The Discovery of Culture

To be born a millennial puts you straightforwardly over a giant's shoulder. The problem is to be courageous enough to look the giant straight into his very eyes. But first, what do you see once the giant is taking you around? You see a nice village, usually buildings and amusing items already built for you to touch, use, buy and sell, once you get down from your upper position. The world over there does not seem to be hard to walk on. The roads as perfectly flat, wide and harder than a natural terrain. Even though the giant's pace makes comfortable your travel, there are vehicles running much faster, fly far away above the city, carrying humans along ways that don't lack pointers and signs directing you to a precise destination among the hectic urban atmosphere. You just can guess where everybody goes only stopped by the red lights at the corners. Anyhow, by learning you will soon do the same with your own feet or on wheels.

The world preexists any human being, no matter how ancient he might be, and how careful he might have been as to leave an inkling of his remote existence. Planet Earth lies slightly unmovable since human beings appeared on its face. We had to see far through the sky by special devices to notice the planet is moving regarding other celestial bodies, but not regarding ourselves. The moon and the sun are the only spheres whose movements can be detected in few minutes without any instruments. Our planet really feels steady. When it moves inappropriately, it shakes us violently and scares us a lot, because you do not expect it to do it. It should stay, while we move.

When a new baby comes to see our village, we have managed to arrange its future environment. But, what parents do is receive the inheritance of tradition and adapt it to the newcomer. We are familiar with the stores, hospitals, parks, streets, the people we will need to see in any circumstance. Parents use technology to orientate about any particular need, enquiry or curiosity in favor of the baby. People and institutions are usually supportive, even exhorted by laws. Millennials profit the advantage of a constructed world, the tailor-made human atmosphere in which to interact and grow up. That is an enormous advantage. Or, is it not?

How beneficial is it for a person to find the world already arranged, everything covered by a colorful coating, designed to make an impression of perfection, to prevent any further improvement, to prevent any observer from using his mind and hands to make something different? When you are a millennial inhabiting a crowded town, where your contribution will probably not change the achievement others appreciate, you become discouraged. And you want to sail with the current because it is so strong and apparently leading you to a sensible goal. Your voice seems not to add a chord to the chorus that started very long ago, and agreeably heard by millions around you and beyond the borders of the village you came to know.

Now, you are on surface, and the giant has walked away towards the woods. Now, you can talk to people, and hear through their voices that despite the easiness of life, they have suffered lots of unfair experiences. Life is hard over here. People gather in groups and against other groups. You may belong to one of them, and fight. You might not belong to any of them, and suffer the effect of the fighters anyway. Now that the world of humans is ready for you to live in, it is inhospitable. The world has preexisted them as well, but they feel it unsuitable. They want to change it, so as to feel at home, because they like you wanted to be welcomed, and to welcome others consequently.

Once you are capable of moving through this society, and take advantage of its favors, you discover that nothing that does not change dramatically can make you feel truly well and dignified. Has the world been made? It was not.

The period of being overwhelmed has finished. The misleading signs of a culture that was not initially the result of your hands' work have been spotted. You are not following the nicely straight roads leading you to where they want to. You have checked your demeanor. Your feet are yours, not the naive giant's ones, astonished by the strangeness of civilization. Your eyes are as close as your hands to the things, people and situations you come in contact with, not as the giant's eyes and hands detached from the ground just because he had never seen them. The flaws in the things you see, and the weaknesses your peers confess you, are evident to you. Life lasts not a very long time, and we ignore whether it will be sufficient time to make things better, at least in our neighborhood. Planet Earth can be considered either a station to rest or a destination to live in completely involved in the challenges it presents to us.

You need to create. The world's creation has not stopped. Nature, which is out of our cities, continues its task of preserving itself. Culture has been done but it needs to be enhanced. As a cultivated land, culture needs to be watered continuously by the strength of our spirit. Only humans can do that. Bears cannot improve woods, as these are fine for them. Humans need justice as well. We cannot live without it. And we can do a lot for it, and improve it. Humans are ants but with ideals, eagles with ideals, dolphins with ideals. Ideals are inclusive. It cannot be otherwise. We need justice, but we see that other people need it too. Anything we do for justice will benefit you and them altogether.

When you check your mail, your posts, or simply browse anywhere in the web, try to see that it is only apparent that everything has been done properly. It has not. Check it again. Discover the spirit, the intention of every source and cultural item. Are you taken seriously into account or used as a means to somebody else's profit exclusively? Discover the culture through what each of us is saying really. Unpack the message. Maybe you should discard it for good. Spot arrogance and walk away from it. Construct something genuine to be shared with others. The bushes of civilization must not shadow ideals. It is hard to find valuable things. They are mixed up with worthless things, which blind you first. You are being sold the worst in that case. Look for the great. Maybe the great is not anywhere at all. That means you can contribute to create it. Only the great human can create a great thing. Dare to be one of them. Go forward. You will discover the very essence of culture. You will be thankful for its goodness. You will make it different if it is lacking worth.

The bushes of civilization must not shadow ideals.