Hey man, don’t dox me. Just don’t. I have a kid, my parents and friends tell me I’m a good dad, I’m not even saying anything crazy. In order to really don the armour of literary nudism, I need to reference “the real,” I need to touch the grass of my life. So don’t go digging, please. I tend to be competent at things, and as a result of that habit, I tend to leave digital trails. Please. Be Polite.
When I was in high school, I was involved in a political simulation club. An organization in my community coordinated high schools from around my state to send little 9th-12th grade “delegates” to the capitol of my state for a long weekend of “senates,” “lobbying,” etc. There were elections, governors, all completely legitimate. I got “into” this, because I was good at talking in a suit in front of people. People smiled at me when I did it, I was called “precocious”, “talented,” I felt like I was shining. Yes, this is about the brooch.
I explain this detail because I will be referencing it in the future, there were a lot of truths and narratives that came from those “conferences.” But before you attend the conference, the organization attempts to “sort” you into a political party. It asks any number of questions, if you think abortion is evil, if you think that climate change is something we should all really just worry ourselves about and really feel guilty about all the time, if you think taxes are good. Normal stuff. But one questions has always “hung around” in my mind.
“Are you in favor of change for the sake of change?”
At the time, I thought, with my clever little wordsmith hat: “Oh, they think I’m silly! They think I will press yes! Because I am a liberal! But I like change when it is focused and applied! I am smart, and enlightened, unlike this question!”
So I pressed the middle “no strong answer” button and moved on, proud of myself.
The funny bit here, the ‘punchline’ that you’re desperately scrolling for, is that I was in favor of change for the sake of change but I wasn’t aware of that fact. I liked to see things burn, change, alter, shift, dance. Legalize weed? Why not! Gay marriage? Why not! Burn it all down and start anew, as my generation, my peers, we are pure!
In another little play-acting as adults activity in university, I was pulled aside by a faculty member for shouting at a business major that the debt wasn’t real and that if anybody thinks that it’s real they are believing in a spook that was implanted by paranoia and GMO eating. The point is, this generation is a generation of parrots. We swallow the scraps of language that our parents gave us, “keep your chin up,” “religion is for the shallow,” “you can do it,” and we dive into the complexity of the world. Idiotic, lost, with our ears firmly plugged against God.
So now, I am not in favor of change. Not even for the good. I am inherently opposed to alteration, to the sickening shift of masks that this world offers us. I want faces, I want names.
I want addresses.
