man…that’s deep!
Posted on 08. Jul, 2011 by Carrie in muse
words > PHIL DANIELLE SANDERS
It’s a Friday night, you’re headed out on the town with some friends and one thing is on the brain – spotting a descent female specimen who will likely return home with you 3 shots and 6 drinks in by the stroke of last call at some ‘dude-bro’ bar in Old Town. Call it shallow – call it horny – call it a little desperate – whatever it is, it’s balancing demeaning’s tightrope and an absolute reason why my feet never cross the threshold of such establishments. Prowling for women in skirts barely covering swimsuit regions and tops so low their insecure desperation for attention – is bouncing around below their necklines, ready to snatch up the first pair of pupils to make eye contact. These are amongst some of the individuals I would define as shallow. Seeking one thing and one thing only while eliminating dimension and pursuing those with fewer brain cells. Hoping the return of sexual glances and lip nibbling is exchanged so you two can make your way back to a sack that’s been tainted by more one-night stands than all your fingers and toes combined. Unfortunately, this is only one way to describe the lack of depth when discussing personality traits.
These said ‘club-cruisers’ are only an 8th or perhaps a 16th – maybe even a 32nd of the population in which superficial interactions are all that are ever experienced and depth is a completely foreign concept. I guarantee we all know people like this or maybe that was a ‘past-life’ but is no longer. Either way, we observe this behavior on a weekly basis. Unless you happen to work at a bank or in a tight-knit office building populated by middle-age women with 3 children and pregnant daughters – then you observe another level of shallow, daily.
Once upon a time, I worked at a bank so I could have a job that required nothing of me. Allowing me to focus more on my organization and volunteering. Seemed simple enough, walk in, count money, smile – do some writing during my down time, finish up things on my ‘to-do’ list, schedule meetings. That’s not just a slice of the cake – that’s the whole thing! Get paid for 2 jobs at the same time and have no responsibilities at the one footing the bill! I struck gold, or so I thought, until I started getting my feet wet in that shallow wading pool of women with no dreams. The glossy exterior of simple, started to wash away. The gold I thought I stuck was a lump of coal with a very convincing coat of paint. Why was it not as ideal as it was dreamt up to be? Let me introduce you to another fraction of shallow qualities in a person. These women – made me want to rip my hair out and make a voodoo doll of myself because the pain inflicting the doll would be far more enjoyable than the mind-numbing ignorance these women excreted from their mouths on a daily basis. Harsh, I know and if you know me, I am not one to say bad things about people.
Life goal number 1 for these ladies: Get married. #2: Have babies. #3: Listened to whatever their man says or if already divorced – find a substitute Dad that will buy nice things and make them feel pretty. Yes, while some of those things are on the average person’s mind – this is all these women had to account for in their lives. No career, no college, no aspirations to educate themselves, no desire to listen to music other than what’s on 96.3 or Kissin’ 102 and absolutely no interest in trying new things. (Note: I know this is not all women or men working at banks.) Whatever the case was – it was depressing. They told me, I was weird. They constantly poked fun at lunch time saying, ‘I’m going to go eat my hamburger – you have fun with your gross vegetables.’ Was I in high school? Because even in high school, I dont recall people saying those things to me. Even so, this job pointed out the reality of people that weren’t on my radar and shed light on the fact that there are still people with no meaning in life, no direction and no understanding for people whose ideals, goals and aspirations surpass that of normal. They found it bizarre that I would rather dedicate my evenings to meetings for organizations so I could possibly make a difference in this city, instead of sit at home with a 2 year old child, watching Reality TV and keeping up with celebrity gossip. They also found my eating habits odd, thought that I was strange because I work out often and bike everywhere and heaven forbid I have multiple tattoos! One time, (at band camp) I was discussing poetry with them and described having to write a piece over the genocide occurring in Africa that’s been taking place for 2 decades now and went into a spurt of the various documentaries that I spend far too much time watching – and they seriously looked at me like I was an alien. I am the weird one because I care about what is happening in the world, not just my little world and I care to know how my food is made, how my body is operating and what ever nerdy, political, poetic garb I can submerge my mind into? If that is ‘weird’ than I claim that definition with all of that organ inside of my body that gives me the ability to be alive. I would rather meet people with intriguing qualities and have conversations with more depth than the ocean floor because when I walk away from that exchange of profound stimulation through oral communication – no body parts touching – I will have dug even deeper into the depth of a person’s personality.
As pop-culture continues to grow,the news consistently covering scandals and people becoming less involved with anything other than themselves, their new love interest and their dead end jobs – the times of intellectual conversations and activism are slowly dwindling and emerging into one-track minds. Minds that have forgotten the ability to question and think for themselves. Cell phones, facebook and youtube make it all too easy to ’stalk’ people’s lives and disguise the world that is crumbling before them because money has become accustomed to purchasing knowledge and feeding people what they want to hear; instead of people seeking and diving into the ability of endless possibilities. This is the land of the free – yet we’ve caged our minds and turned into birds begging for crackers concealed as the latest smart phone and most popular social networking site. We’ve forgotten how to eliminate things and just be happy with sitting on the porch with friends, discussing the meaning of life and sharing laughs while we make the past happen. The deepness of a person’s soul is far more desirable than another pretty face. Faces change – they get old and wrinkle, taking the form of elderly people but minds only grow wiser and souls live forever. Leaving a mark on someone’s life by inspiring them so you can watch their interior take flight, reflecting a superior human being that has a heart to keep impacting generations waiting to be born. Guaranteeing a future that is worth living for. Let’s pack up our scuba gear, dive into the deep abyss of the ocean inside of all of our minds, bodies and spirits and discover the world together. Stimulating each other’s neurons instead of genitals. I am bored with splashing puddles on concrete sidewalks. I want to stumble upon coral reefs composed of thoughtful beings and learn something new every day. I’ll show you my ocean if you show me yours!
