One week to go...

Well, just one week to go until we move to the 'burbs. These two months have flown by. It's also been a huge learning experience about a world which I'm not so sure I have much faith in. Firstly, it really is true that most people will not speak to you unless spoken to. In general, humans are overly cautious about other humans. They think: "The one time you let your guard down, you'll be sorry!" For as far as we've come technologically, we still cannot relate to each other for reasons other than money, mating, or necessity. Secondly, in realizing the stark nature of segregation in Chicago, I've concluded that the entire world is vastly segregated. After all, America (apart from Europe, which has its own issues) is the single attempt at creating an integrated society. If, in (the northern part of) America, we live separate and in fact, scared of each other, what does this say for the rest of the world? I believe it clearly indicates that there are white countries, black countries and everything in between. If you choose to enter a territory which is not your own you must be 1. looking for material or other type of gain, 2. a peace corp volunteer, 3. checking into a gated resort or Westernized part of town or 4. lost. Oddly enough, I felt the effects of #4 riding through the south side of Chicago this past weekend. Thirdly, the job market sucks. Seriously, there has to be a better way. Somewhere between the old-fashioned way of doing things and Craigslist.org, employment has been completely bastardized. For example, simply wading in the pool of online job searches, one is bombarded with requests to donate an egg, work from home doing nothing and making thousands, or canvassing on the street (which I consider one of the worst jobs in the developed world) asking people if "you've got 30 seconds to help a starving child." You answer, as you briskly walk by, "Sorry." Sorry, I don't have even 15 seconds for a starving child. ugh.

There are people sitting at home (besides me), highly capable of doing virtually any assignment, contributing insight and compassion to the world's problems, unable to do anything because there is no venue for such work. Yet dependent upon the system of work because all of their necessities require them to participate in the monetary system. The saddest part of the whole thing, of moving to yet another city, is that there are no escapes from the system the U.S. has set up. Other countries, seeing our growth and power have followed suit and now, wherever we go, we are either hated because of our President (to simplify matters) or envied because of the false assumption that we possess an inherit wealth due to our nationality. See it's not just Chicago, it's the developed world as a whole and specifically the capitalist system that I have no faith in. I love the city because of it's art, culture, and events, and simultaneously hate it for buying into the same commercialism, greed and elitism that the entire country suffers from. Yet speaking from the rural point of view, of which I was born of, I can say that living outside of the city only creates distrust of the mainstream system, a desire to remain separate, yet be heard, and an ignorance about what it feels like to be a minority. Perhaps the only reason that I can appreciate the city other than its arts scene, is the fact that it sometimes makes me feel like a minority which is something I never would have experienced had I stayed in rural America.