Sick of the Race

My friend Rachel had some interesting observations on competition in our society so I got her to let me post them. Presenting our first guest post: Rachel Silverman.

Pure competition. That is my life, and it is probably yours too.

Think about it.

You learn how to run, then you race.

(I feel like I just ripped off a Jerry Spinelli quote there. Yup, I probably did.)

When was the last time you played a game with your friends without keeping score, at least subconsciously?

And caring about looks, is really just so that your exterior can be compared with someone else's. That is what the "standards of beauty" really are, after all. Your appearance against someone else's looks. Changing who you are to stay in the running.

I have been against this since I was a toddler. I remember standing in front of our house door, arms spread out stubbornly to block my mom from leaving to get her hair dyed. I screamed, cried, threw a fit. My dad had to pick me up and carry me to my room, plopping me onto my bed and scolding me for not letting my mom do what she wanted.

I don't have a problem with people dying their hair funky colors. That's individuality.

What I do have a problem with is dying your hair its natural color to hide that it is turning grey, which is absolutely ridiculous to me because EVERYONE's hair turns grey.

That is something which I still have failed to understand:

Why girls have to endure the pain of waxing and plucking when NO ONE has perfectly shaped eyebrows. (I plucked my eyebrows yesterday and I almost cried. Not because of the pain, well that too, but also because of me doing something that I did not believe in at all. But I still did it anyway. I don't want you thinking that I'm some crazy bra-burning feminist, because I'm not. It's more than that.)

And then the traits that some people have- large breasts, long eyelashes, huge butts- have to then be mimicked and imitated.

Back to that whole thing of competition again.

But it isn't just that.

Anything in life:

Being funny is really just being funnier than others.

Being smart is being smarter than others.

Being nice is being nicer than others.

Sorry. Back to my point.

I am just really really tired with the pressures of society.

I figure: I am going to go from working my butt off in school for no reason, to working my butt off in college for no reason, to working at a job I will barely even care about just to earn that pay check? Nuh uh.

I registered on collegeprowler today, despite only being a sophomore in high school and having absolutely no desire to start planning which colleges I will be applying to. Each page of a prospective college was filled with questions of anxious students who are desperate to get in, begging to know what is that they can do to get noticed.

You need the 4.0, you need the leadership positions, you need the large array of clubs and the community service and the great teacher recommendations- this is all common knowledge. You need these things but more, you still need to stand out- to beat them. To be part of that select few to get in.

But frankly, the whole process just made me sick.

And it will continue!

It will continue from the limited admissions to being top of the graduating class to the hiring positions to the companies battling each other for the best deal.

And. It. Never. Stops.

Best wishes!

Rachel Silverman

“Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.”

I’m sitting here, pen and paper in hand with a million little ideas running through my mind. Sounds like a 

writer’s dream, right? It would be, if I could properly fathom my ideas the way I wanted them to come out.

Last week, a wonderful yet crazy thunderstorm hit my town. Squeaky clean from my shower, I had to run outside in the pouring rain to bring the patio furniture in. It was barely after dinner time and instead of the usual warm colors of the sunset flooding the sky, serious, dark clouds had taken over. It was an insane thunderstorm. I just kept staring out my window, repeating “this is awesome” to myself like a crazy person.

Looking back, I should have run to my room to write one of the bajillion-and-one ideas I have floating around my mind; I didn’t. The storm lasted for a good ten minutes and then blew the power. I ended up sitting in the dark for the rest of the night, itching to write, but could not because writing in the dark does not usually go well.

I’m hoping quite a few of you understand the feelings of inspiration I get from rain. If we really think about it, though, it isn’t just rain that gives us this power- it’s running water in general. This includes showers, waterfalls and a ton of other forms of H2O that are you know, running or moving in some way. So here’s the question: why is running water such a powerful muse?

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who gets amazing inspiration from rain. Writers, artists and musicians seem to get that A-HA! moment around water. Whether it’s listening to the water in a pond run through the filter, a hectic storm or a refreshing shower, plenty of people connect the dots to pieces they have been working on forever. That image or idea that was once hazy is now blazing brightly and burning you.

In school, I learned that the water we are using right now was also used by humans hundreds of years ago. It was also used by the first life forms that inhibited this planet. Like life, water is one of the few other things that act in a never-ending, unchanging cycle. Every life form on Earth is familiar with the cycle of life and the cycle of water; for they coexist, and without one, we would not have the other.

Think about it. I’m pretty sure water has been the only constant. Plant life comes and goes. Mammals, amphibians, reptiles and marine life all come and go. Environments change and the atmosphere has grown stronger and then gotten weaker. Yet somehow, a certain liquid has remained consistent, unchanging.

As of right now, water is the only thing we can count on. We know that wherever we go on this planet, we’ll always be sure of water even though we’re unsure of everything else. Wherever there is water, there is life (at least that is what be currently believe). If there is a drought, humans have known that water will eventually come again. When the environment around us changed as we discovered new lands, we knew there would always be water.

Humans haven’t always been on this planet. Guess what has? Water! It has always been here for us; it was here before us and it will most definitely be here after us. We rely on it. For its stableness, familiarity and ability to produce life. We don’t realize it, but when we look at water, we’re looking at the beginning of time for this planet. We’re constantly reminded of all of the unbelievable things water has brought and is continuing to bring.

Humans are constantly evolving. Novel ideas replace old ones almost too quickly. The world around is constantly moving and reshaping. Water, though, is immutable. It connects us with our origins and beginnings. Somewhere deep in the primitive parts of our mind, water brings out a comfort – a power – that we have relied on for all of our existence.

Water calms us because we can always count on it to be there. And what’s more inspirational than something that connects every living organism on this planet in a way like no other?

So tell me, what are your thoughts on the inspiration of water? No two people have the same perspective and I would love to hear yours. For now, though, I’ll leave you to ponder my words.

“Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.”   ~Lao Tzu                                        

                                                                                              Yours Truly,

                                     Alison “Lost in Believing”