Tonight's Poet Corner: Introspection
Today, while working at the bookstore, I talked with two customers about two guest authors we are featuring: Damien Echols and his wife, Lorri Davis. Damien Echols happened to be a member of the Memphis Three, convicted of a crime he didn't commit and only getting out of prison after serving nineteen years. I was mentioning how sad it really is to have an innocent individual lose so much of their life, to which one of the customers added, "Yes, and think of the world they're re-entering! Everything is different. Computers, cellphones, all this new technology - and they haven't been able to really experience it and build a skill set off of it."
It really did make me think about how different the world is now compared to nineteen or twenty years ago. And in many ways, how different it is in just a quarter of a century.
Tomorrow, I am turning twenty-five years old. I am a quarter of century in age. And yes, a lot has changed. I am typing on a laptop. I used Skype to communicate with my fiancée while we were still long-distance girlfriends; I didn't even imagine that said technology would exist past the movies. I talk on a cellphone. I have an iPod. My parents both have iPhones now. My mom in particular has an iPad. I can use self check-out lanes, buy things online, take digital pictures, and whine about how the Star Wars original trilogy is far superior to its newer prequels. Even my N64 is advanced by comparison. A lot has changed since 1989 technology-wise.
And the list goes on in terms of other changes. As a homosexual, I can legally get married in California. I can be open about my sexuality at my job without being considered sick! I can look at a map and see Russia, not the Soviet Union. I am updated on nearly every happening in the world. Solar energy is a thing. So are scientific advancements for diseases such as cancer and AIDS. An African-American was elected President of the United States. Many of my beloved favorite authors are dead and gone: Ray Bradbury, Maya Angelou, Maurice Sendak, Theodore Geisel (Yep, Dr. Seuss died in 1991. I was alive. Look it up), and many more. This all happened within twenty-five years. That's nothing compared to the scope of human history, let alone Earth's entire history, and look what's happened. Look at the way people have changed, the way society's changed, the things we've learned and discovered and the progress we've made in other venues of academia, culture, and diversity.
Yes, we have a long way to go. With progress come many obstacles. I can go on and on about the bad things in this world, but for once, I don't want to. I want to think about being twenty-five. I want to think about all the milestones I've hit this year, in 2014, even before I turn twenty-five. I've been at a job I love for eight months, am able to live in my own apartment, have written dozens of stories and poems, outlined and worked on various projects, am now taking classes for my teaching credential program, and I am freaking engaged to the woman I love and want to spend the rest of my life with. For so long, I've kept fretting about doing the things I love at such a young age. Now, I realize, how much I really have accomplished in such a short chunk of my life.
I could do a lot more thinking on this - the implications of my success versus age, my goals going past twenty-five, et cetera - but I think it'd be best to keep it simple. Namely, I'm looking forward to presents, seeing my sister perform in a musical, having a drink, and eating some of my mother's fabulous chocolate pie on Monday. I'm looking forward to potentially going to a Giants game, seeing my relatives in Davis on Independence Day, and starting my second single subject class on adolescent development at Sonoma State University. I'm looking forward to the poems I will write and the other novels I will start on (and hopefully, eventually, finish), as well as the collaborations I may take on as a writer, musician, and artist.
Most importantly, I'm looking forward to at least another two quarters of a century to go by. Three more, if I'm lucky. I'd love to live to be one hundred years old. Hell, I'm aiming for one hundred and five, specifically. We'll see if I can make it. I'm a fourth of the way there!
Writer's Quotation of the Night:
I added 'writers' to my list of people not to trust. They make everything up.
- David Mitchell
It really did make me think about how different the world is now compared to nineteen or twenty years ago. And in many ways, how different it is in just a quarter of a century.
Tomorrow, I am turning twenty-five years old. I am a quarter of century in age. And yes, a lot has changed. I am typing on a laptop. I used Skype to communicate with my fiancée while we were still long-distance girlfriends; I didn't even imagine that said technology would exist past the movies. I talk on a cellphone. I have an iPod. My parents both have iPhones now. My mom in particular has an iPad. I can use self check-out lanes, buy things online, take digital pictures, and whine about how the Star Wars original trilogy is far superior to its newer prequels. Even my N64 is advanced by comparison. A lot has changed since 1989 technology-wise.
And the list goes on in terms of other changes. As a homosexual, I can legally get married in California. I can be open about my sexuality at my job without being considered sick! I can look at a map and see Russia, not the Soviet Union. I am updated on nearly every happening in the world. Solar energy is a thing. So are scientific advancements for diseases such as cancer and AIDS. An African-American was elected President of the United States. Many of my beloved favorite authors are dead and gone: Ray Bradbury, Maya Angelou, Maurice Sendak, Theodore Geisel (Yep, Dr. Seuss died in 1991. I was alive. Look it up), and many more. This all happened within twenty-five years. That's nothing compared to the scope of human history, let alone Earth's entire history, and look what's happened. Look at the way people have changed, the way society's changed, the things we've learned and discovered and the progress we've made in other venues of academia, culture, and diversity.
Yes, we have a long way to go. With progress come many obstacles. I can go on and on about the bad things in this world, but for once, I don't want to. I want to think about being twenty-five. I want to think about all the milestones I've hit this year, in 2014, even before I turn twenty-five. I've been at a job I love for eight months, am able to live in my own apartment, have written dozens of stories and poems, outlined and worked on various projects, am now taking classes for my teaching credential program, and I am freaking engaged to the woman I love and want to spend the rest of my life with. For so long, I've kept fretting about doing the things I love at such a young age. Now, I realize, how much I really have accomplished in such a short chunk of my life.
I could do a lot more thinking on this - the implications of my success versus age, my goals going past twenty-five, et cetera - but I think it'd be best to keep it simple. Namely, I'm looking forward to presents, seeing my sister perform in a musical, having a drink, and eating some of my mother's fabulous chocolate pie on Monday. I'm looking forward to potentially going to a Giants game, seeing my relatives in Davis on Independence Day, and starting my second single subject class on adolescent development at Sonoma State University. I'm looking forward to the poems I will write and the other novels I will start on (and hopefully, eventually, finish), as well as the collaborations I may take on as a writer, musician, and artist.
Most importantly, I'm looking forward to at least another two quarters of a century to go by. Three more, if I'm lucky. I'd love to live to be one hundred years old. Hell, I'm aiming for one hundred and five, specifically. We'll see if I can make it. I'm a fourth of the way there!
Writer's Quotation of the Night:
I added 'writers' to my list of people not to trust. They make everything up.
- David Mitchell
Have a great night and a great weekend, everyone.
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