Shedding Light Upon our Darkest Days

2/1/21

The thoughts of a decidedly Happy person are not filled with what should be, but with what is.

They take things in this world as they are, and rarely express the need for everything to have its exact place to be.

There is of course a spectrum involved, with varying degrees of happiness and acceptance. For every bit of external turmoil one acknowledges as wrong, they face equal turmoil in their mental state.

"This is wrong. Someone should fix this. I should fix this." These expressions and train of thought create conviction and motivation out of the gap a contented person does not possess. 

The phrase "ignorance is bliss" accurately describes the concept. The mind of a decidedly ignorant person feels no such need to fix this world. Ignorance may not be the most accurate word for all, however. Some may use "brainwashed" or "misinformed". To me, they are simply blissful. 

They don't feel the immediate need for change. They don't place the burden on themselves.

Oh how I ache for this ability! The apathy! The contentment!

They belong to those who have found their bliss.

How does one find contentment in their day-to-day living? The news stations blast negativity with 2 sprinkles of hope a day.

The intentions to divide, the excessive Us vs. Them dynamic. The rare occurrences of comradery entices us with the hopes that we can pull ourselves out of the hole that's been dug for over 100 years.

How does one find contentment within society? 

We work 40 hour weeks to earn enough to pay taxes, debts, mortgages, groceries, and other necessities. Sometimes we have to opt for the cheaper, mass produced frozen meals rather than the meals with the nutritional value we need in order to feed our families.

Must it be this way?

Must we be required to pawn our bodies and time off for the necessities of survival?

Why are young adults finding more companionship with undomesticated creatures than with humankind?

Why are we as a society creating a counterculture for young people that gives them an opposing outlook than the traditional one?

We grew up watching princesses escape their predetermined roles and become so much happier afterwards. 

We watched Robin Hood help the poor people around him. We watched him recognise that the rich had enough to fix the problem, but did not.

We cannot ignore the world we live in due to the world we grew up in. 

We grew up in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Our Formative Years were marked by the Patriot Act and the 2008 Recession. 

When we were in middle school, terrorists attacked Paris. 

People bomb mosques. 

The Us vs. Them grows.

The dystopian societies of "Divergent", "The Hunger Games", and "The Handmaid's Tale" are all satires of our own, in one way or another. 

"The Hunger Games"  is a series in which a civilization is split into distinct areas, and makes sure they stay separated by means of an annual combat ritual. The people cannot expect to be respected by their government is they kneel at every command. "United we Stand, Divided we Fall" is an ideal that the United States was founded upon, yet divisions grow deeper, driven by a wedge every 4 years.

"The Handmaid's Tale" takes jabs at Christian extremism (yes, there are other forms of extremism that aren't radical leftism or Islamic extremism) and the lack of separation of church and state. The idea of a state-backed religion of any kind will actively oppress one group or another. In this case, the women are oppressed, and lose bodily autonomy. This parallelled in life with the threats of Roe v. Wade being revoked in the United States. Often times this case is applied only to abortion rights, but it comes down to the 9th amendment right to privacy. 

"Divergent" also employs the ideas of sectionalism. The idea that people must be separated by ideas and personality is neither new or healthy to a civilization. Grouping only like-minded people together creates echo chambers for people to become more polarized in the preferred direction. This happens in the series as well as in actuality, with QAnon and the the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol on January 6th of 2021. 

Eventually everyone must face the consequences of your actions. 

Whether you choose bliss for yourself or the collective

Is up to you.