Mustachios!

Dear Jade,

Way to see the silver lining! I hope this blog will be of aid to you as you dedicate yourself to the testing lifestyle of the true procrastinator.

For Secret Santa this year, I was thrilled to receive a box of moustache band-aids. Now, if I ever cut my upper lip in some obscure accident, I’ll have the perfect remedy. I think I look quite dashing with facial hair.

                   

Although peeling them off is no walk in the park. 

I’ve been thinking lately about your admirable decision to become a pescetarian and wondering what I can change about myself to live in a way that is more commensurate with my values. Every day of my liberal arts education, I become more aware of the destructive consequences of unfettered consumerism. A year and a half in, I can no longer pretend that my clothes, my electronics, and my food do not have human and environmental costs.

But with all the problems in the world, it seems impossible not to contribute to them without adopting a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, which I am neither rugged nor insane enough to attempt.

So, how to go about decreasing world-shitiness? A question worth pondering, I think.

Is it better to reduce your footprint by rejecting societal norms and leading a subversive, hippy-esque lifestyle? Or is it better to tacitly support a destructive system in order to become a respected businessman, lawyer, or journalist, at which point you can fight for your cause and others will actually listen?

And then there’s the question of doing something that you actually like--something that makes you happy without decreasing the happiness of countless others.

Or maybe I just need to focus on getting a job and making enough money to sustain myself before I start contemplating such lofty matters.

Hmm.

Jade, let me know if you ever want to run off and become a hippy.

Love,

Cindy