'don't be a criminal in this police state'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7893890.stm

&

http://www.theagitator.com/2009/02/17/maryland-state-police-raid-parents-home-for-teens-misdemeanor-pot-charge/
(amen to the last paragraph)




One can read about this financial crisis we’re in until they are about to self-suffocate, but in the end all you really saw were words. Being able to replace those words with first hand accounts really brings about new perspectives to the trauma we’re facing. Living through typical day by day activities, mixed with fresh tinges of sadness and fear has helped me see how this crisis is really making an impact on our society as a whole.

Living in New York City, I believe, one gets to experience the effects of the financial crisis more bluntly than others. Those living in suburbia may be able to hold on to their prized belongings longer or hide their weaknesses better than those who live in this fast paced city, with it’s desperately high standard of living, that’s overflowing with crazed and hungry commuters. The city lusciously dances its fastest when the high speed cash-flow of purchasing comes into play. Without it, the city grimly slugs about trying to hold up its own heavy façade; seemingly just a place that serves as a memento of power and wealth, proud of its gargantuan skyscrapers and ever-blinding lights.

The other day while in a frantic rush and trying to make my way uptown towards the LIRR via the MTA on Fulton Street, I attempt to buy one measly metro card. No credit accepted. No debit accepted. So, of course there’s no cash on me (because I am a 20 year old student at Pace University, just so we’re real here). I run out to a different subway entrance. No credit accepted. No debit accepted. No bills accepted. Great, so now I’m stuck and begin to get panicky because I am going to miss my train and it’s my little sister’s 13th birthday. I wind up having to grab cash from a stupid ATM, with its stupid $2.75 cover charge.

I ask for a two dollar metro from the man inside the booth, hand over my twenty and receive a frustrated sigh in response, “You don’t have anything smaller than a twenty?” “No, sir, I’m sorry, I don’t.” I get all singles in return.

It is these observances of minute happenings within my immediate environment which influence my own personal feelings and attitudes towards this crisis we are in. It is the quiet frustrations, like the inability to purchase a metro card, which make me realize why the difficulty of purchasing the card is difficult in the first place. It puts into perspective how hard these companies themselves are being hit. Everybody is clearly hurting pretty badly right now, whether they are directly or indirectly involved.

The most interesting thing to observe in light of all these burdens is how people are dealing with them. Some continue to shop and shop cause that’s all they know how to do, even in spite of this depression; some defend it, some spit on it. And then there are those who really don’t give a shit or on the verge of giving up and dropping all hope for humanity (I place latter two types in the same boat). Those who are in this special boat are the most interesting. It makes you wonder why these people feel this way, and what it is they are doing to help themselves cope.

I’d say the majority deals with these feelings by being under some sort of influence and the majority, of course, being my peers, friends and even myself included. We are at a horrible age to be experiencing this economic meltdown. Entering into college we became so hopeful about our futures and the endless possibilities that stood idle in the distance, patiently. Now those in my age group, who have their graduation celebrations and fancy degrees in the printing process rounding the corner, are becoming terrified of what is in store for them next. It is incredibly difficult to get a job right now as we are all well aware. And we feel completely useless, which makes it even worse.

As a student at a University in New York City, one should feel pride in the fact they have made it somewhere pretty remarkable. No longer living at home, consistently wrecking havoc in a city which never sleeps, legally, or illegally, drinking at such a high price (but man does that bar tab hurt so good); it is all too sinister for our own well being. But then, like it should have been expected, it quickly ends, and we begin asking questions like, “Where did all the money go?”

Classes and school now become more of a reality because if you mess that up, you are really screwed. The thought of moving back home after you graduate is so sickening that you can almost convince yourself that living on the streets is worth maintaining the exhilarating feeling you receive from living in the city. Getting a job becomes a serious, top notch priority in your life right about now, but the Help Wanted signs are nowhere to be found. So how do we deal with these anxieties and frustrations?

We drink. We drink and we do drugs. Often.

I saw a girl about my age at a deli near my dorm the other day paying for a 40 ounce beer in dimes. That takes dedication, brother. I understand it, but from our elders we reap looks of pity and anger. I assume it’s the fact that we are supposed to be the fine-tuned, breath-of-fresh-air Generation this country needs; bringing ourselves, and everyone else, out from these turmoil’s we are facing due to this so called “rut” we are in.

So while we let ourselves literally drown in self-pity and aim to have a good chunk of memory removed from our well spent nights, I can understand, I guess, that it can be a little unsettling to those more matured and wise. But in our defense, I quote The Bouncing Souls, “too old to bother, too young to care”.

Then that tired, smirking man working at the deli-counter literally just stares at that poor porcelain skinned girl, with her gorgeous auburn hair who’s patiently holding out the hand filled with dimes, and says, “Really?” And she replies, “Do what ya gotta do man, times are sucking hard right now.”

What’s in store for the future will always remain unknown. But meanwhile, as these hits keep coming, you may as well go on a hunt for happiness and live out your life, because no one, especially no selfish, money-hungry, corporate aficionado, should deter you from the fact that all human beings “…held certain truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness…” as it is beautifully state in our own Declaration of Independence.