holidays

It’s been a while since I tried to write some potential mind-stimulating words. But, hence there is not much to do after a few months on the road, except the occasional learning, working or exercising of course, there I go..
The anniversary of Christmas, or Xmas for all the hip people, is approaching for all the Christians and modern consumers among you. What took me by surprise is that I do not care about it even a tiniest bit anymore. I am agnostic since years, but it always stayed a kind of get-together for families and friends just shortly before the year-value is increasing. Maybe it has all been far too commercialised. I would say: stripped down to the diapers, Iphone-snapped, photoshopped and uploaded to Facebook. Who would belive it otherwise anyway?

One could argue that this demystification, this growing up is sad, but it actually feels good. It opens the perspective to be above such things as holidays and consumerism. Every need that includes more than pure food, sleep, sex, self-improvement and excretion (in any desired order) is caused either by successful marketing or by far too complex and misleading thoughts of your own. Of course there are more needs. You might even put them into a pyramid like Maslow did. Still, I am sure most of our needs today are built onto a layer I would call something like ‘bonus-effect’. An advertisement example would be: This is the best beer ever! It has zero calories, tastes good as chocolate and you can drink 20 pints of it before regurgitation. You can see the exaggerated problem: every mentioned aspect is pretty cool, but I just do not want my beer to have one of them.

Who knows what we want just because it is shiny, pink or got big eyes?

Peaceful days to you all!

Update (Week XXIV)

Update (USA – Hawaii)

It’s been 24 weeks since I visited a country where they drive on the right side of the road. But that’s certainly not the only difference here. It’s the country where you’ll get a 130 dollar fine if you cross the streets in a wrong way, where they play the national anthem on the beach toilets – actually, where you should use the word restroom or accept being hated, where the national flag is displayed on every corner and where they show advertisements for the war on TV.
Although, Hawaii is the last of the 50 states and I was told it was ‘no shirt, no shoes, no problem!’ a few years ago, things have changed. I was forbidden entry and asked to leave because I didn’t wear shoes at Perl Harbor. Their explanation was their fear of getting sued if I’d hurt my feet (come on, I’ve walked on fire and the probability of all the guys slipping with their flip-flops is higher than the sensibility to pain of the soles of my feet). Nevertheless, I took the one and a half hour bus ride again and drove there a second time to enjoy a few hours of American pride.

Also, I went surfing for the first time ever..

Tomorrow, I’m going to find out how America goes crazy at its Independence Day. ..and if a Korean missile will hit me on my head ..as it is only the evening of the 3rd of July yet.

You don’t fool me

On certain things in life we have absolutely no influence whatsoever. People die everyday and most of us may not be the cause for that ..I hope ..well, at least I’m not the one pushing cigarettes into your mouth. No discussion about the hard-fought vitamin sticks here – that’s not what I meant. There are specific events in everyones life where our predictions are just correct. We know what is going to happen (see When we see the blood prior to the cut). We know what would be the appropriate thing to do. Still, we don’t do it or do something else.
This may raise the questions on the existence of determination, free will, spirits, ghosts and the perfect chocolate cream. Alright, maybe I drifted a bit away. The problem comes with the environment we see everything in. More theoretically, it’s our own angle of view we rely on. So, when you see yourself standing in the supermarket in front of the beverages, you find yourself thinking about a free decision which drink to purchase. As soon as you virtually make one step back, you see hundreds of advertisements for the drink you are about to indulge. Switch to the third person view and zoom out of the store. You’ll see your workplace and your free will of choosing right that department store. The bird’s-eye view gives you further insight into your working environment where your colleges told you about that specific shopping centre. And this goes on and on.

If we’d finally zoom out the entire universe and, as wee addition, would be able to understand it. We’d probably find out that everything has it’s reasons and determination. Regardless, we can’t blame the higher reason instead of the rapist. Everybody has a choice, because we don’t know any life but ours.
It’s up to you!

In our dreams we’re free

Advertisements show us our dreams. Impossible things might come true. Buy and you’ll see! We might. But we also can, if we don’t buy. Everywhere messages try to trick our minds. ‘Buy three for two’ – nice, but what if you only need one? ‘Cleans so well, you can even remove your bugging friend’ – well, if you had one? ‘Makes you look 10 years younger’ – what would the 14-year old girl say?
The nasty thing is, we can’t really help it. Influence is everywhere. The more underlying and modest, the more dangerous it is. Just think about the small snacks right before the check-out in the stores. Oh, those evil little gifts, almost as cheap as the energy gained by eating them. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Nonsense, we are just lazy and like to have our bellies full and our beer right in front of us.

Things we like don’t last for long. Matters we dislike seem to take for ages. That relies mostly on how much we concentrate on various processes. If we count every second, it might be hardly surprising that it takes all the 107 thousand ..and counting. Where is the connection? Ads try to remind us gently of things we dislike. So what’s my point? Dreams don’t last for long.
Buy two of them, it could be your last day!

When things turn out different

It’s good to have no expectations. Most of the time, you’re better off without any hope. The chances to get disappointed will suddenly go down to zero. Of course, when considering the psychological effects for life with no hope, we might want to rethink. Don’t forget about the masses of rope and bullets which had to be produced to satisfy consumer demands. It might not be a splendid idea for the whole community at all. Not to mention the cleaning costs.
Although, I can see the advertising slogans already. ‘Lost all hope? Use our legendary tearproof rope!’ ‘Our bullets will blow your head off.’ ‘You feel like you drain? Take our extraordinary bullets for you brain! – Now single packed!’

Seriously, nothing is better than raising your expectations in everything. Get used to disappointments and try to make it better. When it comes to other people, well, hope springs eternal. The best thing about high expectations is the pleasant anticipation it’s delivered with. Forget about the disillusion afterwards. Sophistication means adventure. Fun you’ll find where you meet your own demands.
The important lesson to learn is that everything comes at a price. All together, the total you pay for your life. Choose with care or be prepared to pay the price. Or take two packages – just in case you miss the mark.
Life sucks being a bad high wire dancer!