A while ago I read this book.  Now I’m reading this book which has led me to listen to this song on repeat (as I will so often do when I need something to really sink in).  And if you head on over to the Wikipedia page for that song and scroll down to Legacy, you’ll see some interesting facts on just how popular that song is.  Now what I would like to know is why the fuck does everyone on the planet have such a thick skull?  The ideas provoked here obviously resonate with anyone who has half a brain, yet nothing really seems to change.

It was a few years ago that I rejected the idea of religion and any superior being that so much of the world puts their faith into.  Though they are all founded on human morality, they have been polluted with meaningless rituals and lists of rights and wrongs.  Who is to decide what is moral?  We’re all human.  It doesn’t make sense that any one person or group of people know what is ethical.  Human nature and common sense should be able to dictate those things.

As of recent, I’ve decided that this also applies to governments because whatever we’re doing, it’s not working.  There’s too much greed and, in effect, violence for someone to look at the state of the world as a whole and say, “Yes, this is okay.  Let’s keep it up.”  No way.  I don’t accept that.  It’s like we’re fighting for peace.  How the fuck can you fight for peace?  I have an idea on how to achieve that goal:  Stop.  Fighting.

That being said, I know we live in a materialistic world and I am most definitely guilty of *needing* those shiny new toys.  That glowing apple icon?  Gets me every time.  Four inch patent leather mary janes?  Sold.  $100 haircuts so that my hair is one less source of stress in my life?  Done.  Luxury condos in Battery Park City?  Give me a few years, I’ll get there.  I am certainly not above desiring all of the pretty things of the world, and New York isn’t exactly the city of frugality.  It’s tough to not want everything.

However, college/living abroad/traveling/moving apartments every year has taught me that there is a lot of unnecessary crap in our lives.  After living in Italy for 4 months and taking home the only two suitcases that I had brought with me (though stuffed with plenty more than I came with), I realized that minimalism makes life a lot easier.  My pack rat days were over.  Only take what you need, leave the rest for someone else.

In the last 6 months or so, that zen mentality of mine got lost in a mess of cool new tech products, clothes, restaurants, bars, vacations; basically all things excessive and expensive.  I’ve wanted and needed the latest and greatest and wouldn’t be satisfied until I had it.  That is, until I took a spill off my bike a couple of weeks ago.

At first glance all seemed fine.  Minor scrapes to myself, the bike was okay, and though everything fell out of my bag, it all seemed like it took the crash well.  Then I got to work, took out my laptop, and realized the case was totally warped and the latch broken.  Uh oh.  After turning it on, the machine seemed to be working properly.  Within a couple of days, though, that was not the case: the DVD drive was eating discs, the camera wasn’t being recognized, and the trackpad button felt weird to the touch.  Upon inspection at the Apple store, I was informed that yes, those things collapsed from the impact and no, the fact that I bought the machine 6 months ago doesn’t matter because the warranty has been invalidated.  The price tag for repair?  $1200.

However, the hard drive, screen, keyboard, and trackpad are not busted.  Everything I need to do my job is fine.  And for that, for not having to replace a $2000+ machine, for not even having to actually get anything repaired, I woke back up.  I remembered that this is just a tool that allows me to do the things that I do.  I’m taking my ever-so-graceful spill as a big shove from the universe to get my head on straight.  Yes, it’s sad that I can no longer take stupid Photobooth snapshots when I’m procrastinating, and it’s sad that my new machine is now a used machine, but such is life.

I’m probably getting far too big a lesson out of this incident, but if you know me, you know how attached I am to my pretty aluminum baby.  My baby that was dropped on it’s head and now has some permanent brain damage and a couple of scars to show for it.  But I’ve relearned my lesson: that you have to appreciate what you have.  Otherwise nothing will ever be good enough and you’ll turn into a greedy little bastard.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 11:35 am and is filed under Photography, iListen, iPlay, iRead, iShop, she-geekery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.