All I want is a room somewhere
far away from the cold night air
with one enourmous chair
oh wouldn't it be lovely!
Lots of chocolate for me to eat
lots of coal mighty lots of it
warm hands, warm face, warm feet
oh wouldn't it be lovely
Lovely...
a. k. a. "'Cuz you only live once"
My generation seems to have discovered something trully amazing... that we only live once. I know, it's a great breakthrough, isn't it. I tell you, I can't imagine how these guys manage stuff like this.
Ok, serious now. When was the last time you met anyone or anything that didn't live just once?. People have been living once since the begining of time!!!. We don't know if the universe will get to live more than once, but best to not go down there.
So, seeing that everyone we ever knew has lived only once, why, all of the sudden, is everyone so FULL of this statement?. And by FULL I mean, making it a way of living.
The easiest, closest answer could perhaps be found on the fact that religion, in the developed world at least (which is really all I know), has seen better times. Or, put simply, we don't believe in the afterlife anymore. And that's big stuff. Suddenly we are riped out of the comforting thought that no matter how bad things are down here, it will be all better when we pass away. But this is only a small part of the story, or it has been since the Middle Ages.
From my modest perspective, there's something else going on. It is not what completes the picture, but it's bound to be a part of it. That is the lack of ideals that abounds in today's society. No one believes in anything. The perfect way to ride the world has been firmly stablished. We are all well fed, warm, healthy, educated, and with plenty of money left to spend in other much less urgent things. Everything is peachy. Well, everything for US is. And that perfect way to ride the world that keeps us all well fed, warm, healthy, educated, and with plenty of money to spend REQUIRES that we 1) only care about having plenty of money to spend and 2) don't see beyond the self. The result is a selfish, hedonistic society, whose only interest is in making money and in enjoying life mainly from what we can get from money.
Here's something clear as the light of day. We will always have existencial anxiety. It stems from the fact that we are mortal and aware of it. It's part of our humanity. It's how we DEAL with it that can be changed. And in fact it has, all through human history.
Is there a RIGHT way to deal with it? I'm sure of it. Do I know it? Hell, no. Do I think anyone knows it?. Most definitely no. Usually, when I don't know the answer to something, I consider all the possibilities. And I think and think again. What I am most afraid is that these people who live under the "'Cuz you only live once" ideal, haven't really considered ALL the possibilities. I feel like they are merely swallowing what they've been raised on. And my biggest fear, is that they are going to get to their old age, look back and think "yeah, I've enjoyed the ride. But what's left AFTER I'm gone?"
I tried to ignore it, do something else with my time, I tried to let it be, but I can't; and besides, I haven't posted anything in a long time.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, to the SUMMER BALL FROM HELL, where the breach between the rich and the poor makes its presence known once again, even amongst the, ehmm..., rich.
Tonight, there's something called "Summer Ball" organized in my university. Not really a "proper" ball, but hey. There are many things I can criticize about it. Most ot them, I've already expressed through the years since I became a teenager and was "forced" to participate in the "typical social gatherings for the young". Call it pub, bar or disco, on this side of the Atlantic Ocean or the other one, they all share the same unquestionable characteristics that I oh so intensily question. The vast amounts of alcohol, the darkness, the flashing lights, the noise (a. k. a. "music") at it's compulsory loudness, the cigarette smoke. Oh, wait, that last one is gone now. At least in this country, and from the 1st of July, smoking will be banned in most enclosed places. YAHOO-A!. And it only took us, what, 40 years since we discovered the link between smoking and cancer?. Way to go!. But back to the point, I won't start yet AGAIN on the reasons why I don't approve of all this. That's who I am and, just as the world is not willing to change, neither am I. It may make me miserable to live an almost non-existing social life as a result, but at least I will keep the few brain cells I was born with AND my lungs will be healthier.
This time, I'm focusing on something else. The PRICE of the entrance to this so-called Summer "Ball". In numbers, £40. That's right, 40 quit. 58-ish euros. 78-ish dollars. 228-ish Argentinian pesos. Cheese, my family can live of that for 2 weeks!. So, what do you get for this precious £40?. I have to recognise, I don't know the exact details (not interested, really). There is a "fair" of some kind, but given the obvious fact that the rides have to be unmountable AND safe, we can't really expect super dooper rollercoasters, can we?. There's also a live band, no idea who. They are the ones responsible for the "noise" I mentioned, nothing different to what you get on a typical disco on a typical night. So no New York Philharmonic, I'm afraid. What else... a big tent, tables and chairs (wooden ones, outside) and all the security you can dream of. Then there's the food and the drink. Lots of options!. And you better enjoy the options, because that's all you get. You are paying for the variety of food and drink available, not for the food and drink per se. And so, we've reached the point which I find most outrageous. NO FOOD. I don't know you, but for £40 I expect to be FED. And WELL FED, that is, not the fast food that they are getting. I said there were lots of options, I didn't mention their quality. You can't be very picky when your meal has to be cooked in a trailer, now, can you?. No silver spoon here, folks.
So, as anyone could have predicted, there is a breach between the ones who can afford the £40 and the ones who can't, as well as between the ones who are willing to spend £40 pounds on all the wonders the ball has to offer and the ones who think it's a very pricy excuse to get drunk in a posh outfit.
Now, there is something about this "ball" concept that I find puzzling. Given that the music is not really what we can call sophisticated, neither is the food, or the furniture, or the decorations, or the entertainment, why do they insist on a "black tie" dress code?. Anyone, any ideas?. It seems out of place to me. My idea of "black tie" goes along a "wedding like" ambient, where you sit at a table, you dance to an orchestra and you are surrounded by flower arrangements. I personally don't approve of the "black tie" dress code thing. Without any fear of sounding too patronizing, why, if everything is so vulgar and "tacky", do people still have to dress up to the nines?. It's beyond me.
On normal ocassions, I couldn't care less about the "Summer Ball" in question. I mean, apart from the obvious fact that the university is spending "fish" loads of money on something entirely pointless. However, this Summer Ball is different because this is my last year of University. And that's the reason why every single one of my classmates is there right now. They have the money AND the will to spend it, not one of them questioning it's amount OR it's worth.
Do I feel bad about not going? Yes and no. I would have liked to celebrate the end of my last year with a big party, but not necessarily with THIS big party. What pains me is that, because of of this stupind ball, no one seems interested in organizing another party. And so, on my last year of university, I am, once again, a social outcast. And I have, amongst others, my dear classmates to thank for this. For utterly ignoring me on the last and probably most important of the entirely pointless social gatherings for the young.
