After College

by Ernie Stanley

Being unfortunate (or fortunate) enough to grow and be established within western civilization, the time of the supposed end of my hedonistic period of childhood draws near. Soon I will exit college and be expected to submit to crushing ideals of my society. I will be expected to find money so that I can live (otherwise I will likely die, fancy that). What this translates to is finding a paying job (there is no well paying job).

However, were it up to me, I'd graduate and do nothing for the rest of my life but aquire food and simply live, as I mostly do now. I would contribute little to what society considers substance. Why? Because technology's efficiency, which is what society is, is completely meaningless. I'm going to turn into dust, no matter how efficient or extravagantly I live my life. What is important to me is not making things for technology and society to utilize. I would be confident just being satisfied, just living happily and exploring the depths of this world. However, instead I am challenged to find health care, retirement, pay for food which I could grow and live in a hut I built if I wasn't to busy trying to pay for retirement (payment for food after I can no longer work) and health care. And I pay for health care because I can't grow many of the items which cure me, they're controlled by the government who also allows and encourages corporations to poison me with dirty air and water so I get sick, and fund other peoples jobs.

I'm nearly forced to live in this restricted environment, and because I've already accrued debt in the false hope that college had some semblance of practical meaning (it really doesn't beyond the enjoyment of learning) it would be hard to escape such a fate. Does that mean I won't? No. I could easily hide from society, but it would mean a semi-permanent exile.

But then again, I could live in a crummy apartment for two years, subsisting off "stolen" (as in taken from greedy corporations trash cans) foods and pay off my student loans in no time. Then disappear into the unnoticed realms of the undeveloped. Yet, I would still be an exile from society simply because I reject this thing called money which is not even a conception in many cultures. There are far greater things than money, there is spirit, mind, body.