Having To Live With Each Other, Resolved
Kinda of overcrowded around earth as of late, isn’t it? Even in small villages where I have lived, people seem to be everywhere. I go to the park, which has been established by the government because it would otherwise be torn apart to build new living areas “with views” or commercial warehousing and overrun with semi trucks. The parks are already overrun with people trying to get away from the other people. Funny how that is?
Where do we go now that everyone is everywhere? I think this is why some people leave work on Friday and never come out of their house until they have to return to work on Monday. It’s the only way to escape. I’ve named my computer ‘Arthur’s Escape’ because, seriously, it is an escape from out there. We all know what ‘out there’ is, right? Right??…
I remember when I started to drive in the late 70’s and the highways were nice to cruise on. Now they are jammed packed with cars full of people going everywhere because they want to get away from it all. People move in clusters to places where other people cluster. Have you ever tried to avoid people only to find no reprieve from people? They are everywhere.
People Are Virus’s.
We multiply at exponential rates and wreak havoc in all places. I, in all honesty, believe we are an accident of nature. Then I hear the cattle call of the spiritual person telling me that God “has a plan for all of us” and if we believe in “in Him” we will be guided into heaven. Well if that’s the case, I don’t want to go anywhere near heaven because it is most likely the most crowded place in the whole universe! I bet Hell has some nice places that are less crowded.
Okay, I admit I am whinging a tad. As a photography enthusiast, I love people. But only to observe them. I have a saying ‘I love to hate people and hate to love them.’ It’s not a very nice thought, I know. It’s just the words I use to get a point across, and I’m not exactly sure what the point of it is. I just like to play with words until they come together and make sense to me. I’m still working on that one.
In The Good Ol’ Days…
In my twenties I would cycle throughout the country side of northwest Ohio; Lucas and Wood counties to be specific. At times I would feel so liberated as I felt like I was the only person within miles of myself in my universe. The sounds, the smells and the views of farms fields were glorious. That was a long time ago and I miss that treasured feeling and memory. To go back and just be present again in that moment would be my Heaven.
Now, we live on top of each other and just have to deal with it. My way of dealing with it is through photography. It allows me to be a part of it on my own terms. I am standing apart from everyone as an observer and I am allowed in other peoples presence because of my actions of taking photos. It’s a win/win situation for me.
From Crowding To Crowding
I came from a family of five children and it was damn hard to find my own space. I was the middle child and had to deal with my older siblings having already established spaces, and my younger siblings vying to establish their own space. On top of this I had my parents trying to do their best to just exist among it all. They were probably wishing they had their own space to retreat into as well. I never realized until my present age that being an adult is just a term associated with differentiating a young person from an older person. We have always been the same person; We have just grown older. Not everyone my age has grown wiser, that is for sure.
I guess if I want to truly have some space away from other people, I have two choices. Either I keep on with what I am doing and find those spaces which offer some kind of reprieve, like I already do. Or, as weird as this sounds, go inward and transcend it all. Like I do when sleeping, only I am awake during this process. Well it’s better than the other choices: I can go for a walk in a desert and eventually die of heat exhaustion somewhere in the middle of it, or buy a boat and sale into the open seas and face storms that will eventually drown me.
My Answer To Overcrowding
But I am the kind of person who will just exist as is. Take it or leave it, I must find my own way through this event we call life. I will have to make it fun for me and I have plans to buy a motorcycle. Well, not an actual motorcycle, more like a hyped up moped. I’m really looking forward to it and I’m not even hip! I just hope I don’t crash and break my hip!! I’ve had this thought in my mind for such a long time since I first rode one in 2000. I will make it come true and I have plans to action it on my 60th birthday this July.
It’s not really contributing to the reducing the sense of overcrowding, but damn it will be so fun.
