It is pretty sad that fast food companies have to toy on people’s misery in order gain profit. Sure, any thoughtful person can say that curly fries certainly do not buy happiness, but when that same person is plagued with these messages day by day, everywhere, all the time, they begin to believe it. It is the same as someone being called stupid, even jokingly, on a daily basis, the person will soon question if they are stupid. It is the same with a young, normal-sized woman looking at magazines, and seeing the anorexic girls who have captions of “beauty” or “sexy” all around them; she will wonder if she, herself, is beautiful, if she, herself, could ever measure up. People so easily believe what they see since they so easily are influenced by the environment around them. And North America’s environment, for that matter, is quite fixed on advertisements, materialism, and consumerism—one large façade, one enormous fake reality.
“Yes, have a French fry. You will feel so much better.” Finding comfort with food is very sad, and so many people do it. It is also very easy to buy food, it is all accessible. And the junk food is cheaper than the healthy food, so more people flock to the bad food, which in turn gives the companies more profit, and only makes the consumers more unhealthy. But the advertisements are everywhere to remind everyone as well. And people are so easily deceived by them and do not even know it. The media likes to associate chocolate with sex, for instance. Most chocolate commercials, or many other delicacies for that matter, are usually regarded with some sexy young man or woman, alluring and seductive, and then it all ends with one of them consuming chocolate, with emphasis on the lips, touch, or erotic ideas. The viewer sees such ads on a regular basis. Somewhere in their mind, even when they do not know it, the concept of chocolate soon becomes linked with the concept of sex. And since everyone wants sex, and when one cannot find it, chocolate becomes the answer. “Pleasure is only a chocolate bar away.”
It is not just food, however. It is everything that consumers buy. It is their wardrobes, their fancy suits, their perfect homes, their possessions, their expensive jewelry, their cars, or their remodeled shoes. People buy these things to fill their emptiness with something, but no, it is never filled. It only distracts them from thinking, because if they can focus on their new mercedes, and grab the attention of others, then they must think they feel good about themselves. If they can buy the latest fashions, and show the world that they have all the money to do so, then they must feel great about themselves. If they can look down on others for not being so fortunate as to have all these “great” possessions, then they must feel great about themselves. But do they? No. It is all a façade. It is a wish to be content inside. It is a way for them to run from themselves and hide and not have to face their true fear—their self. Because if they faced their self, they would realize how empty they really are, how meaningless every waking day is, for their world is nothing more than material, fake pleasures. And that all these miracle possessions that were supposed to buy them happiness, never did.
But who can blame them? People are brainwashed since birth, with television, with the media, or whoever becomes their first instructors, their first influences. And they will not realize they are brainwashed until they, or another person, challenge their learnt concepts of reality. And some people are never challenged. Some people do not want to be challenged. They avoid it. They avoid thinking, for if they had to face who they are, they may be terrified. Why else do so many people live phony lives and simply follow in others’ footsteps? And why are so many people hooked on drugs and alcohol? It is simple. Many people do not know who they are. They do not try to know who they are, because if they did, they would have to also face their fears, face their troubles, their worries, and try to find what actually makes them happy. And some people fear this, because they would actually have to follow their heart, and worry that it will lead them nowhere, and fear that life is nothing. Because first, they will have to walk through misery and darkness to find meaning, to find purpose, and not many people are willing to make this first step, and when people do, some give up so easily and withdraw.
So many native Americans of today, for instance, are on the streets, begging for money, consuming themselves with alcohol, having gang fights, living on drugs, dirty, and dying young and miserable. These same people once had ancestors that were so heavily involved in the world around them, that had faith in themselves, such as their overall spirit, and powers. They carried a spirituality within nature, within the reality that is not visible to most people. They knew peace and love. They knew who they were, and because of that they had strong spirits. However, when the Europeans arrived, they were challenged. Their rights as human beings were being taken away. Many who fought for their beliefs were killed, and those who conformed were destroyed inside. Their children were taken away from them and put in new schools, where they had to cut their hair, forget their traditions, speak the English language, or they would be beaten. A lot of these kids were raped, tortured, treated like “savages,” as they were called, and their homes resembled prisons. As a result, many spirits were shattered. These same kids grew up to be adults, having more children after them, generation after generation, only knowing the cruel world they were thrown into. Many of these people lost who they were, they lost the awareness of their spirit, the teachings of their ancestors, and they became lost and confused. How can someone so lost and confused teach their children any better? I think this idea in itself can explain all the homeless natives on the streets. They simply do not know who they are. They have not faced who they are. They have not walked through the misery to find meaning to their lives. Instead, they remain in a dark, limbotic state, living through alcohol, drugs, avoiding to think beyond the environment they are accustomed to.
And I think the same can be said about our society. How many kids are raised by television while their parents are not paying attention to them? So many children are becoming obese because they no longer play outside; they no longer get active exercise. So much time is spent glued to the television screen or with videogames, being flashed with images and false concepts of reality. An idea of reality gets put into their head—what is real, what is acceptable, what is “normal”, what one can believe and what one cannot believe. So many children have active imaginations, but when their own parents or influences demand that such flights of fancy are stupid or unacceptable, and restrict them from any original thought, they sometimes become tied down, manipulated into the modern role of a dull, mindless, ordinary person. And this person learns how to be and act from the world around them. They see what is considered “beautiful” on televison and in magazines, unable to find the true beauty that exists within them. They see how others behave, how others act, and model their behaviour, unable to live how their true self would feel is right. Not many people follow their own hearts. Very few are guided by their own will. Many people just simply follow, imitate, and conform to what they see in order to be accepted, to be the same, to be like others. And it just so happens that most others are empty and confused. They work, sleep, and eat, and try to buy their happiness with materialism or indulgences. They try to mask their misery with a false reality—through a phony lifestyle, such as fake material happiness or pleasure, or they hide from the only reality they know through the numbness of drugs and alcohol. And the newcomers just follow in their footsteps, knowing no other way to be, and daring not to attempt the challenge of change.
Is not happiness attained through heart and soul?
