On Thought, Part I

Far short of bringing new insights, getting older reinforces old prejudices. This is evident in every observation or meaningful idea I've had in the last few years of my life. My once fertile mind now populates a little leather-bound journal (ideas book to some) with regurgitations of past suppositions and undeveloped arguments. To some extent, no doubt, this is a direct result of existing outside academia for half a decade. While I could hardly claim more than incidental scholarship during my school days, it must be said that a university environment, at the very least, provides food for thought and fodder for intellectual feuds, no matter how childish. Post-collegiate life, it seems, offers 2 general paths: the path to financial success, and the path I'm on, littered with refuse of vague and receding goals.

Few people left to fend for themselves in the arena of reason and intellectual curiosity have enough motivation and drive to pursue questions beyond immediate concerns: amassing personal wealth, finding a reasonably priced urban apartment, climbing onto a more prestigious perch. Schools show us how to fly on a blackboard, fly patterns, trajectories, aerodynamics and all, then shove us off a cliff before we've had a chance to spread our wings. Reluctant slackers, among whose numbers I must count myself, are left to make gross assumptions about others and form generalized opinions of life in the vacuum of relatively carefree living. Ideas become informed by subway rides and bar crawls; creative energy misdirected at solipsistic trifles and snarky condescension; until a caricature emerges--another wasted mind?...