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03-19-2008, 02:42 PM
Wellardmac wrote:
She said something to me to the effect of "he has to do well in school so that he can get a good job". He is 6! As she said it I resented every word -- is that really why we raise kids so they can grow up and get miserable jobs and go to an office every day? We make life so complicated and get miserable about things that have nothing to do with life.
The talk about boats fits in well with this conversation.
Here's a quote from Sterling Hayden, who became an actor (he was Jack D. Ripper in Strangelove) after fishing and racing schooners in Maine....
[indent]
To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... cruising, it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about. I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone. What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life
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Quote:Americans have always been taught to conform. Non-conformists in American high schools are called trouble-makers, or put on ADD drugs. If you cause trouble in a high school today you're in for a world of hurt.Pinch me, I think I agree with everything you said in that post. My son, first grade, his teacher complains that he gets bored -- well duh, he's a kid and school can get boring. I get bored at work too! He also has to learn how to play by the "rules" while he is in school, so I'm trying to lead him that way. Sometimes you just have to do what is expected -- and I hate it when I talk like that.
The education system in this country is not about teaching kids to think, it's about teaching them to be corporate drones - all wear the same uniform of jeans and Polo shirts, all guided by mass media, and all think the same way. Honestly.
She said something to me to the effect of "he has to do well in school so that he can get a good job". He is 6! As she said it I resented every word -- is that really why we raise kids so they can grow up and get miserable jobs and go to an office every day? We make life so complicated and get miserable about things that have nothing to do with life.
The talk about boats fits in well with this conversation.
Here's a quote from Sterling Hayden, who became an actor (he was Jack D. Ripper in Strangelove) after fishing and racing schooners in Maine....
[indent]
To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... cruising, it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about. I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone. What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life
[/indent]