Village of the lost
By Caitlin Berry
We’re taking off for Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, and Adventureland combined. That’s the way it seems when we smoke a joint, intoxicated with low-grade marijuana, our youth, and possibility.
In our attempt to achieve the “perfect society” where everyone is happy we have failed to realize that happiness means something different for everyone and that severe contradiction will destroy a so called “perfect society.” Webster’s dictionary defines Utopia as, “An ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects.” A Utopia is a society perfect in every way for everyone. In the real world we must endure many hardships: disease, poverty, violence, natural disasters, and so on. In an effort to put an end to all of these detriments to existence people strive to create Utopias.
If I had the opportunity to create my own Utopia, it wouldn’t stretch much further from the sustainable community life found at Green Mountain College. My values lie in the moral fiber that encompasses the passion of people. The idea of trust reigns big in my heart coupled with sincerity amongst all relations, which supersedes any amount of money I could be making out in the real world. I would like to recreate an atmosphere that lingers the paths of this college. The idea of infinite possibility in every segment of 24 hours passing sounds like a big enough living standard to me.
A year ago in a class of mine two visitors, Jeremiah and Shoshanna, visited from Twelve Tribes, a commune in Rutland, and they introduced many aspects of their lifestyle that I can fully see incorporating into my society. Jeremiah said, “Join a community if you want to know what you’re made of.” He’s right, I’ve been a part of many different communities and the ability to work with others and share ideas with others gives me a grave feeling of personal success in my abilities to communicate. For now I have not decided a location for my commune, but I can imagine a place such as North Carolina on the beach somewhere. My goal is to create an ideal living ground for the possibility of a new intentional community.
As I’ve grown older, and expanded my relationships at GMC, I’ve come to terms with the fact that we are all going through the same pressures and have the same expectations and there is no reason not to admit weakness to anyone. With no real change on the continuation into the real world, I can only imagine our reservations and insecurities will follow us. Here at Green Mountain it’s easy to say everyone’s just a hippy, but in my eyes I’ve enjoyed the open-natured, charismatic personalities that make up this community life. No one takes anything that seriously, and in some regards I would love to be around those kind of people every day.I’m not trying to say I want to live with a bunch of bums, but I would love to surround myself with people open to change but content with simplicity.
While considering Green Mountain College and its petite size I’ve considered decentralization, keeping the numbers of my ideal society small to create the best possible opportunity for success. I feel like this is a good assumption seeing as I work well in smaller groups. In a more controlled group you can communicate better and accommodate individual needs more easily. I’d have to keep the size of my commune small, but most importantly comfortable. I also believe in a lower standard of living. This sounds like a good idea in some respects in regards to things I don’t think society really needs. But I don’t want to lose the idea of my own personal freedom. I’d like to keep the estate simple, and not cluttered with the reflection of the chaotic world we live in today.
The Twelve Tribes live each day the way they personally want within the guidelines of their values. They have the life of choice and of peace, and the preference to be connected to their leader. Religiously, I will accept anyone and their beliefs as long as they are willing to accept others. Potato, po-tah-to, I don’t care what flavor anyone loves, as long as they can love it with everyone else, and everyone else’s flavors. GMC is one giant banana split, and I hope most of us intending on graduating carry that ideal into the real cut throat world of today.
Inspirationally this utopia is my own idea, but I strongly do not want to be the dictator of a community. I’d like to share the responsibility with everyone on what happens with our community and when. I love the concept of working smart, and not working too hard. I would love to work a small amount during the day at something I’m good at or love, having extra time to focus on passions or hobbies. I’d encourage the musically talented to join my commune and organize weekly concerts where we could open with discussion on personal requests and feelings. Music is one of the most powerful means of communication. It explodes feelings into an aesthetic means of interpretation, and it brings everyone together in a non-threatening fashion.
Learning within my own environment seems smart and useful, the concept of becoming familiar with all of my surroundings and the people with me sounds like the most amazing family I could ever dream of. I’d hope that my community could efficiently work to successfully come together in a timely fashion, though constant reconstruction and gradual updating should be managed. I don’t horribly hate the world we live in today but it would be very cool to experience a life other than the one that currently prevails. With my own personal drive to surround myself with the companionship of sincere love I feel like this idea of my own community would work with the amount of communication I plan on encouraging.
Life is supposed to be what you make of it, and why should I make of it what society tells me to. I would jump at the idea of doing what made me happy all day. Like Jeremiah and Shoshanna said, “Take obstacles as they come, assign challenges to members who are willing to take them on, and avoid the illusion of social pressures.” It’s very easy to feel lost in the world, with no direction, and a weak connection, but everyone feels lost at one point or another and it’s important to find connections with people who can understand where you are coming from. My utopia is one giant village of lost souls that just want common companionship for the remaining years of our lives. Consider this while making friends at GMC, and while shamefully not considering others…A variety can successfully complete a banana split.
Short URL: http://www.themountaineer.org/?p=75
Posted by editor_news
on Apr 9, 2008 Filed under News.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
