This globalized western carnival of conquest

   
     What is the purpose of civilization? Is it to build great big clipper ships, sail the ocean and look for primitive peoples to trick into generations of servitude? Is our purpose to war with other civilizations, to ensure we are able to buy shit that we don't need, to control laborers who don't share the visions of men with half cooked notions of business? I don't know. The more I think about it, I feel as if I stand contrary to most of the current aims our civilization.

    It also feels like the more our civilization seems to be winning this globalized western carnival of conquest, we the many lose our minds and our lives. Who is this we? We are those who have nothing left to lose. We are the hand to mouth harvesters making our way day to day, fighting traffic, fighting for a crumb of the pie, we are the beings fighting ourselves, the rat race runners who got a late start, the failed seekers who run through the world waiting for tomorrow. We are the bungled and botched, who are divided by the wedge global capital drives with every closing bell. This is us.

      Where do we channel our energy when we are too tired to dream? Where do we go to learn our lyrics and practice our songs when the rent for a studio is too damn high? Where do we go when taking to the streets is looked at like some kind of passing tantrum? (A passing tantrum that is ignored out of necessity.)

     A useless philosopher (the current dictates of this civilization deem all philosophers as useless) once wrote "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." We are indeed ruled by our inferiors. We are ruled by men and women who only look to control. We are ruled by men and women who lost their ability to see greatness outside of their own individuality. We are ruled by men and women who need the stability of inside the box to serve the continuation of their reign.

   
    Marcus Aurelius once wrote  "The best method of defense is to not become like your enemy." How can we realize the dichotomy between those who are friends and our foes is directly linked to how we treat one another? Do we treat the people in our lives well? We have to ask and answer this question because it is through minute everyday acts of decency that begin to change our lives.