on honoring logically

In one model of the universe, a person is continuously and perpetually judged by That Which Cannot Be Named on the level of respect shown not to other humans who are powerful but to those who are powerless. Society gives judges and police officers, for example, the power to take away a person’s liberty and life, respectively. Food service workers and small children, on the other hand, enjoy no such or similar rights and privileges.

Mocking or ridiculing a judge or police officer will have immediate, negative, and possibly deadly temporal consequences to one’s liberty and life, whereas doing the same to a fast-food cashier or stray orphan will likely not. Within the framework of this dichotomy, one enforced by a threat of bodily harm that is approved by society at large, the former expect to be respected but the latter do not. Fry-cooks and babies generally don’t go hunting for someone they perceive as having wronged them; judges and police officers do.

Armed with the knowledge that it is vastly more beneficial for one’s karma to shower great respect on helpless kids and little respect on mighty officials, a person can choose to drastically reduce the level of respect shown to the powerful and drastically increase the compassion, love, and patience shown to the powerless. Consequently, it is acceptable to completely ignore police officers (unless forced to do otherwise), to educate oneself about exactly when and when not it is recommended to speak to them, and to find legal ways to hold them to task (without mercy) when they operate outside of their rights or violate their sworn oath.

In short, treat those whom society gives the least power as if they were a cherished friend, beloved parent, or favorite sibling. The rewards outweigh the risks.

americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan

on surfing's anarchism

At its root, anarchism is the absence of rulers, not rules. If everyone were to abide by the agreed-upon codes of conduct, everyone would be able to live in happiness, liberty, and peace. This is especially relevant out in the churning swells; surfing is essentially an anarchistic activity. There are no police, no time keepers, and no crossing guards, wherefore it is necessary for everyone trying to catch waves to act honorably and with due consideration for all the other people risking their fragile health and spending their precious time trying to float across the face of a piling heap of water.

Some people are better surfers than others, and therefore believe they are for some reason entitled to a greater share of waves. This is a spurious notion. Since they can better read the waves and keep themselves in the correct position for riding them, they tend to charge on every arriving peak, regardless of how many waves they've already ridden and how long every other salty soul has been waiting. Plus, they tend to drag themselves past the other people inching toward the peak and put themselves at the front (this is called snaking) instead of displaying a modicum of self-respect and putting themselves at the back, there to wait their turn. Without honor, without patience, without generosity, the act of surfing degenerates into an ego-boosting pissing contest that frequently ends in vocal or physical violence, externalized aggression, and general sadness (for everyone but the snake). Outside of an official competition, there is no justification for stealing others' sea-time by jumping to the front of a line of surfers, every time. Just as today's consumption-oriented capitalistic system encourages the individual to grab as much shit as he can without regard for and often at the expense of the rights and desires of the people around him, consumption-oriented surfing – that is, paddling out just to shred as many waves as possible in the shortest amount of time without giving a floating fuck about the others guys out there too – taints the majesty of the shared experience called surfing, reducing it to something akin to masturbating in public.

There are few conditions as pitiable as greed, few traits as undesirable as blind self service. Without a healthy respect for community and the notion that we're all in this together and none of us is getting out of here alive, a person tends to get wrapped up in what is going on inside his head-space, believe what his ego is telling him, and lose his connection to the less tangible things in life – honor, giving, sharing, and joy. The sea is always a dangerous place, rain or shine, and a person knocked unconscious has but a few score seconds to live. Here, in Bali, there are not many lifeguards; a surfer must rely on the other people bobbing in the brine to save his ass if things turn south. Hence, it helps to make and keep as many friends as possible out there, to display poise and self restraint, and to conduct oneself in a manner respectful of everyone else's time and right to exist. For many people, happiness means the absence of suffering; if everyone were to follow a few simple surfing rules (wait your turn, keep hold of your board, don't snake, don't paddle into a breaking face if others are trying to jump on it), the beautiful justice of anarchy could truly work, at least out at sea, everyone going home having happily ridden a few. In one model of the Universe, the person who gives the most receives the most; give way, give thanks, and receive the ultimate gift – love.

© americanifesto / 場黑麥

on signaling turns & lane changes

As one who velocipedes in a rural area, a town not at all designed with bicyclists in mind, I find myself adhering more strictly to the rules of the road than most of the automobile drivers with whom I share it. While I admit to running the occasional stop-sign – when no one else is within my fields of vision – and while I flagrantly violate the local law that states that pedal-mashers must ride on, of all places, the sidewalk (which is, one would think, intended only for foot-bound pedestrian traffic), I follow the law in one instance more than most others: signaling turns and lane changes.

Signaling one's lane changes and turns indicates a number of things. First, and foremost, it is a courtesy to the other drivers, a simple yet effective way to let them know that their location is known, that their existence on the road has been noted, and that the person making the lane change will do so, if at all possible, without slamming into any other cars that happen to be in his or her vicinity. Second, it gives the other persons on the road some small bit of warning that one's conveyance is about to undergo a series of sudden and likely violent maneuvers intended to change its direction and that of the people riding within or on top of it. Third, and perhaps most importantly, it shows that, as someone operating a vehicle on the road, one has one's shit together to the point that one knows just which route to take to get to where one am going, that one is taking the most direct and efficient path toward one's goal, and that one is paying attention to what is going on on the road rather than browsing the interwebs or clicking through a friend's tropical vacation pictures on facebook.

If you, dear friend, like to prove your worth to society at large, if you strive to be respectful not only of the property but also of the opinions of others, if you think that America would be a better place if everyone simply respected the life-threateningly dangerous activity that we call driving, please consider signaling your own lane changes, turns, and merges – every time and everywhere – even if it does not appear that anyone else is around who might benefit from such courtesy. With a bit of concerted effort, and a simple flick of the wrist, we can, each one of us, help to make this nation a better place for all who live here. Thanks, and mahalo.

場黑麥 menterefecterem fecit