Et in Arcadia Ego

You can't take it with you. You can't.  The stuff, the money, the junk, even the treasures... none of it goes with us. Wherever we go--not the point. The point is we have to do the best we can in this life... because none of it comes with us in the next. What remains, however, is the impression we make on other people. In art history, when we purposefully remind ourselves that life is fleeting, we call it a momento mori, a reminder of death. By reminding ourselves of death--we come to realize the true value of life. Also, we realize that through things like art--life can never die.

For a visual reference to this, check out this painting by Poussin :

These are shepherds, in Arcadia (ancient Greek shepherd paradise--more or less), and they come upon a grave stone. The grave says, "Et in Arcadia ego", and it is a momento mori. The Latin means, "I too, am in paradise". The Greeks idealized Arcadia as a wonderful, idyllic, pastoral place. But the meaning here is that--even in Arcadia--death rules. However, by painting these shepherds--youth is preserved eternally through art. "I, death, am also in Arcadia".

The theme of this post comes from a conversation I had at work this week. When discussing a teacher I had had in high school who passed 2.5 years ago, I was overcome by tears. Not so much that he died--but that, in life, he did everything a person is supposed to do. Wonderful man, wonderful teacher, wonderful husband, wonderful father. Always willing to lend a hand. Always willing to help. Would give you the shirt off his back and then some. The kind of person we don't think really exists--the kind of person who is honestly just too good. But he was real alright, and I don't think I'll ever forget the various impressions he made on my life. When I was around 10, my two cousins (who were then ages 17 and 19) were in a terrible car accident. They were airlifted to a hospital about an hour away. The second this teacher (who also taught and coached my cousins) heard the news, he got in his car and drove the hospital. Pretending to be an uncle, he visited both my cousins and stayed at the hospital with them for 2 days. He was that kind of person.

So, the point? The point is that the stuff, the ipods and iphones and blenders and tvs and watches and shoes and golf clubs... at the end of the day none of it even remotely matters. It's almost comical how little it matters in the end. In the end, whenever that end may be, we are remembered by the human connections we make in this life. No one ever said, "Oh, that Joe, he had a really beautiful watch, shame he's dead". I can't express the shockwaves that this teachers death sent throughout the community--but in retrospect, it just shows what an impact he had on this community. His impact lives on with his children, his students, and all the athletes he coached. He may not have lived long--but there was endless live in his years--and that's another theme of this weeks challenges.

Challenge 21 : Make connections in your local community. This summer, I discovered the value and joy of a farmers market. I loved it so much I signed up for an organic CSA box for the winter. So, I urge you all to do the same. I'm not saying get a CSA share, I'm just saying get to know the people around you who feed you. Farmers, small farmers, feed cities. Massive agriculture conglomerates who run on slave illegal labor--they do not feed cities. They provide pesticide exposure--that's what they do. The rate of cancer, ADHD, lung problems, heart problems, pain problems, and endless other maladies have been linked to pesticide exposure. Not to mention the disgusting environmental destruction in the form of run-off and forest destruction that large scale commercial agriculture can cause. For information on the link between pesticides and... well death and disease, check out here http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=farm-pesticides-linked-to-skin-cancer and here http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/farm-pesticides-linked-to-deadly-skin-cancer. Or you can google 'cancer' and 'pesticides' and watch the million hits that show up. So the challenge this week is to locate your local, and preferably organic farmer. They don't have to be 'certified' organic--but the point is that when I can talk to the person growing my food--I get the straight story. The story that I am entitled too. Often the case is that farmers use no pesticides, herbicides or fungacides, but the price of being organic is simply too high for local farmers. So they are organically grown foods, but they aren't certified. Just get the straight story. To find out where there is local food near you, check out: http://www.localharvest.org/(for the US) and http://www.localharvest.ca/ (for Canadaland)

Challenge 22: Be the change you wish to see in the world. Now, now, I know you saw this coming, but the second challenge is about #OccupyWallstreet. People are rising up. As they fucking should. Now, I'm not asking you to go out there and join the protest in person (but if you did you'd be my hero forever). What I'm asking is that you get informed on the issue. Read and discover why people are pissed, why they are protesting, and why the #OccupyWallStreet movement is linked very closely with the climate movement. At one point during this week, Bill Mckibben (Climate Change GOD, seriously if I ever met him I'd fangirl scream and pass out) made a passionate speech that (when I watched it later) reduced me almost to tears. "Exxon doesn't own the sky"-- was probably my favorite line. So, the challenge is to check it out, to realize how the banking and financial system has been actually fucking us illegally for years and years. It has come to the point where it cannot stand anymore. Somebody is finally taking a stand. Somebody is finally saying--enough.
Why you should be pissed off:
www.treehugger.com/files/2011/10/henry-blodget-explains-real-reasons-behind-occupations.php

Bill Mckibben's Words at #OWS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13S5uqPLJUk&noredirect=1

Proof that people all over the US are fucking pissed off: http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/10/occupy-wall-street-protest-map

And some #OWS lolz: http://www.someecards.com/columbus-day-cards/occupy-wall-street-america-columbus-day-funny-ecard


Be a memorable person. Be an informed person. Be a person who will be remembered for what they did for their family, community, and the planet. because in the end-- all people will have of us are memories of our actions.

Ps. Sorry for the history lesson/personal history in this one--but necessary is necessary. 

<3 ManicPanic