Saturday, September 26, 2009



I am sitting across from a group of newly hired employees at a local Tim Hortons. They are having their orientation and I am cringing for them. I hear the manager rattling off company policies and procedures that are in the league of the CIA. She informs them that there are “cameras everywhere in here” and that she can even watch them from the comfort of her own home, hyping it up saying how she called the shop late at night one time to tell the kid working the counter to tuck his shirt in.


She needs them to sign their background check forms, in case there are any known bagel thieves on her hands, and in an odd twist I hear everyone answering about what kind of belly button they have.


They are given their uniform, so that they fit into the kitsch of the corporate world and she dismisses them.


How easy is it for us to lose identity?


We are confronted over and over again of images of how things should be, the velvet curtain is pulled shut as the chaos and beauty and conflict of life is going on behind the scenes. We too often live as we are told, think thoughts we are bred to think, Spew out words that are only pleasing to the ones hearing them, and form this identity that is not us, but is what we are because of the influence of the fast, and “correct” world that we live in.


How easy is it for us to just go along with things and not questions why?


We didn’t stop questioning when we were 3 years old, so why are we doing it now? Over and over again children are relentless with getting to the facts. Maybe at this age we won’t be asking “why is the sky blue?” but we should definitely be asking questions until we feel satisfied with why we do things the way we do, why we believe the things that we do.


Life is a constant project of finding out who you are and relishing in it and sharing it with others.


That's all for now. Shalom xo

No comments:

Post a Comment