Something Original, Please?

I like to people watch.  I used to.  I used to think of it as an interesting and provocative game.  But now it’s more a mundane chore.  I rather stay in bed.  People are all the same at the end of the day.  So it seems.  I take the bus downtown and everyone is wearing the same designer whoever, eating at the most talked about restaurants (no matter how much they suck), talking about the most talked about viral video, or just trying to be the most talked about.  Yawn.

Seems to me that though media is more vibrant and savvy than ever before, its also more mind-dulling and stupefying.  People are shallow in their witty dialogue and duped by the media because they want to be heard.  There is very little out there worth hearing.

Not because it isn’t good.  In fact there’s a lot of good stuff out there.  A lot of bad, for that matter.  But what’s good?  What’s bad?  Who out here has a valid opinion nowadays?  Do you really know what you’re talking about?

And is expressing yourself really expressing who you are?  Are you expressing yourself who happens to look, talk, and walk like say, Nikki Minaj?  Or better yet, Lady Gaga?  Nothing against them.  They used the media to get into our heads to make money with us wanting to be just like them.  Can’t be mad at seizing an audience.

But I do get mad because too many people drink the Kool-Aid.  Sure, its one thing to be influenced and to come to your own conclusions.  Its another when you can’t answer simple questions like “What do you want to do with your life?”

“Uh.  I wanna get rich!”  Okay, I might buy that, but how?

“I wanna be on Youtube!”  No.  You didn’t just say that?  Really?!

“I’m going to follow my dreams and passions to fulfill my quest in life.”  And….. what would that quest be, my friend?  “To be just like that guy who made Facebook.”  Just like that guy?  How would that make you different?

All I’m saying is this.  Take a little time to get to know yourself before jumping off the popularity cliff.  Find time to be quiet and listen to what’s rattling around in your head.  Learn how to organize your own thoughts by analyzing what’s being put out there instead of simply absorbing it.  Read and watch the signs and images but use some discretion while making decisions.  Have something worth sharing; something that gives value to who you are as a unique individual a part of a whole and yet unique race…  the human race.