For those of you who lack Godot...
Someone told me to write something inspirational...I'm not sure who, if anyone this inspires, but this is what I thought of, so for those of you who lack Godot:Human beings, by nature, are greedy, violent, inconsiderate, corrupt, and power hungry. However, also by nature, they are peaceful, thoughtful, logical, loving, beautiful, and innocent. The idea of timshel, or “thou mayest” comes into play here; every person has the ability to choose what to become. Every man and woman has the power and the responsibility to choose between the good and the evil that naturally resides inside of them. Some people appear to be inherently good, but they are nothing more than inherently strong willed and open minded. Others appear to be inherently evil but they are nothing more than ignorant and unable to control their various emotions (greed, hate, anger, love, etc.). American society tends to be superficial and fake and people feel the need to conform to an ideal: a perfect body, perfect job, perfect family, perfect home, perfect life. Nothing is perfect. Nobody is perfect.
Southlake is the ultimate American town, full of corporate transfers, money, consumerism, boredom, drugs, alcohol, a disenchanted youth, superficiality, the list goes on and on. People who are “trapped” in the Bubble tend to think of nothing more than getting out and seeing the world outside and, once they have seen this world, leaving this bubble for good and living in “reality”. But Southlake is reality. This bubble is real. These people who pretend to be something they’re not, these buildings with all of the same architecture, these stores that thrive on fruitless spending, they’re all real. Southlake is reality. Southlake is America. The people in this town are real. Everyone here is searching for their Godot. Even though they’re going about it the wrong way (being materialistic and spending their way into oblivion in hopes of giving their life some sort of definition or meaning), they are at least searching for Godot, rather than waiting for him (for those of you who haven't read it, Waiting For Godot is an existential play about two hobos who sit around and wait for Godot (symbolic of meaning) to come into their lives and it never comes; the idea is that man must actively seek out meaning rather than waiting for it to come to him). For the true individual, for the person who shuns Southlake’s methods and realizes that they’re wrong, Southlake is the perfect place to find yourself, discover who you are. Because most people don’t necessarily always know exactly what they want, but they can tell you what they don’t want and, using that logic, eventually decipher what it is they truly want.
“It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion, it is easy in solitude to live after your own; but the great man is he who, in the midst of the world, keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Everyone is an individual. You are not Southlake, but rather one antithesis of it. I am another antithesis, Thomas another, Pam another, Heath another, Mal yet another (I could go on about all of you but I shall not). You have the ability and the position to benefit from the superficiality of Southlake because you choose to reject it. By rejecting it, you are really accepting it; accepting the fact that you are one of it’s negatives. My point is, with the right mindset, for the time that you spend there, you can make Southlake you hell or your heaven. But in order to do that, you must look inside yourself and discover what is you want, and who you want to be. Do you want to be the wild party animal? The quiet marimba player? The brilliant but crazy one? The quiet depressed one? The anti social one? The innocent one? The mad one? Anyone you choose, you can be, because you already are. You are perfect in your own way; you have all the components for happiness and success and brilliance with in you, you just have to choose which to use, which to be. You control you. Nothing more and nothing less. You control your destiny. It is your choice...thou mayest.
Wow that was really long. I hope it was as inspirational as it sounded in my head. If not then I hope it was an interesting insight into my slightly twisted logic.
posted by kellyisdelightful @ 8:52 AM
3 Comments:
Interesting, comparing Southlake to America. I would like to contend that Southlake/America is only half Bubble-ish: probably about half the Southlakeans (and therefore half Americans) are like you and me, people who reject the idea of needless buying as Godot. Despite us saying that Southlake is shallow and superficial, there is still a multitude of people who do not fit the description. It is good to know that there are quite a few people out there in America that have a different Godot.
To me, Southlake is still home. It's where my house is, where my family is, where my friends congregate when they are not at school. Having grown up away from the Bubble and having come into the school district in middle school, basically high school because the half-year I spent at CMS doesn't really count, I've never really become a part of that society. I don't fully support the consumer-driven lives people may lead that live in Southlake, but I support Southlake as a community because, let's face it, there are a million worse places we could have gone to high school.
Timshel. One of my favorite words and probably the best part of East of Eden. It's comforting to know that I am who I choose to be, and that I do not need to pretend to be someone else. College has taught me a lot so far, and I haven't even been here a month. I am who I am, and that's all that I am. People who don't like it don't have to talk to me; that's the way it has been and always will be. It's who I choose to be.
I like this post, Kelly. I need to reread Waiting for Godot, but alas, a friend of mine has it at the moment. He doesn't understand it fully, I suspect: he asked me to explain it to him. And I will willingly do that.
Damn this is a long comment. I had better go write my paper on The Iliad for my class tomorrow. I miss Langford's class, because my English class this year is the biggest joke/waste of time ever.
that is orgasmically amazing. you stun me. i honestly can't put into words how awesome that is but it is perfect.
i'm lost inbetween the crowds you speak of. i do buy things and and love clothes and want to look cute and fun, but at the same time i am usually moderate about it. i don't own any LV or coach or shop at the glass slipper and taylor G. i do reject most of what southlake has to offer and i embrace other aspects of it. i guess this vicious cycle never ends does it.
i love how different and yet the same we are and i hope you know that you have become one of my bestest bestest friends.
Mal~
Pam- I see what you mean. There are different aspects to Southlake, of course. When I say Southlake, I mean as a whole, over all. There is of course always the Southlake couterculture movement (Langford Alums unite!!!). and I miss Langford's class too...I think I shall e-mail her today. yes. yes.
and mal-thank you...stunning people is rare and I figure if my body won't do it, my brain will have to make up for it. you are one of my bestest bestest friends too, if not my bestest bestest friend. yay.
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