“don’t pointless things have a place, too…”
“don’t pointless things have a place, too in this far-from-perfect world?”
- Haruki Murakami
photo by Arnold Genthe (1915)
I have a confession to make. I have been so immersed in the news these days. Remember my past blogs (specifically the 2020 blogs), where I was boycotting the news because, well…. 2020! It’s weird because it’s toxic and I hate it but it’s gripping and I love it. I actually look forward to watching the news and I also kind of have to on certain days for a Journalism class I’m taking but still. I’m telling you this because I think for obvious reasons, the past couple of months have successfully led us all to be glued to various news forms. The news is ubiquitous, it’s stuck on repeat in seemingly permanent notifications that creep its way to our devices, it’s sophisticatedly and often implicitly stamped in pretty much all social media forms. One of the reasons I started TheOtherDreamer was because I knew of the sensationalism, exploitation, and extrapolation of the sometimes slightly odd and negative stories plastered on the news. No matter how hard it may be, we have to also remember the things that make life worth living, and someone has to highlight this latter detail.
It’s the compelling narratives, the headlines, the blatant mockery, and oftentimes hypocrisy. Something about it has us excitedly and unabashedly wanting more. They talk about ‘big things’ so it must be important. Truth is, we like important things, we also are very much in love with knowledge - there’s a constant hunger for it, whether we like it or not. What I’m reminding myself and all of you reading this blog today, is that we know when it’s time to take a break from something and it's okay to do so. So much is happening in our world (as it always is, tbh) but it’s probably not the best idea to let the macro aspect of life consistently overshadow the micro.
‘Pointless’ things are what we ignore because we see them every day or too infrequently. These are the experiences that can never be described on the news or fully be explained in photos shared on the internet. ‘Pointless’ things may be dancing for no reason in the middle of a semi-empty beach just to taste the bits of freedom that we so willfully crave and have a dreadful time ignoring due to the busyness of our daily lives. The thing is, if busyness is all there is, then where are we supposed to assign time to the ‘living’ part of life? They say don’t do things that are pointless or meaningless as it is a waste of time. They also say it’s good to enjoy yourself, but not too much; it’s good to work hard but don’t overwork - all this while they constantly remind you that you have one life to live. At what point do re-define ‘pointless’ and create time to do things that equate to joyous and things that aren’t as ‘big’ as we believe the ‘important’ things are?
