My good friend Michelle and I were talking about hipsters. We don't have anything against hipsters; we graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University; we love hipsters. (Also...I'm blogging right now. Hipster.)
We were thinking about our vanity and Michelle proposed that a compliment from a hipster--since saying something mainstream and cliche is obviously unacceptable--might go like this:
This compliment would not go unaccepted, but it leads to a higher question: what's so wrong with being direct?
This actually only has anything to do with hipsters inasmuch as hipsters are a part of our culture and are being fed the same story the rest of us "adults" are being fed: "It is not cool to be passionate. It is not cool to want something too much, because you're probably not going to get it. Best be practical. Win the girl with your indie albums and your Volvo 240 Wagon, not with the articulation of your undying affection and genuine awe of her."
Getting the girl is the example I use here because it is accessible and relatable. But it's not the main reason I'm currently writing this (with full intentions of publishing it for ALL of Facebook to see). And I wouldn't have written or published this a week ago because yes, I like to write, but not "passionately" enough to write something that someone might actually want to read. Even if writing IS a passion of mine, it's stupid for me to go at it wholeheartedly because the odds are just stacked against me. No one will acknowledge me as a writer. I didn't study writing. I'm not Shakespeare or Keats or Plath. I misspelled "judge" in my second grade spelling bee. And I misspelled "mispel" just now before technology corrected me.
In this consumerist society of ours, so much of what we do is based on what we can get in return for doing it. It isn't "valuable" to spend so much time doing something that won't yield a return greater than our own satisfaction and, heaven forbid, our own happiness! Even if the career we are pursuing has anything to do with something we love, we have to be a little careful. We have to put our voices in a box and listen to everyone's advice about how things should or shouldn't be done and mold our product so that we are marketable. We have to be passionate, but only to a degree that sells. Or at least we think we have to do these things.
I don't know a lot about life yet, but success is not the child of safety.
I don't know a lot about life yet, but I do see these oppositional forces at work in my own life: the voices telling me: "Have a back up plan; Find some stability; Think of your obligations." And the other side of the coin: "When you have something meaningful to contribute to the world, contribute; Do what makes you happy; It's all about you."
These forces need to get married and have an obstinate child that will question everything they ever believed about sanity and that says: "Figure out what you love and love it a lot and don't let anyone tell you that it is stupid and don't listen when they make fun of you for your unbound enthusiasm. Work your ass off and take advice but own what you do and who you are, and make what you love your reality, whether it gives you money and stability and acknowledgment or not. What you give is worth receiving, so give it. It is selfish for you not to give it."
And that is the end of my soap box. And that is why I wrote this. I like to write. I LOVE to write. It's not going to make me money. I'm not going to win a Pulitzer. But I'm a little bit more joyous than I was about twenty minutes ago. What's so wrong with pursuing joy?
And what's so wrong with offering a genuine "you're the most beautiful person I've seen today or maybe ever" compliment? Nothing. No one will complain about that.
We were thinking about our vanity and Michelle proposed that a compliment from a hipster--since saying something mainstream and cliche is obviously unacceptable--might go like this:
"Your image is not of the common sort, and it haunts my dreams during the day at odd hours. I don't mind it."
This compliment would not go unaccepted, but it leads to a higher question: what's so wrong with being direct?
This actually only has anything to do with hipsters inasmuch as hipsters are a part of our culture and are being fed the same story the rest of us "adults" are being fed: "It is not cool to be passionate. It is not cool to want something too much, because you're probably not going to get it. Best be practical. Win the girl with your indie albums and your Volvo 240 Wagon, not with the articulation of your undying affection and genuine awe of her."
Getting the girl is the example I use here because it is accessible and relatable. But it's not the main reason I'm currently writing this (with full intentions of publishing it for ALL of Facebook to see). And I wouldn't have written or published this a week ago because yes, I like to write, but not "passionately" enough to write something that someone might actually want to read. Even if writing IS a passion of mine, it's stupid for me to go at it wholeheartedly because the odds are just stacked against me. No one will acknowledge me as a writer. I didn't study writing. I'm not Shakespeare or Keats or Plath. I misspelled "judge" in my second grade spelling bee. And I misspelled "mispel" just now before technology corrected me.
In this consumerist society of ours, so much of what we do is based on what we can get in return for doing it. It isn't "valuable" to spend so much time doing something that won't yield a return greater than our own satisfaction and, heaven forbid, our own happiness! Even if the career we are pursuing has anything to do with something we love, we have to be a little careful. We have to put our voices in a box and listen to everyone's advice about how things should or shouldn't be done and mold our product so that we are marketable. We have to be passionate, but only to a degree that sells. Or at least we think we have to do these things.
I don't know a lot about life yet, but success is not the child of safety.
I don't know a lot about life yet, but I do see these oppositional forces at work in my own life: the voices telling me: "Have a back up plan; Find some stability; Think of your obligations." And the other side of the coin: "When you have something meaningful to contribute to the world, contribute; Do what makes you happy; It's all about you."
These forces need to get married and have an obstinate child that will question everything they ever believed about sanity and that says: "Figure out what you love and love it a lot and don't let anyone tell you that it is stupid and don't listen when they make fun of you for your unbound enthusiasm. Work your ass off and take advice but own what you do and who you are, and make what you love your reality, whether it gives you money and stability and acknowledgment or not. What you give is worth receiving, so give it. It is selfish for you not to give it."
And that is the end of my soap box. And that is why I wrote this. I like to write. I LOVE to write. It's not going to make me money. I'm not going to win a Pulitzer. But I'm a little bit more joyous than I was about twenty minutes ago. What's so wrong with pursuing joy?
And what's so wrong with offering a genuine "you're the most beautiful person I've seen today or maybe ever" compliment? Nothing. No one will complain about that.
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