Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Progress

If we vacation in what we call "unspoiled" land, such as the Oregon coast, or parts of Mexico or even Hawaii, the conclusion I draw is that we live in "spoiled" land. Why is that? What is our fascination with escaping to untouched territory? Why is a great redwood tree so much more inspiring and thought provoking than a skyscraper? Why do we design calendar and note-taking applications that visually look like their leather-bound or canvas counterparts? We have these $500 marvels of technology for organizing our life, so much smaller and more efficient than any analogue stationary, and what do we do? We add imagery of leather, canvas and simulated pencil typeface to make it look like the stationary you'd buy 50 years ago. What peculiar creatures we are.

It's a Start

Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your 
windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won't come in.
- Alan Alda

That is what I'm trying to do. I've found that I presume a great deal about the world, and I haven't really questioned these presumptions or assumptions since a very young age. A majority of my assumptions revolve around something I classify (I literally just came up with this) as "Hippie-ism." You know, growing your own food, walking or riding a bike instead of driving, that stuff. I have always dismissed it as extremist nonsense. So I've made some changes. I have started with recycling, then took on healthy food, then took on where my food comes from and how it is made. Now I ride my bike, longboard or take the bus to work. I no longer own a car (okay, I do own a Ducati motorcycle) and I'm considering growing a garden on my balcony. I don't know what's wrong with me, I think I'm becoming a hippie.
All of these things, recycling and the environment, exercising and eating healthily are good things, but they are Second Things. More on that later.