Posted as part of an attempt to begin to write on this confounded internet place again. Originally appeared as stream of consciousness, with a brief preface about liking a romantic entanglement due, in part, to it's "safety." I'm doing that thing I just said right now, by the way, so don't start thinking that I practice what I preach.
i hate every time somebody uses the word safe. it sets me off. safe? like that is the top priority? what about all of the other priorities? safe doesn't imply creation at all, in fact, it implies explicitly running away from possible creation if that is deemed the "safe" action. safe is an excuse for pansy-ass.
i don't know how else to say it. "maybe more people would listen to you if you took a while to express what you were saying in a less extreme way." seriously, a peer--no a sophomore or a junior or something--some person who is way younger than me told me this the other day. and heres the thing: NO THEY WON'T. maybe they'll listen, but they won't hear.
because i'm not just trying to make an academic point about this safety obsession. i'm trying to make a very personal point about the safety obsession too. that part of my point is that IT PISSES ME OFF. i've never broken a bone, i've never tried hard drugs, i've never seriously hurt someone and yet everyone is constantly telling me to be safe. i've been safe, i've been so safe that i'm not even afraid of not being safe.
our world is so safe. everything about it is safe. the level of assurance we need to take any piddling action is miles above the threshold that simple practicality would demand of a person living so recently as the 1950's. we can be so sure now that when we're not we are totally paralyzed. when we can't have someone tell us it's ok, when we can't go to the bathroom as a group, when we have to touch an ambiguous area; we first let our fear manifest itself in its brand-new acceptable mask: safety. courtesy.
with the exception of possible economic interpretations: we don't live in a china world. humans are pretty hard to kill, all things considered. humans are in fact resilient, intelligent, autonomous creatures that can adapt and respond to a wide range of situations and sensory inputs. that's why we run (and destroy) this planet. we're virulently good at adapting to our situations.
the problem is that we are adapting to our overly safe new lifestyles terribly. japan's antibacterial craze lead to a greater ability for disease to spread through the populace. our interconnectedness has allowed for a greater ability of fear to spread through ours. it's like the internet finally unfogged the windows for most of us and, in looking out at the world, all we can do is thank god that we are inside our steel box and pray never to leave.
i say no. man descended from monkeys, who don't live under roofs and who don't understand what the word "safe" means. safe is not the most important thing. treating yourself like you are fragile does not make you strong and does not make you safe and able to respond well to threats. it makes you a dependent, cowering, herd animal. dammit, people: go out and do some awesome stuff. safety does not come first, safety just comes at some point before you do something that is going to kill you. that's the only place you need to make sure it goes in the order. there is lots of leeway otherwise.
and here is my suggestion: do some things that scare you. allow just a little vulnerability. let somebody tell you the truth or love you. go and drive fast or drink until you finally say the thing that has been festering in your mind. being trapped inside, whether you are a thought or a human generates a lot of stale air. and the only way to expel that air to open up the doors, just a little. i'm not saying burn the house down.
i'm saying, at the very least: stop telling ME to be so safe all the time. it's just stupid.
