Alcohol dreams. Smashed beer cans and the hopelessness that accompanies them. For years I had no issue being around the consumption of alcoholic beverages, but as of late I have grown to see it in the same light as any other form of capitalistic consumption.
Consume. Consume. Consume.
It’s what we do in this country. We consume things. Land and water and plastic and rare earth metals. Plastic and wood and fabric and leather. Food and plants and air and alcohol. We selfishly consume for our own benefit and we do it in such a way that we generally disregard those that may come in our footsteps. We consume to our own demise.
We want and we want and we want.
We forego the fundamentals of our own basic needs and we actively work to fulfill every desire of our wants. We demand more and more and more for less and less and less. We asked for more of the things we want at our finger tips and we got everything we could have ever wished for. We wanted shopping in our homes because going out to the store was just too much effort. We wanted a food supply chain that seemed endless and approachable. We wanted everything delivered to our door and we got it. We wanted big box stores for one stop shopping and we got it. We wanted everything to make our lives easier and in the blink of an eye we got it. We wanted bigger houses and faster cars that could play our music wirelessly and keep the temperature right where we felt the most comfortable. We wanted to be cool when it was hot and warm when it was cold. We wanted everything and we got it and the price we paid was something that we could never get back. The price we paid was higher than anything we could ever imagine. Oh...the price we paid. Oh...the price we are paying. Oh...where do we even begin?
We begin at the end. We begin when we’ve had enough. We begin when we’ve died and rotted and have been faced with a new life and a new series of roadways and paths that lead to other roadways and paths. We begin when we abandon our wants and we strive simply to meet our needs. We begin when we acknowledge that the newest shiny thing isn’t going to solve our dilemma. We begin when we realize that our consumption is the thing that holds us in the trenches and pits us against ourselves and our fellows. We begin when we conclude that our best efforts in the ways of wanting and wanting and wanting are the very things that hold our hands against the flames and our faces against the wall. We begin when we give up our longing to achieve and compare and out do our neighbors and our friends and our coworkers. We begin when we end.
We begin when we end. We begin when we give up. When begin when we stop fighting ourselves. We begin when our awareness of our selves looks no different that those around us. That’s when it all starts. That’s when the real living begins and the fraudulent living ends. That’s when we become our true selves...when we realize that everything is exactly as it should be and our wants never exceed our needs.
Perhaps we can just start all this tomorrow...for tonight we’ve already thrown the ideas away because it’s too late to care and the sun is down and the idea factory has shut down? Perhaps tomorrow we can give it another go? Perhaps tomorrow?