So, for Earth Day I took myself to McDonald's for lunch. I was feeling rebellious. You want to know why? Well I'll tell you anyway. Because I'm tired of people telling me what to do! And how to feel! And what to think! And what I should and shouldn't be eating! And I'm tired of feeling like thinking differently about something than the majority of the population makes me some kind of weirdo, or phobic, or racist, or a religious zealot, or angry, or plain old nuts. (Whoa- that did sound kind of angry….) I know people who would be horrified that I eat at McDonalds a couple of times a year and wouldn't hesitate to use it as an excuse to launch into a diatribe about the evils of slaughterhouses and corporate America. Preachy preachy.
People who know me know I am nice. I care about other people. I don't want to leave the earth in bad shape for my grandchildren. I try to be responsible and well-informed. But days like today annoy me. I hate the word "sustainability"- I don't want to have to make Earth Day resolutions. And I don't want to be made to feel badly if I don't.
On a similar subject:
Yesterday I was at an art museum where Earth Day feel-goodness had taken over in the form of fun activities for kids. Most of what was going on was ok, although I object to children being made to feel burdened by all this information. Just let them be kids and enjoy life and not have to worry about how they are killing polar bears. But that's a subject for another time. The one thing that was entertaining was the guy who had a special exhibit showing a live feed of a tree outside the museum. Somehow he had also rigged up some kind of recording device that was playing computer-like boop-booping sounds that were supposed to be the tree talking to us. Because every living thing has the ability to communicate, explained the intense creator of this whole thing. (He was dressed in a white Mr. Clean style jumpsuit, which made it hard to take him seriously.) Once in awhile the tree sound would go BOIP! and he would get all excited and shout out- ANOTHER BUD!!! It was pretty funny.
Our job was to sit on cushions on the floor around the room and draw pictures of whatever the sounds inspired us to draw. I just drew leaves- I was having trouble thinking outside the box. At one point he threw a bunch of plastic buttons at us and asked us to assemble them for him. (Which I thought was kind of ironic, since plastic isn't biodegradable.) When they proved impossible to put together he got a little impatient and scolded us- I guess he likes trees better than people. But then, who doesn't.
No comments:
Post a Comment