The Water Bottle

The story shall start with me sitting next to a good friend, one hot night, a few days ago, inside an empty camp, in the middle of a forest, next to the beach. We had a full day’s time to kill and, naturally, the conversation would not be easily interrupted by either party, because that would mean boredom.

So, the topic moved towards future plans and personal life goals, and I decided it was time to share another small part of myself. Just to test the ideas on a friendly, skeptical and similar -yet different- mind. I was having regrets the whole 3 hours but at the end I felt relieved, satisfied and a bit more determined.

Firstly, we have to accept that the world as a whole is getting worse. (Really, a pessimistic view, but a lot of the next stuff relies on this assumption. If you are 100% sure of the contrary then the rest of the post is not going to make any sense to you.)

The speed or relative position of it on a bad-good axis does not hold any actual significance, but we should also accept that it’s not really going to start moving towards ‘good’ and that it’s in the general ‘bad’ area (although I dare say not too ‘bad’).

And now a few lines to explain the pessimism.

The modern and ‘civilised’ world has been a total moral disappointment. Pacifists were quickly silenced after the two world wars, as it became clear that the arms race could indeed hold a winner and that position comes with a lot of power. So, tons of countries are still heavily investing in ‘defence’ equipment and participating in, or even creating, wars that are nowhere near their actual borders. Which leads to another trully rotten fruit – the global economy.

Money is the undisputed driving force of the modern world. It is held by huge, international companies and is managed by banks and other shady organizations. So, companies born in capitalism are always trying to create more and more revenue and sustain the capitalism and, observing that, banks & governments fall on their knees, begging for money. It could actually look like a kind of domino ‘down on their knees’ line, but I haven’t thought about this all that much, yet. This creates two more problems: a)more and more people want in and b)marketing.

I consider marketing and modern advertising one of the most evil things today. I hate seeing people, especially those close to me, fall for fashion trends, self-image worries and consumer habits that don’t make sense (I should write about smoking someday). I mean, I understand why people would want to fit in or fill good about themselves, but it doesn’t take much effort to see the vanity and futility in all that. People are never going to be content for long, following those ideas.

I could go on, but I trust you get the general idea.

 

Now, let’s add a society to this world. It is the society as we know it and as I described it before (some big chunks anyway). It consists of countries, companies, towns and villages, trends, tv shows, fashion, jobs, cars, news stations and anything we deal with everyday, including all those people.

This society is what is moving the world towards ‘bad’. That’s because the most powerful and influential people generally work in improving their status or their country’s status instead of humanity’s or the whole world’s status. Silly stuff all that country, race and ethnicity stuff, right? So, so …sad.

Everyone who lives and participates in more than a few aspects of this society is part of it. And at this point we reach two big questions.

1. How disconnected should one be to not be considered part of this society?

My friend suggests that a person must have no ties or communications whatsoever. I am a bit reluctant about that – I believe it is impossible to go on without using anything from that society, so we can not be that strict. The example of Dick Proenneke comes to mind. He could not have lived without supplies from his visitors, no matter how minimal his diet or living would have been. I believe it can not be achieved by one person, alone.

2. Is it possible that ‘good’ people exist in a bad society?

My friend suggests that no, anyone who knowingly participates in this society, even if they are only trying to make it better are either not ‘good’ or part of it. Again, I disagree. I think ‘good’ people, or people who knowingly do ‘good’, and have full awareness of society’s situation do exist. However, their actions may not eventually lead to ‘good’ and/or won’t make the world start going towards a better place.

 

Slowly, but surely, the mind gets tired of being lead into dead ends. What is the point then? What can I do?

(In truth, this was the conversation’s ignition, but I chose to write something easily readable.)

 

Obviously, we, who hate the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient forces of this society, do not feel welcome in it. Not only that, but we’d much rather have nothing to do with the self destructiveness, the short sightedness and the maniac spiralling towards doom (which creeps at all from the far end of ‘bad’).

I can not even wish to find the point in all of it, although I am starting to think that a singular point does not exist, but I can dream and plan of doing something to place myself outside of all that nonsense.

I’ve been dreaming of a cabin lost in the mountains. A small farm, a couple of chicken and sheep, maybe a cow or two. Fishing, berry and fruit picking in the forest, gathering water from the nearby stream. Food, a main anxiety, is covered. Wood is ample. Building what is needed is only a matter of time, and I just seem to have gained a lot of it. There may be another person there. Someone to love and share all of this with, as equals in everything.

 

That is the best solution I can think of. It means leaving the world, leaving that society, and going somewhere where the bad/good axis does not exist. It may seem primitive, it may seem boring, it may even seem unrealistic and not human.

But I believe it to be the most logical action. Because, even if you stay and fight with all your might – fight for ‘good’- you will achieve nothing (most probably). And even if you slow down the doomed society, or magically move it in the other direction, there will be tons of others who will rush to destroy your progress.

Because, deep down, people will always want what they can’t have, they will always want more and they will always be willing to sacrifice someone else’s needs and life for their own satisfaction.

 

You could argue all you want about how possible such an action/life is in today’s world, and maybe you will kill my hopes and dreams, in the end. But I believe that an attempt, one that will start realistically and will gradually move towards idealism, is obligatory for the brave of heart.

 

…

After 3 hours of conversation I was feeling more alive and awake than before. I had discovered new holes in my ideas and I created patches for old ones. Perhaps I will have to exist in this ‘evil’ society before I am able to move on, because such is the shitty world we live in. But having persuaded someone else that that is the only logical way of living, I felt more confident about it.

 

PS: I am aware of the bad writing towards the end, but I really wanted to finish the post. I will maybe add to it when I find the time to consider all this again.