Recollections A Day Later

It's been a day since I made my post, my love letter to the Occupy movement, and already doubts have begun to creep in. I think they are doubts that a lot of us wrestle with. There is something visceral about the movement that captivates me, yet at the same time, I see a bunch of college educated kids with MacBooks and Canon cameras, and I think, what really do you have to complain about--and I see myself. And I ask myself, what do I really have to complain about.

But then I have to remember, it is like I said. I can't be in that place, getting just enough to get by and be satisfied. So what would satisfy me? What would really satisfy me? What would be enough? In which world would I be happy? I can't say and I can't explain it, except to say that I think we can expect something more. We can expect more from our politicians, to actually try to reflect the will of their constituents rather than the will of the businesses that put money in their pockets. We can expect more from the companies we work for, to actually try and sell a valuable product rather than trying to extract money from people's pockets.

At the same time, there is a part of me that thinks the Occupiers should be focusing their energies on something more tangible. What if they used their energies toward contributing to society rather than tearing it down and rebuilding it anew?

Then again, what is more valuable than someone finally pointing out that our system is broken? But is it? This is the logic game I constantly get stuck in. For some, certainly it is broken and they claim to be the 99% against the 1%, but at the same time, they often seem the 1% against the 99%. What I mean by this is that only 1% really appear to be ready to protest and fight for what they want, the other 99% are happy to stay in their homes, go to their jobs, watch their tvs, and fuck around on their smart phones. I fall into that 99%. I've never been part of a protest or part of anything having to do with Occupy Wall Street and I think that is there hope, that other people that aren't participating are identifying with their cause. I do to an extent, but I can't force myself to jump in completely. There is something destructive and chaotic about it that I can't reconcile.

Even when you look at the French Revolution, I can't say that it really turned out for the best. It did, for a select few. But thousands of people died at the expense of the guillotine and Napoleon ended up taking over after it happened, so what did it really accomplish?

I guess democracy slowly trudges forward. It doesn't move as fast as any of us would like.