monologue of the purple platypus (platypus, aka laura)
Elitism makes me angry.
Clenched-fists, red-colored-thoughts, furious-scribbling, swearing-silently angry.
That's it; that's all I've been trying to say.
The elitism I'm talking about is only this: thinking that one way is better than another.
How not to be an elitist? Go down a city street, see the sharp-suited investment banker, the street-corner artist, the saxaphone player, the jewelry vendor, the lawyer - go through your thoughts, see the Yale graduate, the man who did not go to college, the Harvard professor, the woman who dropped out of high school -
- and think, they are all different, but none is better than the other. The elitist Yale graduate is not better than the high-school dropout, just like the anti-elitist street-corner artist is no better than the investment banker. Think, they are no better off or worse off than me; I am no better or worse than them.
Think, one does not need to know a set of things, to read Shakespeare, to be an academic, to talk a certain way, to know how to spell well or how to bring up Deep things and be able to navigate through academic banter - one does not have to do any of this to achieve that which is essential.
Education does not give a person that which is essential. And the essential is, when trappings and conveniences are stripped away, the only thing that really matters.
The essential is just love, boundless and nondiscriminating compassion.
Not pity - but compassion.
Degrees and titles are extra. They help with convenience. It's convenient to have a good job and it is awfully convenient to run the government. But the bare essential does not have to do with these things.
Interests and things should be innocent. Read a book because you want to, not because you 'should' read it to be able to reference it literary circles. It is insincere do things just to "get ahead" or to be recognized as part of any dumb top percentage.
Most of us judge people all the time. Subconsciously, inside; we see someone and place ourselves on a scale in relation to them: better off, worse off. But everything is at first more complex and eventually more simple than we realize.
My opinions come from who I am and what little I have seen. I was raised to live with common sense and feet attached to the ground - but to realize how beautiful that ground is, and dream about where it may lead.
That is why... elitism makes me angry. Arrogance makes me angry.
I can't get rid of it. I can only get rid of it in myself. I've realized very lately that I used to tend toward being a tiny bit elitist in thoughts - didn't I used to think I wanted to go to the college that would sound the most impressive, or that would get me the "furthest" because it would look so darned good on job applications?
I'm glad I caught myself and looked and realized I had done something really stupid.
I'm glad I came back to earth, remembered who I am and what I believe, what I stand for.
I'm going to live simply, honestly, purely. That's all.
Clenched-fists, red-colored-thoughts, furious-scribbling, swearing-silently angry.
That's it; that's all I've been trying to say.
The elitism I'm talking about is only this: thinking that one way is better than another.
How not to be an elitist? Go down a city street, see the sharp-suited investment banker, the street-corner artist, the saxaphone player, the jewelry vendor, the lawyer - go through your thoughts, see the Yale graduate, the man who did not go to college, the Harvard professor, the woman who dropped out of high school -
- and think, they are all different, but none is better than the other. The elitist Yale graduate is not better than the high-school dropout, just like the anti-elitist street-corner artist is no better than the investment banker. Think, they are no better off or worse off than me; I am no better or worse than them.
Think, one does not need to know a set of things, to read Shakespeare, to be an academic, to talk a certain way, to know how to spell well or how to bring up Deep things and be able to navigate through academic banter - one does not have to do any of this to achieve that which is essential.
Education does not give a person that which is essential. And the essential is, when trappings and conveniences are stripped away, the only thing that really matters.
The essential is just love, boundless and nondiscriminating compassion.
Not pity - but compassion.
Degrees and titles are extra. They help with convenience. It's convenient to have a good job and it is awfully convenient to run the government. But the bare essential does not have to do with these things.
Interests and things should be innocent. Read a book because you want to, not because you 'should' read it to be able to reference it literary circles. It is insincere do things just to "get ahead" or to be recognized as part of any dumb top percentage.
Most of us judge people all the time. Subconsciously, inside; we see someone and place ourselves on a scale in relation to them: better off, worse off. But everything is at first more complex and eventually more simple than we realize.
My opinions come from who I am and what little I have seen. I was raised to live with common sense and feet attached to the ground - but to realize how beautiful that ground is, and dream about where it may lead.
That is why... elitism makes me angry. Arrogance makes me angry.
I can't get rid of it. I can only get rid of it in myself. I've realized very lately that I used to tend toward being a tiny bit elitist in thoughts - didn't I used to think I wanted to go to the college that would sound the most impressive, or that would get me the "furthest" because it would look so darned good on job applications?
I'm glad I caught myself and looked and realized I had done something really stupid.
I'm glad I came back to earth, remembered who I am and what I believe, what I stand for.
I'm going to live simply, honestly, purely. That's all.
posted by Laura at 4:25 PM
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