Archives of Our Lives

{a narrow and broad look into the lives of people I love}

Sunday, March 23, 2008

{Farce}

Something's going on between China and Tibet--I don't know what, exactly, but the Dalai Lama is involved, so I'm guessing it's big salami [do they have salami in Asia?].

Watching all of this political turbulence on the news (combined with the tumultuous and heart-wrenching music of The Beatles on American Idol) has moved me to the realisation of something very grave indeed:

I don't have a cause.

Oh, sure, I'm going green and all that, but really all I do is recycle, use fluorescent light bulbs and buy new appliances. I don't picket billion-dollar enterprises or attend conferences or raise my own free-range chickens. I don't take my own grocery bags to the market, buy organic anything, or store leftovers in glass containers.

In other words, I'm a farce.

I want to be passionate about something. Not anything annoying like timeshares or geneology (I hate getting accosted by timeshare people and genealogists), but...something. I want to wake up and hop out of bed ready to lobby--go to war, so to speak. I want to work hard and endlessly for a purpose, whether it be saving the seals and eels, liberalizing women of the third world, or protecting our rain forests. I need a cause.

Know what I crave? Upheaval. If I'd been born in the '60s or '70s, I'm sure I would have attended sit-ins, protests, marches and the like--I thrive on that kind of drama. I'd have likely been arrested...more than once. I wouldn't have done drugs, of course, but I would have surely acted high--high on the action.

The only problem is...there are so many problems--so many good causes. Which one is noblest? Which one is likely to be resolved? Onto which bandwagon can I hop?

And, most importantly...what will enrage me enough to keep up the motivation?

Labels: , ,

12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yay, I'm the first commenter. LOL. I had to read your blog before I went to sleep, even though it is 11:00 at night. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

March 23, 2008 at 11:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

haha, you guys watch american idol up there in canada, huh?

hmm... "liberalizing women of the third world" sounds fun... but i guess that's for you to decide.

i often feel like i would have had a better purpose in a different decade. for example, i've always been passionate about freeing the slaves- what an injustice that was! ...but they're already free(which is good)

i agree that having motivation in life is, well, healthy. it will come to you, just keep searching!

well, sorry, i feel like i've just written a blog of my own. thx for the post!

March 23, 2008 at 11:21 PM  
Blogger angela hardison said...

I just spent the past two days reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, cried my little eyes out the entire time, and am now all fired up about the oppression of women in Afghanistan.

So I say go with liberalizing women of the third world. Heaven knows it's needed.

March 23, 2008 at 11:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Millie,

My opinion is (1) find something about which you are passionate, and (2) make it something that will really help other people. That's why I went into teaching; I wanted to save the world one child at a time...

March 24, 2008 at 7:47 AM  
Blogger Alicia said...

I'm afraid I can't help you with becoming passionate about something. I, too, have yet to discover my "cause" in life, and it bothers me at times. Let us know when you discover yours.

So, the main reason I'm writing is to request, nay, to plead with you not to remove "Sweet Escape" from your playlist. I've noticed it is getting nearer and nearer the end, and it seems that that is where your playlist songs go before meeting their demise. Anyway, my daughter just LOVES that song, and your blog is the easiest place to go to play the full version of it. (She first heard it on your blog.) If you need more convincing, you can see a video of her dancing to it on our blog (daveandaliking.blogspot.com) within the March 10 post.

Obviously, you can do what you want with your blog and playlist, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. Love your blog, love your writing, and can't wait for the next post! :)

March 24, 2008 at 11:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

All those feelings to picket go to sit-ins, protests or marches are those of an AMERICAN! Good for you to feel that way. I am unware of the canadian way of standing up for what you believe in, but i must ask... Would you be thrown into a cold prison for doing any of those things in Canada?

March 24, 2008 at 1:07 PM  
Blogger kayleen said...

"high on the action."

you're crazy. that line made me laugh. i don't know why. but i could see you pumping your fist in the air when you said it. funny.

March 24, 2008 at 2:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

no need to fear- oprah is here! she's endorsing this new book- A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose. Well, Oprah's never wrong, so you should check this book out. I just kind of thought of that book while reading this- I just heard about it. Oh, random question- why do some of the titles of your blogs have the brackety things around them and others don't? ('don't' looks weird with an apostrophe- can it be spelled without one dear person who calls camille "millie"?)

March 24, 2008 at 3:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You know what is so weird? Two things! First, my mom was just saying like ten minutes ago how good it felt to have a cause! She's been rallying a bunch of the Mormon mothers to save Imagitorium. Do you remember that? The mobile art school that came to elementary schools? Anywho, because of all the budget cuts the district is going to cut it. Well my mother would not stand for that so she's been calling all the moms to tell them to email the school board. I think she's also gonna call President Burnham. Now I know this may not seem big, but a cause is a cause. Ok, the second coincidence is that while I was reading your post I was listening to David Archuleta sing Imagine. INSANITY I KNOW!! Lol. Anywho this is FOREVER LONG, so bye bye for now.
Natalie

March 24, 2008 at 5:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The word DON'T cannot be spelled without an apostrophe because it is a conjunction for the words DO and NOT.

March 24, 2008 at 10:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ever hear of THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST? SPreading His message is the greatest cause of all.

Also---bearing and nurturing children is the second most noble cause after the one mentioned above.

I am proud to sign my name as your mother.

March 26, 2008 at 11:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

AMERICAN,

me thinks the lady doth protest too much....read a book, save a child, make up a noble sounding "cause".

we call the jailhouse "institutes".and they're heated.

of course we haven't enslaved africans and filled our abundant "prisons" with them currently.
no connection of course.

April 1, 2008 at 6:17 AM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home