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diff --git a/posts/2010-07-08-wishful-thinking.markdown b/posts/2010-07-08-wishful-thinking.markdown new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5a7339 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/2010-07-08-wishful-thinking.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,88 @@ +--- +title: Wishful Thinking +date: 2010/07/08 +tags: musings, ecology, energy +--- + +I used to be a magical thinker many years ago. Whenever I wished for something +I would keep looking at the road side while sitting on the backseat of my +parents’ car or when I was walking home from school, hoping to spot the +object of my dreams. + +For many years I badly wished for a tortoise or a turtle to come into my life, +just waiting for me at the side of the road. As I used to find coins just about +twice a month, I reckoned I could stumble upon animals just as easily. Animals +longing to let go of their wild nature, willing to become my companion and just +waiting for me to come by. + +It never happened. (It should also be noted that my dream to stumble upon a +tame specimen of Gallimimus at the side of the road never came true.) I never +found a turtle at the side of the road. + +Until today. A dream came true, but it had unnoticedly turned into a nightmare. +When I walked out the door this morning I caught sight of about four +centimeters of what seemed to resemble a six-legged crab. As I got closer I +could make out that one of the legs was actually a tail and another was a head +on a long neck. Closer yet I recognized it as a tiny turtle standing squarely +on the right side of my path. + + + +Noticing an ant crawling on its eye I realized that it was dead. Its limbs had +not completely stiffened yet when I picked it up to move its body off the +street and onto the sidewalk where I went on to take a picture of a shattered +dream. + +In an attempt to stretch this story into a metaphor for something more dramatic +than the mere death of critter—albeit a cute one—I chose +“Wishful Thinking” as the title for this entry. Although this story +is not representative of anything in particular, it did remind me of what I +recently read on Magical Thinking in Derrick Jensen᾿s “What We +Leave Behind”. + +(There's much I disagree with when it comes to Jensen's worldview, but this +section is quite powerful.) + +<blockquote> + + <p>Are you a magical thinker? I know that too often I am. With apologies to Jeff + Foxworthy, let᾿s play a little game.</p> + + <p>If you put a bumper sticker on you hybrid Prius that reads <em>Visualize World + Peace</em> in the hope this will bring about world peace, you might just be a + magical thinker.</p> + + <p>If you buy a hybrid Prius in the hope this will slow global warming, you + might just be a magical thinker.</p> + + <p>[...]</p> + + <p>If you think buying compact fluorescent light bulbs will slow global warming, + you might just be a magical thinker.</p> + + <p>[...]</p> + + <p>If you think this culture will stop killing the planet without being + force-fully stopped, you might just be delusional, and if you don᾿t act + to stop this culture, then you will be failing in your responsibility as a + living being (p.224/5).</p> + +</blockquote> + + +“Ugh, did he just really turn a story about a rotting turtle into an +environmental protection guilt-fest?”---so it seems. What I was aiming +for was that: remembering my innocent dreaming and my firm believe that +watching just closely enough will make the unlikely more likely, in the face of +the distasteful partial manifestation of that dream demonstrated just how +unsatisfying Wishful Thinking can be. Observing the road side would have only +increased my chance of discovering unpleasant road-kills. My convenient idea of +looking out for what is easiest to spot just addressed the wrong problem +(turtles aren't the type to lurk at the side of roads) and at the same time +left me unsatisfied. I think I'm eventually driving the point home: attempting +to solve the wrong problem is unrewarding in every way. + +If you think our culture will survive if only we could manage to find an +alternative to cheap oil, you might just be a magical thinker---or you might be +part of the actual problem. + |