Time Consumption
I wish I could listen to loud music on my iPod in the shower. I wish I had a fire pit in the Adirondacks and friends who dance in circles outdoors. I wish I had a week alone with no urgency, but plenty of work... but right now I just don't have any time. It seems to be consumed with worrying (general), worrying (that I'm being judged), answering the phone, judging people, and doing redundant work, in that order.
The other day I went to a new, giant wine and beverage store with a friend. She bought about 30 bottles of wine. When we left, we both agreed we had no idea how good the store was going to be, and that it was really quite a find. I said to her, "Well, if anything, that was productive." But it was exactly the opposite. A totally consumptive excursion. We gorge on wine like it's a Roman feast, consuming more than we can handle, and wine consumes our precious time and money. Not that it's a bad thing. But it got me to thinking about how people always say "that was productive" after they go on some sort of consumerist spree.
We have it all confused. Shopping is consumptive. Art is creative. Shitting and reproducing are productive. Not to be a neo-luddite, but really, all that's considered productive in our global culture is essentially the shitting out of more and more waste on the planet, although the advances of technology could be considered creative. The three acts of intake and output need to be placed on equal levels. Human advancement is creative. Human reproduction is productive. Shopping and survival is consumptive. Given those definitions, nothing sounds good and nothing sounds evil. All three are just the mundane rigamarole of being human. And I can tell myself it doesn't matter what I do just as long as I live.
The other day I went to a new, giant wine and beverage store with a friend. She bought about 30 bottles of wine. When we left, we both agreed we had no idea how good the store was going to be, and that it was really quite a find. I said to her, "Well, if anything, that was productive." But it was exactly the opposite. A totally consumptive excursion. We gorge on wine like it's a Roman feast, consuming more than we can handle, and wine consumes our precious time and money. Not that it's a bad thing. But it got me to thinking about how people always say "that was productive" after they go on some sort of consumerist spree.
We have it all confused. Shopping is consumptive. Art is creative. Shitting and reproducing are productive. Not to be a neo-luddite, but really, all that's considered productive in our global culture is essentially the shitting out of more and more waste on the planet, although the advances of technology could be considered creative. The three acts of intake and output need to be placed on equal levels. Human advancement is creative. Human reproduction is productive. Shopping and survival is consumptive. Given those definitions, nothing sounds good and nothing sounds evil. All three are just the mundane rigamarole of being human. And I can tell myself it doesn't matter what I do just as long as I live.
posted by Kir at 2:15 PM
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