blissfully ignorant
I miss the days when I could consume with only concern for my budget. When I thought not of climate change or foreign slave labor. When I thought not of imperialism or wars abroad. When I lived in a society, existing in a vast ocean beyond my control, beyond my influence. Where it was okay to do something as long as I could afford it.
I just lived, worked, played games, and did my thing.
I consume the news, I advocate regularly, I email my representatives, I recycle everything I can, I reduce waste, I repair, I try to maintain some privacy from our digital overlords.
I don't want to go back. But my life isn't better because I'm aware now. It's more stressful, more serious, more meaningful. Yet I still have very little power or influence. It's overwhelming.
I want that sense of calm back, that sense of peace. But I don't want to forget about the genocide in gaza, the oppression of black people, the oppression of women, the xenophobia, modern nazis, or the way my country subjugates foreign land so American businesses can profit, so American consumers can consume, blissfully ignorant of the violent paramilitary troops our banana company hired in South America.