This is something I wrote for an assignment last semester. For an explanation, please read the last paragraph.. I'm more interested in seeing how anyone might interpret this.
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Each of us enters the world wearing a red veil of innocence which gradually falls off as we venture through our first years of life. Unbeknownst to us, we have arrived in a world of chaos; greed and deception create a predominance of evil.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Apparently the brain still works on Christmas
It's 11pm Christmas day (or night) and I'm finally updating this thing by writing about something that's lingered in the back of my mind for quite some time.. and becomes the dominant thought every time I visit an airport.
Whenever I visit an airport, I feel funny; strange; almost down in a way, but not because I'm depressed. Generally, I find myself thinking that the airport is a point from where each individual commences or continues their journey. A stranger knows not where each individual comes from, nor where they are heading. The individual's life story is a secret. All a spectator sees is the individual climbing aboard a plane which is going to transport them to another place, perhaps another time, and into another part of their life. Or is will be the beginning of the next part of their life.
What is it about this that makes me feel strange? In any other location where there is a crowd, the crowd is generally united in their motive for being there; the goal they want to achieve. For instance, at a concert, the theatre or a sporting event. The crowd is able to bond over what they are spectating. Contrarily, an airport basically symbolises people separating from one another. We know not to what lives other people are heading. We are not united in a goal and so we do not bond. Our only option is to guess the lives the people are heading into.
This whole idea came to mind again as we drove past houses on Christmas Eve, the vast majority of them decorated for Christmas and having colourful, sparkly trees in view of the street. I realised while driving past these houses that Christmas is one of the only times when society is divided into family groups. After all, as the saying goes, Christmas is family time (apparently). To me, this is one of the only cemented divisions that can occur in a society. Since families are set groups (generally.. not in the strictest sense) there is a great sense of belonging around Christmas, which is matched by an equally great sense of division. Similarly to the airport situation, as one looks at those decorated houses with the lit up Christmas tree, there may be several questions going through their mind including 'how will that family celebrate Christmas?' and, of course, unless that person somehow becomes an acquaintance, the question will most likely never be answered. That's not meant to sound depressing by any means; simply a thought I've been wanting to share for a while.
OK - I'm falling asleep as I write this, so I shall leave any reader/s with those thoughts to ponder.
Thanks.
Whenever I visit an airport, I feel funny; strange; almost down in a way, but not because I'm depressed. Generally, I find myself thinking that the airport is a point from where each individual commences or continues their journey. A stranger knows not where each individual comes from, nor where they are heading. The individual's life story is a secret. All a spectator sees is the individual climbing aboard a plane which is going to transport them to another place, perhaps another time, and into another part of their life. Or is will be the beginning of the next part of their life.
What is it about this that makes me feel strange? In any other location where there is a crowd, the crowd is generally united in their motive for being there; the goal they want to achieve. For instance, at a concert, the theatre or a sporting event. The crowd is able to bond over what they are spectating. Contrarily, an airport basically symbolises people separating from one another. We know not to what lives other people are heading. We are not united in a goal and so we do not bond. Our only option is to guess the lives the people are heading into.
This whole idea came to mind again as we drove past houses on Christmas Eve, the vast majority of them decorated for Christmas and having colourful, sparkly trees in view of the street. I realised while driving past these houses that Christmas is one of the only times when society is divided into family groups. After all, as the saying goes, Christmas is family time (apparently). To me, this is one of the only cemented divisions that can occur in a society. Since families are set groups (generally.. not in the strictest sense) there is a great sense of belonging around Christmas, which is matched by an equally great sense of division. Similarly to the airport situation, as one looks at those decorated houses with the lit up Christmas tree, there may be several questions going through their mind including 'how will that family celebrate Christmas?' and, of course, unless that person somehow becomes an acquaintance, the question will most likely never be answered. That's not meant to sound depressing by any means; simply a thought I've been wanting to share for a while.
OK - I'm falling asleep as I write this, so I shall leave any reader/s with those thoughts to ponder.
Thanks.
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