Nick Bahl

Social experience literally shapes critical details of brain psychology, sculpting an infant’s brain to fit the culture into which the child is born… Even in our most casual moments, we pulse in synchrony… No wonder input from the herd so strongly colors the way in which we see our world. – Howard Bloom

Every culture is able to shift gears with the arrival of every new generation. The leaders of tomorrow are those who want to accomplish something larger than they, and more than that, they will know it’s possible. This endless, difficult, up-hill, unknown, struggle to an end that cannot even be defined is what will make these people, deviant-leaders, stand out. This is what will allow them to survive a revolution; it’s what makes them the unforgotten leaders of the herd instead of a clump of grass rising from a grave. Please, for all of our sake, reach for something that’s beyond imagination, because if you don’t, nobody will. Try to accomplish something larger than yourself – isn’t this what mankind has forever been about? Let’s correct this slippery cycle before it’s too late.

I digress…

Neo-Americans steal what they don’t have. They complain about everything because nothing seems as good as it should be. They strap each and every part of their culture and society onto their backs as they jump from the window of reality in the hope that death will somehow be better than this life – death and destruction are gloriously depicted by Hollywood, and we believe the hype because there’s always a superhuman hero.

Neo-Americans sit around the television all night. They shun the library. They buy weight-loss products from late night infomercials, because they don’t have perfect bodies. The word “perfect” is another impossible term, yet we don’t understand that. They browse for the latest Madonna-says-this-will-make-me-cool-and-everyone-else-believes-it-so-it-must-be clothing at the fashion show, or is it a mall? They lose themselves in the music, the moment, because they’re told never to let it go. They dwell on the past, because the future, they’re told, is perfect and they begin to realize that they can never meet such expectations so they cherish the naïve moments of the past – they strive to hold on to their past ignorance at all cost. Words and images speak louder than actions because they can’t remember the last time they acted – how true is this? The very nature of our culture turns depressing, and they seek to escape from this reality – from reality itself.

I digress further…

Our culture has become so aesthetic that we cherish images more than ideas. All I hear is complaining, and when it’s not complaining that I hear it’s Madonna this, Aerosmith that, Rush Limbaugh this, and Jay Leno that. It’s so pathetic that sometimes I wonder how I ever manage to hold a meal down.

I can’t help but wish for a time where ideas hold more sway than images; where innovative thinking is more important than eight hours of television a day; where an original idea is a striving point and imitative learning doesn’t wag the dog; where people strive to escape the pecking order instead of complainingly accepting it, but all of these things are now nearly impossible, and for that Rome will fall yet again.

Unless there’s a revolution, which there will be eventually, we cannot start from the ground up. America already had that chance and look what’s happened – my friends, this is the problem with extremist thinking.

We’re told about the American dream as young children. We’re told that we can accomplish anything. We’re told that we, too, can be like Madonna, Stephen Tyler, Rush Limbaugh, or Jay Leno. We believe it, because it’s true.

What we’re not taught is that it takes hard work. No one ever tells us that we must work toward our dreams, only that we should dream. We are not taught about personal responsibility or accountability.

I segue…

I work at a hotel in my spare time. The other day, I was taking a break and talking on the phone in the back when I witnessed something disturbing – truly a sign of our selfish-materialistic-naïve-unmotivated-me-me-me culture.

A young man jumped out of his fifth-floor room in an attempt to kill himself. I don’t know what led him to do such a thing. I don’t know what would lead anyone to do such a thing, but I feel safe saying that this young man, and many more like him, had lost all hope of having a good life. All of our gadgets and gizmos cannot provide a real hope for living; they only provide depression, despair, frustration, and the hope that more toys will keep us disillusioned long enough to get through life.

This young man was a straight-A student. He drove a Mercedes. He was well dressed. He was clean cut. His parents loved him. He had enough money for a hotel room. He had CDs scattered all over his room. He owned a portable radio. He wasn’t malnourished. Yet, there still wasn’t enough in this world to keep him in it – or was there just too much seemingly unattainable stuff he had to escape?

If I digress back to the beginning, will you learn anything in this slippery circle of American spawning? I hope so.

I digress…