Every weekday starts just about the same. I wake up about an hour before
class, head down the hall to take a shower, then go to breakfast. After
breakfast it's time for a brisk walk across the street to make it into
my first class.Rushing around all day it can be easy to forget to think about what it is I do and why there's these certain methods attached to them.
The first goal of the morning is to get cleaned up in the public showers. For most people showering starts with entering the wet shower then taking off what ever clothing they have behind the privacy curtain, whether out of discomfort with their own nudity or courtesy to others. Where this shame in our genitalia originated is hard to say, but it's present in almost every culture in the world. The humiliation of indecent exposure is reinforced constantly by the media and television, where the tiniest exposure of just another part of the body becomes a great debacle. Perhaps it relates back to our obsession with sex, how it's some ultimate goal or it's a sacred thing, and the mere image of another person relates them back to all the structure built up around the idea, just like someone might say dressing a certain way does.
After that is breakfast which has number of peculiar rituals attached to it especially as a public place. When I first arrive I hand the man at the counter my, I thank him and go on my way. Saying "Thank you" is a kind gesture we're told to use whenever someone does something in our benefit by our parents and educators from a very young age, but what point does it become excessive? The person who swiped my card did me a service, a mutual trade, not a favor but thanks implies gratitude not just respect. The set consistency to use thank you in every exchange seems to weaken it's meaning after awhile and makes it into an act of conformation, but to not use it still holds weight since it has become part of our custom.
When I get my card back the next thing I need is food which for what ever reason is always completely different than lunch and dinner. There's far reaching establishment that is passed down by what our parents serve and it tells us what is good to eat and when it's meant to be eaten. Sometimes what we don't eat is logical for the time as our stomach is prepping for the day, but many restrictions are totally irrational and surely based on cultural heritage, and is reinforced by corporations as well as public utilities like the cafeteria till we crave certain products depending on time.
Once I have my food it's time to find a place to sit preferably by someone I might talk to, but truly my peace is most important to me when eating so why is there this nagging urge sit near someone and force myself to be social.This fear of being alone in a crowd most relates to one of the unofficial lessons from public education. Back in those days to not be surrounded by some friends at all times comes with feelings of both pity and superiority over the currently alone person. Continuous judgements made by peers eventually builds up a belief in doing everything with a group.
Once that awkwardness is over I have to cross the street and go to class. On most days I cross with a large group of people also going to class and because of that I often just trust them and cross without looking. There's many things that can be said about that behavior in relation to human psychology, but to me it's most interesting to point out our how aloof we are to dangers of the road. Automobile accidents take about twenty five thousand lives a year, and is the leading cause of death in young adults, but it has very little effect on our culture. Driving for us is a such a integral part of western ideas of freedom, independence, and success we couldent think of life without it even if that means endangering our lives.
Were things different maybe it wasn't part of our American dream to own a car, or we as society were so appalled by the deaths due to people driving around in two ton boxes of steel, with what is equivalent to a doctor having only first aid training, would we leave driving solely to professionals? Could it be possible to use all the money and resources from automobile usage to create a network of public transportation to effectively deliver every one to their destination? If our societies proved anything it's that seeming imposable goals like that become possible once we focus, and our idea of what is acceptable or important changes.
