27 up, 27 down (and no regrets)

Whether they showcase one of pity or hatred, the attitudes of the religion teachers at St. John's Prep towards material wealth and affection, all rest on the same thesis, that we are condescending and therefore must be right. Personally, I have spent countless hours trying to decipher their purpose in digressing from more worthy, not to mention course specific, endeavors, just to remind me how superficial my fondness of products is as it relates to real life. Why do they feel like it is their duty to make me understand the triteness and lack of true fulfillment involved with materials? Why must dependence, or as I prefer to acknowledge it as, interdependence, be equated with failure or a cry for help? Because the truth is, I am not looking for your handout. I am not embarrased and I am not ashamed. I might be a little dissapointed but I've never known anything else. I have never felt the cool sensation of a summer breeze in Europe or taken a long walk on the beach with a special gal. So for the time being (and sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel seems dimer and dimmer) one must take salvage in what is accessible, in this case, family (who I will never appreciate like I should no matter how hard I try) and purchases. You can call it settling, you can call it materialistic or you can call it, as I do, the best course of action given the circumstances.

And if rejecting drugs and alchohol and pairing off with the new Bear vs. Shark CD or The OC Season One on DVD isn't the American Dream, then I don't know what is. Maybe you'll even end up closer to someone, maybe you will bond through your common product-centered interest and be content to have taken the low road to the same destination as those low life teachers. Maybe you will lose yourself if a lyric, maybe you will be inspired by the happiness on a show to try something new. I hope you will. I hope they will. I hope they understand (but I don't really care).

Money, cars, television, music. These are the things that they hate. These are the things that get me through the day. These 27 episodes really made life just a bit less routine for a while. Those 27 episodes were worth it. When it's 1:00am and I've just finished a paper, there's nothing better than a little music to go to sleep to, and when your eating dinner and it's silence or Marissa, Seth and Ryan, the answer is clear.

This is my declaration to the teachers, to the pompous and the content. It seems as if you assume that achieveing happiness is a mandate to handout their blueprints to everyone else, friend or foe, colleague or student. Never does it enter into your equation that this is not nearly as noble as it sounds, but more appropriately labeled an encroachment upon the life and times of a number of students. A number of students who, not particually favored by their social situation, make use of music and television as a modern day sanctuary. That doesn't seem so bad, now does it?

This is the lament of an addict, take it or leave it.