The Coming and the Going.
15/04/08 23:45
As we move from place
to place and people to people it slowly dawns upon us
what we are up to. I never imagined how strongly the
lives and dreams of the people we meet would affect
me. Although we rarely spend more than one or two
days with the people we meet, we get a glimpse of
them and their culture that is rather unique.
We get the privilege of first impressions, and as such rarely have time to examine what people tell or show us. And as we also chose to trust our hosts as truthful people. We often report from their lives as they see it, and may by doing that neglect other points of view. We’ve had several people asking about our lack of perspective - they want us to criticize, or at the very least take a stance on whatever issues we come across.
The reason we chose not to do this is, that it isn’t very interesting in regards to our project. We are here in search of the american dream, and as such I think it’s vital that we chose to see the world as our host sees it. If we are serious about painting a portrait from the ground up, we can - and should - not put our own values into a portrait.
A perfect example is our trip to the 9th Ward with Andy, a volunteer from the Common Ground movement in New Orleans. The points that are made in regards to the rebuilding of the city are reports of genuine hurt and a feeling of being abandoned. Whether or not the local and federal government have actually abandoned them - or at the very least haven’t prioritized them, is certainly an open discussion, no doubt about that. What is not open to discussion is whether these people feel abandoned, because they sure as hell do.
Andy tells us how he has been held up at gunpoint because he tried to help a local rebuild the shattered remains of his past (and future), Red stands at the levee and asks why the government will take his money but not help him. Will and Jeanne tells us of the many unnecessary troubles they’ve had. The FBI had their organization under surveillance while they where doing relief work. Imagine a government organ spending its time monitoring people helping instead of just helping, it’s ridiculous in all its horror.
We meet a lot of people with these feelings, and as such they become an important part of portraying a spectrum of the american society, namely the one slowly evolving outside the state. It is in no way a revolutionary movement, they do not seek to overthrow anything. They are an extremely diverse group of people who meet up to help, and who share the feeling that their government has failed them, and that the only help they will get is from themselves.
That feeling is not one I want to criticize.
The point is that if we are to portray the american dream one piece at a time, we need to stay true to the feelings that we meet, because these are a crucial factor in showing the hopes and visions that live so strongly in every citizen of this country.
You can disagree with dreams, but not with emotion, and in order to show the perceived we must stay true to the perceiving.
We get the privilege of first impressions, and as such rarely have time to examine what people tell or show us. And as we also chose to trust our hosts as truthful people. We often report from their lives as they see it, and may by doing that neglect other points of view. We’ve had several people asking about our lack of perspective - they want us to criticize, or at the very least take a stance on whatever issues we come across.
The reason we chose not to do this is, that it isn’t very interesting in regards to our project. We are here in search of the american dream, and as such I think it’s vital that we chose to see the world as our host sees it. If we are serious about painting a portrait from the ground up, we can - and should - not put our own values into a portrait.
A perfect example is our trip to the 9th Ward with Andy, a volunteer from the Common Ground movement in New Orleans. The points that are made in regards to the rebuilding of the city are reports of genuine hurt and a feeling of being abandoned. Whether or not the local and federal government have actually abandoned them - or at the very least haven’t prioritized them, is certainly an open discussion, no doubt about that. What is not open to discussion is whether these people feel abandoned, because they sure as hell do.
Andy tells us how he has been held up at gunpoint because he tried to help a local rebuild the shattered remains of his past (and future), Red stands at the levee and asks why the government will take his money but not help him. Will and Jeanne tells us of the many unnecessary troubles they’ve had. The FBI had their organization under surveillance while they where doing relief work. Imagine a government organ spending its time monitoring people helping instead of just helping, it’s ridiculous in all its horror.
We meet a lot of people with these feelings, and as such they become an important part of portraying a spectrum of the american society, namely the one slowly evolving outside the state. It is in no way a revolutionary movement, they do not seek to overthrow anything. They are an extremely diverse group of people who meet up to help, and who share the feeling that their government has failed them, and that the only help they will get is from themselves.
That feeling is not one I want to criticize.
The point is that if we are to portray the american dream one piece at a time, we need to stay true to the feelings that we meet, because these are a crucial factor in showing the hopes and visions that live so strongly in every citizen of this country.
You can disagree with dreams, but not with emotion, and in order to show the perceived we must stay true to the perceiving.
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