Burning Man
September 2008 
change the world
Lindsey
I am a very idealistic person by nature. I want perfection in myself and others. I want to change the world.
My parents also thought they were going to change the world in the sixties. If you look at the state of the world today you might understand that look that my mom gets sometimes. They had so much hope and optimism for a peaceful loving and Just world they were just on the brink of... obviously that was naive and almost ridiculous looking back. The world did change, however not in the way boomers may have imagined.
Today I look to the future and it is uncertain, yet I have endless hope. Endless hope for humanity without the nieve dreams.
I also have a secret . I am revolting, deep inside of me, I am raging against the apathy. I will not hide my heart and mind like the disengaging youth who are too cool to care, too smart to fall for it and in my opinion fucking weak. I may be idealistic but I am not a beacon of optimism either. Nothing will change if you don't go and do it, every bit of it, working your ass off for something greater than you, that is ultimately not for you, and that you must have no direct attachment to. I don’t care if I die and and transhumanist dolphin temps take over the verse. I will do my best to enact my vision of the best posible world and that's all I can do. So why not think big? attempt something grand and be willing to fail big. Fear causes apathy and attachment cases blindness. What we need are people willing to risk it all just because they can. I don't care about looking stupid, attempting the impossible, and failing with all my heart.
Access: Public
Wow. What an awesome post. Welcome!
Reminds me of a Kerouac quote I think Jon blogged the other day:
“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”
Let’s change the world.
OMG. Wait. Reminds me of THIS even more. :)
I love your passion!
I’m with you! Let’s change the World.
We can’t fail if we’re actually doing something.
We only fail by doing nothing!
That was incredible … it reminded me of Gonzo (not the muppet):
“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty, well-preserved body; but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used-up, totally worn-out, and loudly proclaiming, “WOW! What a ride!”
Well now that we’re trading quotes on that (!) I offer a blog I recently did of one of my all-time favorites:
“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it over to future generations.”
~ George Bernard Shaw , British playwright & novelist