Solidification

Who knows why we do anything, or go anywhere.

Yes I walk and judge the people around me and I condemn their abuse of the car. I condemn their short vision.

I don’t think that the average neighborhood dweller in the west of Detroit makes the connection between their (his/her) consumption of gasoline and the war for oil in Iraq – they may not even realize that the war is indeed for oil.

I don’t think they make the connection between their excessive car use and their terribly misshapen bodies, and perhaps they don’t make the connection between the terribly hotness of the summer and the severe lack of trees in their city. I call that short vision, hence the “Don’t look up” piece in Da Book, aka An Account of Social Mutation.

Some may complain about the repetitiousness of what I say, but this point has to be insisted upon because people insist on acting like the drunk (or drugged up) chump clumsily stepping into a busy highway trying to cross it. He has to be told not to do it, that he’ll die if he does. 

I understand their short vision though. I had it too

I came here to start a project, but ended up with this. Who knows why we do anything.

The journey of self-discovery has taken close to 5 years now, and here in Detroit I can tell how far I’ve gone.

So I walk under the killing heat, and people look at me as if they don’t know what to make of what I am with my rolled up pant legs (for circulation of air in the legs), my cut-up running shoes (they were a little small for me when I bought them – they are so comfortable now), and my shades.

I know what I’m doing because of what I’ve realized. I’m practicing revolution. Walking seems to be an unspoken taboo in Detroit, so I rebel against that. I walk, and I walk some more. I move for miles and miles without paying tithes to car insurances, financiers, dealers, and makers. I move miles without financing directly the oil companies. Americans die by the drove from lack of movement, and yet they have the cure: miles and miles of sidewalks. What they need is a revolution.

Yet they look at me strange. How can the average Detroian understand my disappointment at their churches, their leaders, their TV programs, and themselves, who failed to do these simple but crucial tasks: encourage people to plant trees, encourage people to live decently regardless of their income, and to have pride in themselves for the simple reason of being humans.

I don’t know what is being taught to these people nowadays, but whatever it is, it isn’t what I’ve said above, and if it is, something is fundamentally wrong somewhere because it’s not getting across.

If everything goes well, I’ll be flying to Berlin on the 29^th of this month, and the next project will be the construction of an earthship.