Blog on de Zengotita

Is everything that we do routine? Have we become numb to what goes on around us? Do we see the simple things and how they affect us each day?

De Zengotita writes on how our culture as anesthetic.He states on page 37, " Accidental places are the only places left. That why a weeks out in nature doesn't make it anymore...You won't see wolves, you'll see "wolves". You'll be murmuring to yourself, at some level, "wow, look, a real wolf, not in a cage, not on TV, I cant believe it."

This is an example of how real life can become routine to us. We are distracted by media on how events are supposed to be carried out, such as camping. When this happens we ponder on how media showed us how a situation is supposed to look, feel, and act like without us having a direct experience. We have these expectations that we are supposed to have met but they cannot be real. The only time we are experiencing real situations is if it is an accident.

On page 36 he states, "On the contrary, you are moved, often deeply, very frequently- never more so, than when you saw the footage of the towers coming down on 9/11...Spirtual numbness guarantees that your relations with the moving will pass."This is another example of how these horrific events can affect us and media brings fear into our lives to keep out attention. Yet, we are finding ourselves in "spiritual numbness" within because these things happen all of the time and we as humans let these things affect us and then we move on. The fact of the matter is that we have our own lives and we must go on.The third point is when he states on page 38 when he states, "the numbness of busyness works on teh same principle, but it relies upon its agents to abide by an agreement they must keep secret, even from themselves. The agreement is this: we will so conduct ourselves that everything becomes an emergency."How hard it is for each person to slow down and appreciate life? Do we have such crammed lives that we do not take a breath and live the way we wish to. It just seems as if we put ourselves in busy lives so that we can become numb to what we should or could be doing with it.Each of these three quotes do suggest how I agree with the author and how he does make sense about our numbness to society and our lives. Yet, I believe that we have a choice either to appreciate what we have and live a life for a purpose or not. Media can affect you, but the bottom line is whether or not you have control on how you want to live your life and for whom.