Things that Fly!

Oppressively Normal (or The Status Quo)

In our lives we should always be seeking out dynamic variables. Uncertainty. Change. These are not the monsters we have been taught. I've thought of a couple ideas that work around this theme of status quo.

When I was travelling I started out writing these terribly long e-mails home describing the new places I was traveling to and my personal feelings towards them. They were awesome, I loved to write them and I loved to share them with my friends. Each day I made new discoveries and marveled at the endless possibilities. After awhile I started to write home less. Everything seemed more mundane. I felt like I had gotten used to traveling and that day to day events weren't worth writing home about; they were too "Normal" an occurance to be much of a story. I stopped looking for things that excited me and found just what I was looking for. This of course didn't mean that amazing things ceased to surround me only that I stopped looking.

I have this theory that artists, painters, writers, musicians etc. must on a fundamental basis be constantly challenging the status quo. One possessing any sort of creativty stands to lose a great deal if they fall into the rigid stagnancy that "normal" advocates. They must constantly be challenging the world they live in and discovering the limitless possiblities.

I feel like a little boy constantly discovering contradictions about the world. As a culture we value the idea the we are unique individuals but in reality so few of us embrace this notion. On some level we all subscribe to a cultural dictum that praises homogenous uniformity and simulataneously acts to scandalize ideas or thoughts that are "different". The truth is that the fringe keeps this whole system aloft. If our culture didn't have a small minority of people challenging the status quo then the idea of "normal" would fall apart. People would have nothing to compare their own wretched lives to and may in turn start to actually create their own unique worlds.

I feel like I have more to write about this, but it just makes me angry thinking about it. Maybe I'll come back to it later.

posted by Rob and Lauren @ 9:21 PM