A L i f e o f C h o i c e sby, Crysta l St reetfrom StorytellingTraveler.com

Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again;

and this interdependence produces the highest form of living.

Anais Nin

As I look back on the journey of this blog, I see so many areas of growth for me as a storyteller and as a traveler. One strikingly apparent trend is my desire to write about the social and philosophical observations that surface as I travel through this world.

This trend in my writing is so strong that I’ve decided to dedicate Storytelling Traveler and its future articles to this theme. Over the course of the past 17 months, my mission in life has been reinforced through the work I’ve produced on this platform.

My job is to bear witness.

And I will use this platform to share the world with you.

For whatever reason, I was blessed with the talents and determination necessary to be a documentary photographer. I see the world with different eyes. I see what most people miss- or choose to ignore.

To Start...

I look at an Indian slum and see the foreign and social policies that created this reality. I can study a foreign policy theory and visualize its actual implementation several decades from now. I understand the smoke and mirrors created by governments utilizing the media machine to implement an imperialist’s agenda and I hear that message trickle through the public discourse. And I can see the actual physical effects of such media control on the way people live their lives.

I see it. I get it. And like it our not, I have to rage against this machine- or whither and die within its gears.

A Life of Choices compiles the first 17 months of The Storytelling Traveler’s more philosophical and observational essays. The images from this volume of work are from my travels throughout the world for the past 10 years. Most of the international work was created during my time at UNC and was produced while conducting independent grant and fellowship projects studying the issues of post-conflict communities and cultural preservation.

The journey forward for my work will be a diverse and organic adventure. And I hope many of you will continue to travel with me or at least check in from time to time. I will most likely begin implementing some more strategic moves at the StorytellingTraveler.com to help expose the core message of this documentary work to a broader audience.

And I want to thank you all for making this journey a pure delight! Your interaction with this work, your feedback and your engagement with the art make this experience a complete joy for me. And you give this work a stronger relevance.

At the House of Blues

And so I say thank you. And may your choices in life bring you nothing but adventure, joy and the beautiful exhilaration of the unknown.

Peace,Crystal

Section 1 Live Passionately

Section 2 Have Vision

Section 3 Laugh Loudly

What’s Inside

All of this lovely goodness is copyrighted by yours truly. Don’t steal- its bad karma. Just ask- I’ll probably say yes.

Copyright by Crystal Street 2011

All essays were originally published on www.StorytellingTraveler.com

Live Passionately

What journey are you traveling down? Is your journey of your own making, is it your own vi-sion? Does your journey contain your unique fin-gerprint- one that can not be duplicated?

Or are you traveling on someone else’s jour-ney? Are you living someone else’s vision of your path in life?

Will you stand before your journey and fight for the ability to live it?

When did you first envision this journey? Were you twelve years old, standing at the edge of a

Will You Live By Your Journey~ or Die By Someone Else’s?

railroad track, watching the cars passing by and thinking- ‘that’s my path’? Were you at an air-show with your father when you were a teenager, watching F-16s fly-ing past and thinking- ‘yea, I’m going to be flying that one day. That’s my jour-ney’.

Or were you staring at a book of docu-mentary images from your father’s copy of the Family of Man thinking, ‘yea- that’s the path I will walk down one day’. Were you sitting in a courtroom in high school, watching someone’s life being held in the palms of nine people’s hands and said, ‘yes- I will walk that path of justice’?

When you stood there and saw the future vision of your journey, did your heart beat faster? Did your gut churn with unbridled anticipation of such a journey in life? Did you spend the rest of your school days lost in daydreams of what it would feel like to live that journey, to walk that path?

To be that person.

At what point did you put that vision on a shelf and accept the path that someone else placed before you? At what price did you walk away from that journey and say- ‘well, that was just a kid’s dream any-way’? Here’s an office, a cubicle, a 401K and some insurance.

Did the shelving of that journey cause you physical pain, did you have sleepless nights after turning your back on your vi-sion? Or do you simply wake up now with no passion or joy left for the path you’re walking down in life?

What will it take to grab that journey off the shelf, dust it off and breathe a new life into it? Will it take a journey towards sorrow? Does it take a life altering death to cause you to embrace that raw ambi-tion- that pure passion for wanting to be exactly what you envision? Does it take a near death experience or total dev-astation to turn your back on the vision that someone else handed you and walk down the path of your own choosing?

At Shakori Hills Music Festival, N.C. 2006

And will you laugh at anyone who mocks your ambition or degrades your deci-sion because they are too weak and scared to live their own journey. Will you tell the world to kiss your ass as you walk blissfully down the path of your journey- regardless of judgment, criticism and mockery?

Or will you wait until it’s too late? Until the most productive, passionate and in-tense years of your life have passed slowly by and you are sitting alone wonder-ing where your journey went terribly wrong.

Will you sit at the end of a long, tedious life of mundane drudgery (aka the rat race) and think damn- what happened to that fire in my gut? What happened to those long daydreams of the journey I envisioned? When did I lose my pas-sion? Or, when did my passion die?

At the end of your years, when the sun has chosen to set on your life’s path- will you wonder what your journey might have entailed- had you listened to your passion- listened to your soul?

Or, will you sit at the end of your years reflecting on the journey you saw as a child– you fought for as a teenager– you lived as an adult and you reveled in for the entire duration of your life on this planet?

“

“

Will you tell the world to kiss

your ass as you walk blissfully

down the path of your journey

Will you die tomorrow with regrets of lost journeys and dead dreams?

Or will you die tomorrow embraced by the memories of a journey well led, a journey fought for- and a journey died for.

Doing what’s necessary

You’ve established your goals. You’ve visu-alized your dreams. You’ve taken the time to write that vision down and revel in all its glory. You even created a gorgeous vision board to bring those dreams to life.

Now, will you do what’s necessary to bring them to life? Will you sacrifice the time, the sweat and the sanity to make those visions come to life?

I’ve asked this before on this blog and I’m

Will your passion navigate you towards your dreams?

Takes a little passion and some brut strength!

returning to the topic for sev-eral reasons.

One

I have several dear friends who are about to embark on the journey of bringing their dreams to life. They usually come to me for advice on how to start or to flesh out the possibilities of their quiet dream. I guess, since I’ve been plugging away at this for so many years, I’ve become somewhat of a go-to person for such advice. And frankly, if I could just get paid to spit out ideas and brainstorm all day- I’d be a happy camper.

And the one thing I can tell them is to check their pas-sion first. Above all else, you must possess sheer passion. You must, MUST have the pas-

sion that will fuel the insanely unorthodox decisions you will have to make.

Will your passion comfort you when you leave the unhealthy relationship you’ve been apart of that is a direct wall in the progression towards your dreams?

Will your passion wipe your tears and tell you to keep on going when you walk away from all the familiar people in your life to pursue your ulti-mate goal?

Will your passion console you when you’re teetering on the edge of insanity because you’ve turned down a $100K job to pursue a dream that can’t even buy you a cup of coffee yet?

Will your passion tell you to keep walking forward, when five years have passed and your dreams are still just out of reach- but you can feel them in your hand?

Will you passion scrape you off the ground and lift your head up when all of your bank ac-counts are in the red and the creditors come a calling?

Will your passion stand up for you in a room full of your peers as they speak of their 401Ks, their mortgage rates and their flashy new cars and show others that you may not possess those items, but what you possess far surpasses any material item your peers pay homage to?

Will your passion help you navigate the murky waters

of the “real world” and make the de-cisions necessary to stay true to your goals? And will it continue to navigate, year after year, until you are standing in the reality of your vision board?

Two

I’ve felt a little nostalgic while preparing to return to the Rockies and have been reflecting on all that I’ve become and all that I’ve turned away from in pursuit of my goals. And passion is the reason

behind my decisions.

So here’s a little look at what my pas-sion has navigated me through- hope-fully you’ll pull a lesson or a little comfort from my actions.

Over the years I have walked away from almost everything in my life in pur-suit of my dreams. I’ve left several long-term relationships because we hit the point where my passion out weighed our love (or our loathing). I’ve turned away good salaries and 401Ks for the idea of something else- something all my own. I’ve gone into debt to learn the necessary skills to become the best at my profession. I’ve missed weddings, births, baby showers, graduations, holi-days and other countless occasions with friends and family to chase down my dreams.

And now, at 35, I have a life that doesn’t fit in the paradigms of the typical social narratives. I’m not sure how or when

Your passion will pick you up- again and again and again.

it happened- well actually, it started in my early 20s and grew from there.

And, I’m fine with it, I’m hap-py about where my passion has guided me. And now my passions are guiding me back to the mountains I love and towards a winter of writ-ing, creating and produc-ing!

And as I pack up my belong-ings and get ready to hit the road, I’ve been taking a little time to look back on the past year of my life. This year has been insanely ran-dom and has tested all my perceptions of self and my passions. My decisions this year were based entirely on my passion and the vision of my dreams on the horizon. I turned down good job of-

fers, walked away from ex-cellent living situations and kept plugging forward, one baby step at a time, towards my dreams.

I even, at age 35, decid-ed to live with my mom for 7 months in order to keep walking towards my dreams. I hadn’t planned it, it wasn’t deliberate, I stopped by for a visit after my walkabout and the time just kept grow-ing. I picked up some local freelance work and then be-fore I knew it, half the sum-mer was gone and I was fall-ing into that demographic of older children who return to live with their parents.

Uh-oh! When the realization of that sunk in, I started to look for my own place. Year leas-es, insane rents and un-dog

friendly landlords squashed that task pretty quick.

So, I stayed. And I fought my inner pessimistic gnomes who kept tossing about the reality of living at home at 35. But, halfway through the summer, my passion stepped up and said, “shut the hell up already! Enjoy your time here and spend every wak-ing moment possible work-ing on your dreams.”

And that’s exactly what I did. I polished the blog, I found a more relevant voice, I embraced the Twitter and found an online community that I love. I connected with people I may have never in-teracted with if I had been waiting tables or working a real job.

And I’ve enjoyed my time with my mother more than I ever thought possible. It’s truly been a refreshing time to spend with my family and I’ve loved my time with my mom.

I learned to laugh at myself a little more. My passion showed me that not every-thing is as it appears.

My passion propped me up and said “open your eyes and use this wonderful gift of time to propel yourself forward.” My passion took me out of my own head, squashed my ego and forced me to run full speed towards my dream.

Three

Understanding your passions and how they can change over time to reflect the per-son we are at the moment, is necessary in pursing any goal or dream.

As I embark on this latest stage of my dreams, I feel as though the passion of my past self and my present self are merging at last. It feels as though there’s this hap-py collision that’s occurring and I just can’t contain the

excitement.

My twenties were filled with random adventures, living in amazing places and skiing my ass off. My twenties had its moments- and they really were doozies- but beyond the tragedies of my twenties, I had a damn good time.

And over the past 5 years, as I’ve been working through my 30s, I’ve embraced that part of myself I knew existed in my 20s but could never truly find. The driven photog-rapher, the intense artist, the intellectual person and the passionate adventurer.

This person of my thirties is the vision that caused me to sacrifice so much in my twenties. I knew she existed and I knew I’d never reach

her with the relationships I was in and the places in life I found myself.

While those identities of my 30s are still developing, they are now merging with my identities from my 20s and we are all returning to the place in life where I truly felt happy. Standing on top of a mountain, taking it all in and realizing just how fabu-lous our lives truly are.

“

“

You must, MUST have the

passion that will fuel the insanely un-

orthodox deci-sions you will have to make.

Where did this come from?

This article came about as I was standing in line at Barnes and Noble waiting to order my usual double shot of espresso and trying to figure out what the hell to write about. The girl in front of me was insanely stylish. Seriously, beautifully dressed and for a split second I looked down at my outfit. I was wearing my old “Jesus Sandals” (bought next to his tomb) my 7 year old Patagonia capris (maroon b/c they were on sale) a green top and I hadn’t shaved my legs in a week. I kept this outfit handy because everything is packed away for my move and I was just too lazy to shave.And as we waited, a vision of this stylish diva’s life passed before me. Yes, I project people’s stories onto them in passing, its a creative habit of mine. And yes, I’m somewhat biases and one-sided when I do this. I saw the urban diva, working in her store (she had a bank bag on her and was ordering drinks for her staff) with her stylish husband at home and in their cozy little house. And there is nothing wrong with that, there are times when I wish I could have embraced that just for the sheer security of that existence.Then, I looked down at my sandals- bought on my Palestine adventure and smiled to myself. My passion spoke up and said “yea, you look like you just rolled out of your suitcase and you’re not picking up any men looking like this, but you’re going to Breckenridge tomorrow. To live.”Oh yea. That makes my outfit totally worth it. And that’s why you need your passion. Everyone needs a compass to navigate these waters.

Would You Survive if Someone Shut Off the Lights?

Yep, we’re gonna have that conversation.How often do we devote the time to actual-ly contemplating a world without our modern conveniences? Not the more complex ele-ments of civilization that we take for granted, such as internet access and cell phone ser-vice- just the basics.

The fundamental modern elements that allow our civilization to function and keep chaos at bay. Running water, electricity, food at the gro-cery store and gas at the pumps- these are all elements of modern society and very recent developments in the grand scheme of man’s existence on earth.

Living in a small town in the Rockies can be a humbling experience. As I’ve mentioned, the internet is a crap-shoot, we have no gas station and one store where I can buy groceries. Now, the next town is only 6 miles away and has all those “modern conveniences” but in a blizzard, like today, I really don’t feel like trekking down

Would You Survive or Thrive?

A storm blows across the Rockies while I play in the back country just down the road from my house.

the road and running the gauntlet with all the tourists leaving Breckenridge.

Hearing the wind howling- literally howling- down from the hills and bouncing off the walls of my cabin is humbling. Seeing the gas stove kick on when a chill hits the cabin is a blessing. When the lights go out, the whole town goes totally black. And you’re not quite sure when you’ll be bathed in electric light again.

Being this close to the raw force of nature and being aware of the actual resources it takes to live in a place like this makes me pause and con-template the actual core of our civilization and will it last when one or more of the staples holding it together crumbles?

This town will survive and actually, it will probably thrive. People already live “off the grid” to a degree and there are enough local people producing products to live off of, if necessary.

But this line of thought makes me ponder the fact that I’m unprepared if something were to happen. If the oil supply were disrupted, if the dollar totally tanks or if the grid just collapsed- due to weather or a man-made interference- I am completely unprepared.

Now, I’m fully aware that this is not a conversation many people engage in- many are too afraid to even consider the possibility or just have blind faith that the system will always exist and function for them. Though I am a rather happy person most of the time, I am a pessimist when it comes to the intentions of our political leaders, their intelligence to do what’s best for the country and I am totally pessimistic when it comes to the actual structures that we, as a civilization, depend on for our survival.I believe we should depend on ourselves for that survival, particularly in today’s world.

If the proverbial ‘shit hit the fan’ right now, I would be totally unprepared, but I’d at least be in a town where I could manage and I think between my roommate (who idolizes pure mountain man survival) and I, we’d survive. But I am truly behind the times if the lights went out and we were tossed into the dark ages.

I have at least planned an plotted for the possibility and believe the next year will spent preparing for an off-grid lifestyle. And even if the lights stay on and the world stays a happy place, I’ll be living a truly simple life, and a rather cheap one at that.

When was the last time you contemplated the possibility of rolling the clock back 200 years? Does the thought put the fear of God into you and just cause you to shut the line of though off instantly? Or does your imagination run wild with the possibili-ties of living off the land, returning to nature and living a “simple” life?

Would you survive or thrive?

How often do artists actually analyze the fuel for their creativity? We artists all have our mus-es, our inspiration, our motivations that push us to create art. But how often do we really have the opportunity to truly sit with our emotions and see what underlying feelings fuel the drive that pushes us to create?

Passion. Chaos. Fear. Intensity. Vul-nerability. Strength. Love. Loss. Re-jection.

Such intensity drives some to insanity and oth-ers to acts of intense violence. It forces some people to retreat from the world, afraid of ever feeling those emotions ever again, afraid of the sheer vulnerability that these emotions can pro-duce.

And others create.

I realized several years ago that I love chaos. Not in the “Desperate Housewives/Bridezilla” sort of personal drama bullshit chaos, but in the “holy shit, that just happened” sort of chaos that happens when you place all the predict-

Touching the Fire and Fueling our Inner-Diva

A sassy diva walks through the fields at Shakori Hills Music Festival in Snow Camp, N.C.

able and familiar aspects of your life aside and toss yourself into an unknown environ-ment or situation. For the past 5 years, those unknowns have been found in travel- in visit-ing a foreign destination and surviving. And in some instances- thriving.

But in that time, I’ve put those personal emo-tions that accompany relationships on hold. I’ve placed them in a box and saved them for later. I’ve ventured into the dating world once or twice, been burned and retreated.

During the period of relationship debacles, I didn’t truly understand my creativity nor did I

comprehend or recognize the by-product of these emotions. Its easier to wallow in them- to roll around like a pig in some shitty emo-tional mud- than it is to take those emotions and channel them into something amazing.

An Inner-Diva to Control My Inner Child

And here I am, a single, fabulous woman, ap-proaching 35 and I think I finally figured out the balance of being an artist. That’s a bold statement- and I will probably eat those words when I decide love and risk losing again. No, I haven’t fallen in love and been dejected re-cently.

I still wear my single-girl jeans that make my ass look hot and, when coupled with my Mir-acle Bra, make me feel like Samantha on Sex in the City. But I have dabbled in the realm of personal emotion recently- with all its ex-citement, thrill, adrenaline, pain and turmoil. And its distraction. And while the situation is still slightly unresolved and may still have a

happy ending or not- and really its ir-relevant for this article- it’s the emotions and their residual effects that are fasci-nating.

I’ve stayed put here in the South East for a couple months and am starting to land some commercial multimedia projects that are promising and have the potential to fund more travel in the fall. And it has me thinking of pursuing more of this type of work as its interest-ing, profitable and I’m very good at it. Yet, in doing so, I feel the creativity that I cherish so much going slowly dormant. Not in a bad way- my multimedia proj-ects tap into that creativity- even when they are for commercial outlets- and I love producing them.

But the raw, unhindered, unaltered cre-ativity that is all mine takes a step back when I become a multimedia produc-er. It just happens. Yet, due to my re-cent thrusting into the whirlwind of in-tense personal emotions, I feel that my

brain- almost instantly- has righted itself and found the equilibrium between the chaos of intensity and the creative channels that emotion manifests itself into.

Enter the Inner Diva

This morning, I received a little closure to a personal situation (in a good way) and after swallowing the inner-child who wanted things to go her way, this inner diva emerged and said, “well, why this personal situation isn’t resolved- but makes more sense in this moment- let’s take all the emotional intensity it creat-ed and place it into your creativity and your multimedia and lets just be fabu-lous.”

Seriously, I now have an inner-Diva to control my inner-child and I feel at ease for the first time in several weeks. This inner-Diva is going to be the master of these emotions- and she’s going to place them in the proper places at the

right moments, so that I don’t turn my back on the paths in life that I envision.

So, I guess this article is part emotional release and part call to action. We artists possess this ability to live life at levels of intensity not normally experienced by most people. We can’t really expect others to understand this, or know how to deal with a person who lives this way. Really, everyone possess this ability, but few are strong enough or prepared to handle the by-product of embracing such intensity. Most of us, and sometimes even the artists, choose the easier path because not being able to channel the ill effects of these emotions is not a good place to be. That doesn’t end well.

But those of us with the fortune (or misfortune- depending on your perspective) to understand these emotions- or at least where they came from and why, and then channel them into the beauty we create are blessed. And cursed. Because the fuel we need, the muse we crave sits at the edge of a fire. It’s the intensity of those flames that gives us the fuel. We know this, and we walk to the edge of that fire any-way. We have to-- we need it. And sometimes, we get burned.

And sometimes, we create a beauty that is unpar-alleled. And sometimes, we find the balance to pursue the path we are meant to travel down.

I stumbled upon this wedding celebration in an alley beside my favorite cof-fee shop in Thamel, Nepal.

Does the value of your work lie in the cost of labor? Or does the value rest with the physical price of technical or tangible production costs necessary to produce your work?

Or does the true worth live in the intangible value? Is it the connection or impact that your work has on others- is that the true value of your work? And if so, how do you find the balance of work that pays the bills and has a high value to the person who hired you with the need to produce work that may not pay your bills, yet possess a greater intangible value for a larger number of people?

Are these factors that we should actually write into our business plans and mission statements when we embark on the path of entrepreneur-ship. Or do these inherent values with no easily identifiable price tag just become the unspo-ken value that develops as your work evolves?

Last night, I had the wonderful opportunity to document the AONC Unconventional Book Tour and I was blown away by the people I met and their own individual acts of non-conformity-

How Do You Value Your Work?

applied through entrepreneurship and unique lifestyle choices. (More to come on that later.)

But as Chris was wrapping up the talk-ing portion of his evening and shifting gears into book signing and socializing, he made the statement that he is paid in emails. He loves to hear from people impacted by his work or that connect-ed in some fashion with his writing.

And this morning, while sipping my espresso and processing all the amaz-ing conversations I had last night and contemplating next phase of my jour-ney, I decided to watch my documen-tary slide-show from my portfolio for a little more clarification of the next di-rection and where all my paths should ultimately lead. (I was also listening to Jem’s “Its Amazing” and figured I’d journey through my own work for a sec-ond and soak up the lyrics).

And as I look at these images- for the thousandth time- I am instantly trans-ported to the moment of their creation. In my mind, I see the before and after of each interaction that took place pri-or to and after each moment frozen in time. I know the narrative behind each one. And to me, the value is the expe-rience. My work’s value to me is how and why the image was captured and the personal connection that occurred with the subject.

A nun takes a moment to pray in the Holy Church of the Seplechure. Her work has value far beyond any instruments of gauging worth.

But what is the value of this art to someone who knows nothing about that image or the subject or the way it was produced? How does a stranger connect with this im-age and how does it move them?

A dear friend of my family, someone I grew up with, has been battling cancer for many years and doing a fabulous job of it. And she’s always connected with my work. I think, in some way, she sees my parents in my style of writing and photogra-phy. And she asked for a copy of this one image, one of my favorites from my time in Nepal. I think, on some level, she can see the struggle in this woman’s solitary battle with life and she can relate in a manner that I can’t even fathom. She has the image hanging over her bed at her vacation home- where she spends much her time- so it’s the last thing she sees at night and the first thing she sees in the morning. And I’m continually amazed that an image can touch someone on such a deep level- par-ticularly one that I created.

To her, that image has a value I can not put a price tag on. To her, the image reso-nates on a level that transcends monetary value or tangible costs of production.

And as my blog continues to grow and develop, I receive more emails and corre-spondence with people who connect with my writing or images in ways that are of value to them in a manner I could not begin to comprehend. One word, one article, one chance encounter that is written about, shifts a person’s reality and allows them to reach beyond their comfort zone and walk towards a goal they never would have believed possible, had they not resonated with someone else’s similar journey.

If you’re producing amazing work and you wander what it’s value may be, take

Esita pauses in her walkway of her home ot put her shoes on before leaving to hand pick grass in the rice fields of rural Nepal. Since her husband was shot by Nepalese Army soldiers, she tries to make enough money to feed her children through the winter. Her efforts are not enough and her children have to live with relatives in the winter when the food runs out.

a minute to really reflect on the conversations that evolve around your work. Look at the people who have, maybe just in passing, said “your work moved me. It made me think differently or it spoke to me.” Or some-one who engaged with your work and just said, “wow, I had no idea that existed.”

Your work is your legacy. Your impact on the people who interact with it is something that can’t truly be gauged but can be priceless. Your eloquent words of encour-agement or your description of a business train-wreck you created or your honest ap-praisal of your own journey and subsequent writings to help others embark on their own life’s path has a value that can not be quantified.

The ROI on your invest-ment can’t be stated- but it can be price-less.

If you are thinking of start-ing your own endeavor, business or journey towards producing powerful artwork and are going through the process of writing business plans, finding investors or just doing your SWOT analysis, take a moment to contem-plate the intangible value of your work.

What would be the email that a reader or customer might send you after engag-ing with your product or ser-vice that would make every sacrifice and cost worth the effort?

Would your work help some-

one embark on an uncon-ventional journey that they might not have traveled on if your work didn’t give them a source of support?

When you’re staring at an empty bank account or a broken business partnership or another missed wed-ding or family gather-ing and question why you gave that up to keep walking down your path- will the in-tangible value of your work be enough to keep you moving for-ward?

Will your work save a village? Show a child that something other than their own reality is possible for their future? Will your work help a client bet-

ter tell their story to their own customers? Will your work have the possibility of a life be-yond your own daily sphere of interaction?

Will your work start a movement? Will your work build a small army of people who believe in your mission- in your motivations for produc-ing? Will your work be life-altering for just one person?

And will that be enough for you- if all else fails?

Where does resignation originate? At what point in our lives do we concede to the situa-tion we find ourselves within without fighting for a vision- for a dream? Why do some resign at the first sign of adversity in a privileged existence and others fight to the death when faced with a life of perpetual turmoil?

It will fall upon this genera-tion to find the passion to fight for their future and re-pair the damage that the in-action of my genera-tion- and the one’s before it- have inflicted upon their world.

Does the person who resigns without struggle signify a person who values life less? Has the modern institution of entertainment he so will-fully worships convinced his subconscious that his life has little value? Was the fire extinguished in this person long ago, at the coming of age

When Will the Resignation End and the

Awakening Begin?

A little dance while waiting for dinner in Arizona, 2011

when his life was consumed with violent video games and images of destruction as forms of entertainment? Did this man’s resignation happen because of the entitle-ment handed down from his parents?Did this person’s resignation happen long before he gave up- long before the daily drudgery of a life without meaning or beauty became his biography?

Why does the other man fight to the death for what he believes he should possess from birth? Why does he sacrifice everything– home, love, stability and breathe– for the chance to give those inalienable human rights to those who will come after him? Why does he fight so hard- when his parents chose not to pick up the same battle and left him to deal with the ramifications of inaction?

Is it because he grew up seeing the results of war and hardship first hand? Is it be-cause he understands the fragility of freedom, the uncertainty of access to the com-modities that sustain daily life, the oppression of a foreign government at the hands of a corrupt state? Does he fight to the death because he bears a passion and ap-preciation of life that can only be acquired by holding true sorrow in your heart?

Why does one man resign when he has so much, yet another man fights when he has so little?

Why does one man value his own life so little, that he would waste the large portion of his years doing that which he loathes to participate in a system which consumes the very essence of the world he lives upon, with no thought to the next generation or those withering as a result of his consumption?

Why does another value his life so much, or the vision of what his life could and should become, that he would place that very life on the line to manifest his visions, for himself and the next generation? Why does a man embody such passion and such resilience, when he has known so much pain and suffering?

Why does one man willingly allow the mechanisms of suppression from the system to force him to resign his life- when the other man fights to the death to remove himself from the forced suppression of the State?

And at what point will the resigned faction of Western culture stand up and begin to live? What will be the tipping point for those men who willingly handed over their lives and their minds for the opportunity to consume? When will they embrace the freedom they were born into and realize that the meaningless entertainment they consume is the suppressive force that killed their spirit?

At what point will the resignation end and the awakening begin?