dark_made_light_made_dark_again peyton sim·plic·i·ty - (sm-pls-t) n. pl. sim·plic·i·ties 1. The property, condition, or quality of being simple or uncombined. 2. Absence of luxury or showiness; plainness. 3. Absence of affectation or pretense. 4. Lack of sophistication or subtlety; naiveté. 5. Clarity of expression. 6. Austerity in embellishment 7. Routine, or simplistic in nature Gathering what is so elegantly put by Webster, is simplicity bad? Let's see.. The processes of simple and uncombined.. are there any things in nature that can be so simple yet so magnificent as the small things in life? The little drops of rain along the path that make the day cooler? I find that the absence of routine in a lifestyle breeds chaos.. discord.. that which unmakes the very fabric of a person. Routine, albeit mundane at times, breeds consistentcy in character.. strength.. balance.. that which is required to be able to put stability in anything, abstract or concrete. Most people wake up in the morning, get a shower, and get dressed. Nearly every morning follows the same pattern. Is it because we are mindless slaves to a nameless system? Are we animals so tuned to instinct that we can't independently act? I think not. I think we wake because we are done with sleeping. We shower because we feeling the sweat of sleep upon us, and we dress because want to keep the interests of modesty and to shield our bodies from the elements. We do that same example of a routine everyday, because it is the most comforting thing to do. It is the choice of a person to do that which is neccesary for survival, be it showering and dressing, or working and producing. Is there really a need to change that? Is there a burning hot poker applied to our foreheads every day because of our slavery? I think things go the way they go because they are the easiest that way on everyone, all of society as a whole. If there are those starving on the streets, they are there because they CHOOSE to be there. It is not because they are incapable of attaining means of substinence, it is because they choose to take the easier path, one of unemployed solicitation. Does it lie on me, the individual, to go to each homeless (though individually tragic) case and put silver into their pockets? Does it fall to me to guide them to a Utopian ideal? I think that even in the most pristine and open-armed of societies, there will be those who just don't endure and don't want to endure the simple processes that must be endured to make life livable for the vast majority. Sure, I don't like the day in-day out grind of society. But it allows me precious moments of leisure that I can spend in my room, writing, composing, listening to the great composers, watching movies, seeing beautiful art, loving, living, laughing.. everything that is the cream of life as a whole. Sitting alone and brooding of a way to bring salvation to those who are too lazy or too indifferent to save themselves, well that's just not the way I choose to spend the time that my efforts has purchased me. What I've worked for in life.. is MINE. I have carved it out of the stony face of a faceless machine. It is my piece of the world. Nothing can be done (barring acts of God) to take that away from me. If anyone finds themselves in the face of poverty, or living in austere conditions that seem to have no escape, join the Peace Corp., join the military.. work at McDonald's. All three are very open to applicants. Sure, it may not be your life's dream of composing symphonies, but it will keep you from homelessness, and it will allow you to have those little stitches in time where you can drink happiness. Happiness is measured not in money, as was mentioned, but it comfort in life. Regardless of the path that must be taken to have that, it must be done. All the little things that have been listed before, the routine.. all of that can be as comforting a warm blanket.. the knowledge that life will go on.. things will go on.. Our only hope as an individual is to pull the small droplets of joy out of the little things that fall down as we go about our day-to-day grind. For if every now and then you can't look to the sky and search for those prisms of light, then you are truly blinded to that which you're searching for. Routine doesn't rot optimism. It builds it. It leaves the hope that tomorrow will be the chance to make my life better. The same options will be there, the same players will be at the table, and if I'm smart enough and lucky enough, I can win (by sheer will and force of effort) that which I deserve to be a happier and more optimistic person. If one looks long enough, and hard enough, and doesn't give up the fight, and doesn't give up the ship, it is nearly a certainty that some measure of comfort will come to them. Perhaps it won't be a perfect fit. But it is always better to take what is offered by the cruelest master, life, than to abstain on the grounds of protest, which accomplishes nothing but assurance in the seat of rejection and misery. If one we so inclined by idealism to change the way of things, then it must be done from inside the society.. inside the system.. by making oneself a part of that which is desired to change, or else you will bring the wrath of that society against you. Once you are in the system, and you understand it, and you see ALL sides of the coin, not just the disgruntled mumblings of a disenchanted few, then you will truly be a place to decide what is best for the WHOLE, not the person. For with all the millions of people in the Great Country of ours, there is hardly any one solution that will fit the bill for all. We can only hope to set up a system that has the same doors for everyone, and that if they are so inclined they can go to where they wish to go. Blowing things up and yelling about discontent and protesting about the treatments of this group or that group isn't going to make life better. It's going to create discord, which hurts us all. It breeds resentment towards the groups you are trying to protect. It takes us apart as a race. It most certainly doesn't create a Utopian society. I suppose the hardest challenge is looking up and realizing that at times, the history and small things you hate now, will be the nostalgia that sits in the museums and galleries of the future. And there will even be those then, who think that we've come so far, or fallen so far, from the grace or debauchery that is our time now. 020513 ... fu well hello there, mr. dictionary. pleasèd to meet you. 020719 what's it to you? who go blather from