I don't know why you say goodbye, I say HELLO.
What is this little thing called life? Why do I exist and is there any inherent purpose to these days and nights? Many people believe in an all-knowing, all-powerful God. We must follow His teachings and live our lives in accordance with Christ’s principles. If I believe in one discipline, it’s you’ve gotta be kind. Why do I need some mythological father figure to guide me in the right direction? Presupposing there is any such notion as a single correct path. Science theorizes there are multiple dimensions. Who’s to dictate path A is any more correct than path B? So long as path A is not harming anyone (including oneself) and maximizing all virtues, this path is suitable and good. Often I sit and meditate on the world around me. I find the abundance of stimuli to be overwhelming at times. In these occasions I find it helps to just close my eyes and relieve any anxieties or self-conscious thoughts by blocking out the world from my senses. Music is my religion, music the great uniter of the masses. It has been around since the Dawn of civilization and even before. Music will never die as long as there are people to create it. In the darkness, music brings light. So frequently in my life, I use music to the exclusion of everything else. Having friends is incredibly important to me, although the majority of the time I find myself alone in the middle of these four walls. The only thing separating me from the outside world is an inch of glass, windowpane. Environment is where my signals come from. Nature calls to me, the wind blows my body in some direction. I know not where I’m going to, often aimless and lost. All I have is a dream to one day reach where I’m going to. That place is Austin, TX.
Why Austin? Why not. I’ve been there on two separate occasions. I fell in love the first time and all over again the second. A primary reason is that my mother and brother live close to Austin, in Plano. Austin is also the Live music capital of the country. It’s Silicon Hills, which means a plethora of tech jobs and SXSW is a yearly event. It combines music, film and training, entrepreneur skills, etc. into one week-long extravaganza. Austin City Limits is yet another attraction, Live music public service, interviews, photography. The only hurdle standing in my way to happiness and success is college graduation. I know I’m meant for something greater than what I’m doing and living right now. I can see the Sun rising on the horizon. I want to reach out and grab it, but I know I’ll get burned. After five years plus community college, my graduation into the real world of success and plenty is just a stone’s throw away; palpable. I know I can use my skills in a way that is both valuable and rewarding. However, I must continually inquire of myself, search deep within my soul, what the key to happiness is. I know for a fact it is not monetary wealth and although it would be helpful and all, it will never be my ultimate goal in this life. I want to do something humanitarian. My thoughts again and again return to alternative, renewable energy. We live on this beautiful blue sphere floating in space, we are the only civilized life in the known galaxy and yet we are destroying the very source of life, Mother Earth. Why can’t we use our neighboring star, the huge gas giant we call “the Sun” to sustain our livelihood on this Earth? We have the technology, we just need to make a change in policy and start using it, transition to solar cells, phase out dirty coal and nuclear power. The Sun produces a gazillion Terrawatts of power every day! We only need a tiny fraction to survive and live well. How about we reshift our emphasis in “Which celebrity is dating who?”, “Have you heard the new Justin Bieber single?”, “Did you see the Buckeyes game last night?”, all these trivial pursuits that don’t amount to shit in the grand scheme of things, mental masturbation, to “What have you done improve the wellbeing of people and, by extension, the planet today?”, “Did you have an original idea?”, “Did you help your fellow man or woman today?”, “Did you sit around thinking?” We need a radical shift in our priorities. The media is keeping us sedated with dumb, useless nonsense and we’re too blinded by all the propaganda to see we’re just pawns on the chessboard. Sooner or later there’s gonna be a checkmate and hopefully it will be our side, the winning side, the side that helps the commoner, the lover and the fighter, but he fights for what is just and proper. He’s not concerned with who caused the problem, only how to fix it! The people, united, will never be divided! Let it ring loud and true throughout the land!
Sincerely, Mike Holp