper airfare. Riding the trains in Japan was also cheaper for her even if it did complicate things at times. We spent nearly the entire time visiting relatives except for the trip to Tokyo Disneyland. Wish the trip to Disneyland had come at the end of the trip instead of at the beginning because the Ikspiari mall near the hotel was a great place to shop for souvenirs and other items one can only get in Japan.
I'm not sure what it was but there was nearly no free time with my aunt scheduling everything we did. It would take practically a whole week of just going going to different places just to figure where the good shopping places are. As for the places we did go there just wasn't enough time to really snoop it out and enjoy the experience.
Well it's May now. I'm back in America, a country that doesn't really give a fig about its people. Despite all the signage in Japan I find the assault upon the senses and one's psyche to be far greater in America. It amounts to mental rape. And all the details of living that one must attend to on a daily basis between sorting through the junk mail to the stuff my daughter brings home from school is enough to sap every bit of energy I have. What's worse, no matter where you turn there is someone wanting money for fees, for bills, for charities, or some useless and worthless product. There is no way to maintain one's focus on just attending to life and home and family and the things that would make life more enjoyable and pleasurable. The way things are in America with jobs and wages and the cost of living becoming what they have, the feeling of one's life being threatened in some fashion is always there and it has nothing to do with crime or terrorism but rather from the commercial sector that would think nothing of taking all you have and expecting you to say thank you for it.
I find that life in America is an unbearable mess. The likelihood of seeing sane and humane policies such as single-payer health care, appropriate farming, promoting greener living and renewable energy, and general giving a shit about the lives of its citizens is nowhere on the horizon. None of the candidates gives me much to think things will change much, but as Vincent in Japan was keen to tell me to support Obama, I find that at least his perspective is certainly more in touch with reality than the other two.
On this day I am tired of being tired. I am tired of the bullshit people have to go through everyday. I'm tired of the number of trees I throw into paper recycling. I'm tired of the sheer stupidity inculcated in the American populace. Despite all its crowing about "globalization" America is the most isolated from, and therefore ignorant of, other cultures and countries and the way they do things. What's worse, the media ensures this ignorant state of American awareness. Unfortunately, there is no rest for the weary.
I'm not sure what it was but there was nearly no free time with my aunt scheduling everything we did. It would take practically a whole week of just going going to different places just to figure where the good shopping places are. As for the places we did go there just wasn't enough time to really snoop it out and enjoy the experience.
Well it's May now. I'm back in America, a country that doesn't really give a fig about its people. Despite all the signage in Japan I find the assault upon the senses and one's psyche to be far greater in America. It amounts to mental rape. And all the details of living that one must attend to on a daily basis between sorting through the junk mail to the stuff my daughter brings home from school is enough to sap every bit of energy I have. What's worse, no matter where you turn there is someone wanting money for fees, for bills, for charities, or some useless and worthless product. There is no way to maintain one's focus on just attending to life and home and family and the things that would make life more enjoyable and pleasurable. The way things are in America with jobs and wages and the cost of living becoming what they have, the feeling of one's life being threatened in some fashion is always there and it has nothing to do with crime or terrorism but rather from the commercial sector that would think nothing of taking all you have and expecting you to say thank you for it.
I find that life in America is an unbearable mess. The likelihood of seeing sane and humane policies such as single-payer health care, appropriate farming, promoting greener living and renewable energy, and general giving a shit about the lives of its citizens is nowhere on the horizon. None of the candidates gives me much to think things will change much, but as Vincent in Japan was keen to tell me to support Obama, I find that at least his perspective is certainly more in touch with reality than the other two.
On this day I am tired of being tired. I am tired of the bullshit people have to go through everyday. I'm tired of the number of trees I throw into paper recycling. I'm tired of the sheer stupidity inculcated in the American populace. Despite all its crowing about "globalization" America is the most isolated from, and therefore ignorant of, other cultures and countries and the way they do things. What's worse, the media ensures this ignorant state of American awareness. Unfortunately, there is no rest for the weary.
posted by NeoLotus at 9:26 AM
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