Revenge of the Nerds5thAugust
I get a lot of, "I bet if 'it' ever goes down, you guys are ready." I wince a little when I hear that. Being card-carrying, sometimes traumatized nerds since middle school, most folks at Trackers are wary to be seen as fringe and alternative. I, the founder of Trackers, spent most of my school lunch breaks hanging out in the library reading sci-fi books by Isaac Asimov and Frank Herbert.
Though I must admit another part of me lights up when I hear about "it going down." I daydream about a fantastical world of people living locally: families sharing chickens and goats between their backyards, oak trees thriving again throughout the Willamette Valley, giant sailing ships moving between high sea ports of call and herds of elk roaming under the vine-covered buildings of downtown Portland.
It's actually proven that in times of great challenges people show more care for their neighbors. They quickly realize they're all they've got. Cataclysm is not the social and moral unraveling everyone expects it to be. Crises actually can build community. Maybe that's why families of hunter-gatherers are so tightly knit. Stitched into the land and directly dependent upon it's bounty, they live closer to life and death every day. Reliant on the hunting or the gathering of their sister or their brother, they understand the need for more long-term and sustained relationships. They intrinsically know that family is the most important and fundamental path of being human.
I'm not looking forward to, nor expecting "it" to ever go down. I realize that this post-apocalyptic, Little House on the Prairie future is mostly idealistic. The world will engine on with plasma TVs, iPads, Facebook updates and soy-based products. Still, I and mine will always be training to live in Middle Earth, the Star Wars universe (non-prequels) or a Hayao Miyazaki anime feature. Why? Because in my family of nerds, in my troupe of circus folk, one man's apocalypse is another man's exciting and untold epic.
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Brennan Novak Aug 06, 2010 11:47 AM
Interesting stance on 'when the shit goes down' vs. 'living right now' Mr. D, I dig it! |
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Doug (Cedric) Clitheroe Aug 05, 2010 10:48 AM
Huzzah to that! It's hard to rationalize being "ready" for "it" to go down because most people start thinking you're a hillbilly or an anarchist. But when it comes down to it, I think it's more genetic recognition of the reality of mankind. Sure we have hospitals and motors and computers now, but in the scope of human evolution these things are short lived. Moments in a long, rich history. They have not yet become part of our genetic history in the way that the bow has, or that survivalist community has, and I think recognizing that is a huge step towards bonding and linking with your full self. So here's to a good year, lets find our genetic history and make friends:) |
