Yesterday I watched a movie called Revolutionary Road. It is a film based in the 1950's, which tells the story of a young couple that settles down, buys a house, has kids and starts living the cookie cutter suburban lifestyle that America is known for. They experience a mid-life crisis and feel the urge to drop everything, move to Paris and escape from the "hopeless emptiness" that life has become. They want to really live. In the end, their dream doesn't work out, sadly. Though this movie did not thoroughly "wow" me, it was a very good representation of how I often feel about life.
We all seem to get sucked into this dilusional lifestyle and become worker bees, drones if you will. In a sort of trance, we get into a routine- Wake up, shower, eat breakfast, go to work, mindlessly go through our duties that we secretly hate and thank god for a lunch break, go home, eat dinner, watch TV, go to bed & do it all again in the morning. Is this what life has become- an endless cycle of dullness? Each weekend is a relief and the one possible vacation we might earn each year is our "escape"? Shouldn't we be living each day truly happily? Why can't our daily life be one big vacation? It all comes down to the dollar.
America is a machine. It raises kids, urges them to go to college when they don't even know what they want to do, puts them in debt and spits them out in the work force. Our capitalist society has trapped us. We must work to earn money, to pay bills, to survive and live comfortably. This often means living paycheck to paycheck, hardly ever saving and never really getting ahead in life. It's heartbreaking. We are forced to work at jobs we don't like, because it puts food on the table, a roof over our heads and a bed to sleep on. And often the harder you work, the more responsiblities you get, and the less time you have for a life outside of the office.
Something is wrong here. I know there are cultures that don't live as Americans. It's different in Europe. Italians go to work for a couple hours, take a big long lunch break to enjoy their delicious food and wine, and then go back to work a bit, or take a nap, who cares? Life is more laid back, more enjoyable and less stressful. This is a reverse thinking. It is when people focus on living life to the fullest, rather than working away their lives. Money is not the key element, happiness is. I want to live like them. I want to love every single day, let the stress melt away and stop worrying about life's burdens. I want to live in Italy!!! Join me? ;)
