Yesterday as I was driving to the Farmer's Market I heard a song come on the radio, one which I'd heard many times (it's an older one). Perhaps it was because my mind was still under the influence of Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" and how it tends to dehumanize everyone, not just women, that it really hit me. The song is called "Paycheck Friday" and it talks about a man who is nobody until "Good God Almighty, it's Paycheck Friday, gotta get drunk and be somebody."
"Gotta get drunk and be somebody." How sad. How very, very sad. That the only way a person can be somebody is to get drunk (or high)? But this song wasn't sung like the person regretted it; it was almost boastful, defiant.
I want to ask, "what kind of somebody do you feel you are when you are drunk?" And why do you have to get drunk to be that somebody?
I think it's a safe bet that Neil Armstrong, who died recently, didn't feel the need to get drunk to be somebody. From what I have heard he was a very modest man. Do you know that there are no pictures of him on the moon? That's right. HE was the one with the camera. He took all the pictures. That famous picture of the astronaut descending the steps of the lunar module? That wasn't Neil. He was ALREADY on the moon. But did you ever hear him complaining that his picture wasn't taken? He didn't need a picture to know who he was or where he was or what he'd accomplished.
Now we can't all go to the moon like Neil Armstrong but we don't have to to be somebody. And if you have to get drunk to be somebody then you still aren't somebody. You just think you are somebody but to the rest of the world you are just another drunk. And there's no shortage of those.
What there is a shortage of is people with decency, integrity, honesty, courage. People who use the mind that God gave them for its greatest purpose. I don't always agree with Ayn Rand but I do agree with her about reason. To have a mind and not use it--what a waste. As Ms. Friedan points out in "The Feminine Mystique" it is mind that separates us from all the other animals.
People tell me "I think too much." I think actually what it means is that they don't think enough. And the ones who tell me this most are religious people. Perhaps it is because they are afraid of what they will find if they start analyzing the messages that they hear from the pulpit the same way they are asked to analyze "our culture's" messages.
For example, one of the songs we sing has the line "Jesus, Jesus, at your feet, let me dwell and never leave." So what's wrong with that? Well, because it is not healthy for anyone to be at another's feet all the time. I have a cat who likes to sleep at my feet. And that's fine. But she doesn't do it 24/7. Right now she's out doing cat things. When you are dwelling at another's feet you aren't out doing things. Neil Armstrong didn't get to the moon by passively sitting at someone's feet. So what message is this song promoting? Passivity. In its own way it is just as dehumanizing as "gotta get drunk and be somebody." In fact, sometimes I think that around here that's all it boils down to. Bar or church. Church or bar. But isn't life more than either?
That's what I like about Aspies Central, even if I don't always participate in the discussions, I know there are lively and often controversial discussions going on. And for the most part they are quite civil unlike other forums I've dropped in on. People aren't trying to outdo each other in nastiness. You can talk about pretty much any topic you want and people's eyes won't glaze over like they often do in real life.
"Gotta get drunk and be somebody." How sad. How very, very sad. That the only way a person can be somebody is to get drunk (or high)? But this song wasn't sung like the person regretted it; it was almost boastful, defiant.
I want to ask, "what kind of somebody do you feel you are when you are drunk?" And why do you have to get drunk to be that somebody?
I think it's a safe bet that Neil Armstrong, who died recently, didn't feel the need to get drunk to be somebody. From what I have heard he was a very modest man. Do you know that there are no pictures of him on the moon? That's right. HE was the one with the camera. He took all the pictures. That famous picture of the astronaut descending the steps of the lunar module? That wasn't Neil. He was ALREADY on the moon. But did you ever hear him complaining that his picture wasn't taken? He didn't need a picture to know who he was or where he was or what he'd accomplished.
Now we can't all go to the moon like Neil Armstrong but we don't have to to be somebody. And if you have to get drunk to be somebody then you still aren't somebody. You just think you are somebody but to the rest of the world you are just another drunk. And there's no shortage of those.
What there is a shortage of is people with decency, integrity, honesty, courage. People who use the mind that God gave them for its greatest purpose. I don't always agree with Ayn Rand but I do agree with her about reason. To have a mind and not use it--what a waste. As Ms. Friedan points out in "The Feminine Mystique" it is mind that separates us from all the other animals.
People tell me "I think too much." I think actually what it means is that they don't think enough. And the ones who tell me this most are religious people. Perhaps it is because they are afraid of what they will find if they start analyzing the messages that they hear from the pulpit the same way they are asked to analyze "our culture's" messages.
For example, one of the songs we sing has the line "Jesus, Jesus, at your feet, let me dwell and never leave." So what's wrong with that? Well, because it is not healthy for anyone to be at another's feet all the time. I have a cat who likes to sleep at my feet. And that's fine. But she doesn't do it 24/7. Right now she's out doing cat things. When you are dwelling at another's feet you aren't out doing things. Neil Armstrong didn't get to the moon by passively sitting at someone's feet. So what message is this song promoting? Passivity. In its own way it is just as dehumanizing as "gotta get drunk and be somebody." In fact, sometimes I think that around here that's all it boils down to. Bar or church. Church or bar. But isn't life more than either?
That's what I like about Aspies Central, even if I don't always participate in the discussions, I know there are lively and often controversial discussions going on. And for the most part they are quite civil unlike other forums I've dropped in on. People aren't trying to outdo each other in nastiness. You can talk about pretty much any topic you want and people's eyes won't glaze over like they often do in real life.
