Value System Disorder

I just found a note on a peice of paper I'd written a while ago. I was cleaning my appartment and found some other notes that were junk so I threw them away. Most notes I've written are nonsensical and vague. I can't trace back what they meant or why I wrote them in the first place. But I did find one that meant something. It's always great to reinterpret something you wrote from a long time ago. I also found notes of things I nwated scattered throughout. I got everything I wanted for the most part -amazingly enough. I was like, "Wow I wasn'teven trying and I managed to get everything on this list". They were mostly movies and CDs. Anyways...

The note I found says:

Project Earth -Life Value Analysis

human development -genes, environment, disease, violence...

Economic System
failure, stratification, inequality, recession

Value System Disorder

"The dealiest form of violence is Poverty" - Gandhi

Global Debt Pyramid Scheme

Civil Unrest- Demand Change -Destruction- Time for Transition

I'm weird. <--- That wasn't on the note, I'm just acknowledging it.

Who writes random stuff like that? If you go through somebodies house I doubt yo would find anything like that note. I'm pretty sure the note was inspired by the Zeitgeist video I saw a while ago. It talked about human development and the economic system. Although some of its notions were pretty outlandish, they had a lot of good points. The one that stuck out to me was Value System Disorder.

I was walking past some appartments on the way to laundry and one home had a song playing on the radio with the lyrics, "I want to be a billionaire". As I kept walking the first thing that I thought was, Why? I've met rich people, they're not that exciting. Most have just as much issues as anybody. Few are completely satisfied with their lives. I saw a millionaire who complained about his daughter and about how he's always worried about her. Juan's not exactly broke ad he's always complaining about people quiting the business and not being able to see his kids when he has to work. A lot of rich people complain about having to exercise and stay fit. Being rich just gets you off the hook of complaining about money, it doesn't mean you no longer have any issues.

I remember 2 years ago when I was going on a field trip with some girls from the Biology class I was in. A blonde was driving her shiny red car really fast and blazing music on her radio. I thought I was going to die. I thought, What is wrong with this chick? She's crazy and reckless and dn't even bother to get dressed this morning -she just threw her hair in a bun and grabbed some jeans and a sweat shirt. And why is she wearing sunglasses, it's foggy outside. Oh my godzilla...

Then I listened to the song that was slamming against my ears. It was catchy, but I'd never heard it before. It was MGMT "Time To Pretend":

I'm Feelin rough I'm Feelin raw I'm in the prime of my life.
Let's make some music make some money find some models for wives.
I'll move to Paris, shoot some heroin and fuck with the stars.
You man the island and the cocaine and the elegant cars.

This is our decision to live fast and die young.
We've got the vision, now let's have some fun.
Yeah it's overwhelming, but what else can we do?
Get jobs in offices and wake up for the morning commute?

Forget about our mothers and our friends.
We were fated to pretend.

I'll miss the playgrounds and the animals and digging up worms.
I'll miss the comfort of my mother and the weight of the world.
I'll miss my sister, miss my father, miss my dog and my home.
Yeah I'll miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone.

But there is really nothing, nothing we can do.
Love must be forgotten. Life can always start up anew.
The models will have children, we'll get a divorce,
We'll find some more models, Everything must run its course.

We'll choke on our vomit and that will be the end.
We were fated to pretend.

Yeah yeah yeah


After I heard these lyrics I understood what this girl was up to. it actually kind of made sense. In her mind there were two options: Try and play along and "behave"like people expect you to and therefore not enjoy life; or don't care what people think and live however the hell you want to. (I actually thought the We'll choke on our vomit and that will be the end" was actually "We'll choke on Nirvana and that will be the end". I like my lyrics better.)

Bt hearing these words didn't make me believe in them. In the back of my mind I was thinking, Well yah we an throw everything out the window and not care about what happens, but that will only lead to chaos and emptiness. At the end we'll be on our knees in the dirt regretting everything. Giving up and throwing in the towel to enjoy self-destruction is easy and it will lead you to nothing. Actually striving to improve your life is hard and will lead you to everything. It's all about what you value.

If you value quick cash -work at a bar. If you value sex -date a prostitute. If you value travel -drive a truck. If you value partying all night -live at a dance club. If you value love -get married. If you value family -make one. If you value God -seek Him.

Whatever you value is what you'll spend our life chasing so you better make sure it's Worth it. Just because you "value" it doesn't mean it has real value in life. Living for yourself is selfish compared to living for a cause or for something greater in life. If somebody was to achieve the life sung about in "Time To Pretend", then what? So you've achieved all of that. Now what??? There's nowhere to go. It's just an endless cycle of drugs, money, and divorce. Then what? Death. Then what?...

If you value your life you'll add value to it by seeking things that actually have value in them. You should give and live to be greater than who you are. Always strive to do more and always strive to be more. Otherwise you'll be nothing, because that is what you value when nothing you want has value.