About Jaques Barzun & the Bread Guy

Okay, fist we hit Jaques:

I liked this speech! It sort of ties back into to Caleb Gallenmore's about the whole doing-what-society-expects of you, and then that concept of freedom in one's self. He says that once we reach that ceiling of expectations that society has given to us we are forced to re-examine our purpose in life, and the true composition of ourselves (not what we believe it to be, I suppose.) College does specialize us for a certain type of lifestyle in some ways--the whole training concept. It teaches us the basics of how to do the job we wish to take up in later days. But I think that people who go through college, get into the field they wish to pursue and then find themselves at the end of the figurative road must be... erks, ignorant? I mean, when people started talking about college as a way to find a job later I was thrown a bit off balance. I had never thought of it as such. I always thought it was a condensed way to learn things that were hard to learn on your own. Of course the majority of my lifetime has been spent in facilities devoted to education, not working, so I definitely have a different perspective. I always thought, though, when I would contemplate my life, that a job was just a convenience. It would give me something to do throughout the day, direct me a bit, but most importantly give me the money I needed to have a home to go back to where I can learn what I want, and do those things that I want to do...

I agree with his advice about reading. When you live your life wearing blinders, just seeing what you're expected to see, you start growing in just one direction, too. The up-your-butt direction. Somtimes it's hard to untangle yourself from your personal problems and see the bigger problems that we, as a people, share. But it's an important thing to do. It does give you perspective, and insight, to all sorts of things!! It makes problems easier to understand, and thus easier to find a solution for. That's something we need in this world--people who want to fix problems. And not just fixing them as they are now (like the church in Honduras...grr...), but finding the root problem that fouls up the rest of the system.

On the Bread Dude (Bill Moyer, Bill Moyer! :D)

First off Mr. Moyer says to us that their generation is sorry for the mess it's leaving to the next one. He says that our world is in peril and we don't know which way it'll turn: success or failure. I like the thing he says on page 2 of the print out, more that half way down that page, about how he "vacilate[s] betweeb the determination to act, to change things, and the desire to retreat into the snuggeries of self, family and friends." That's how I feel all the time! It's great to know that it's not a lonely feeling, even if it doesn't reflect anything good about our future. Especially in going off to college I feel very insecure. I see many bad things happen in the world--close to me and on a macro-scale--and I wonder what I can do to change those things. But it's scary, stepping out of yourself. Especially when you don't have a strong support system, cause then it could be you're just crazy. It's so much easier to stick your head in the sand and enjoy the quiet, and the warmth. It's so much easier to not be the one to change things. But I hope in our lives we can have the courage to stand up and be insanely uncomfortable. To put ourselves on the spot and challenge something we don't believe is right, or to try and change something for what we believe is the better. I think the worst thing ever would be to become a stagnant people.

Ah! And after he says that his generation has brought the next so many problems he goes on to say that his and the generations before his made the college the students attended, the systems of economics and education that allow said generation to live without many fears those of past generations had to endure (and still endure). I think there is an equal amount of good with the bad. Maybe if someday people were to stop growing they would just fix what is already there, but I don't think it's in their natures.

About the way we're all interdependent, one on the other, and the example with the bread... In Japan there's a religion (that's what it's called, but it's more of a way of life) called Shinto, or "The way of the Kami", sort of. It basically focuses on the harmony and balance between all living things that is vital to our shared existence. Everytime before we eat we say "Itadakimasu!" or, "I greatfully receive!" It also means "Thanks for the food!" It's sort of an acknowledgement of where the food comes from, all the hands and beings that were part of the process of it's growth and journey to the table, etc... That's what people who pray do, too, right? Thank you for this food kind of thing? Ah, and at the end you thank them again "gochisou sama deshita" , lit. "It was a feast"