h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Earlier today, I had to sit through an assembly (short, but still a waste of time) about our caps and gowns for graduation. I made the comment (jokingly) that I feel like just going in some casual clothes just to stick it to them.

Then came the blow-out with my mom, during which I began to think, "Wait, why shouldn't I be able to dress casually? Why should I have to pay for something unessential in the process of graduating with my class, and not have a say about it?"

The answer is of course, the school is getting kick-back from the company that supplies them.

My response: them! Why should I have to conform!? Why can't I graduate with my class as an individual, not some sort of mindless zombie who does shit without as much as a half of a thought? Am I the only one who agrees with the American ideal of freedom of choice?

My mom cited that "others ruined it for everyone else", and that "you don't get a choice in the real world."

Why? What the hell does the Establishment have against individualism? Why must they punish the free-thinkers? Has no one taken lessons from Plato and Socrates (aside from the free-thinkers who they bring the hammer against)? What ever happened to the decree, "The government that governs best is the government that governs not at all"?

Am I being unreasonable in my attempt to be an individual, or has mankind finally lost all hope?

Either way, I'm leaving "The Cave", and staying wayyyyyy the away from it, screw you guys (read: idiots in the cave, not people who know what I'm talking about), I'm going wherever the I feel.

CosmicDudeMan,

I was going to start out with, "My heart breaks, for you will never know the true joy of being a mindless drone." But that's probably a bit flippant. However the fact remains that you are not staying very close to the rest of the herd, and that makes some members of the herd very uncomfortable. A few members of the herd will trot after you and bleat at you to get back with the rest of the herd. You will have to decide for yourself which battles are important. But if it helps, I agree with your viewpoint.

Once upon a time, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was in high school, the big They insisted that I showed up for that assembly where we were supposed to get measured and order the cap and gown, so I went, but did not order the cap and gown. The big They stated that I wouldn't be permitted to walk unless I was in the cap and gown. So I said that I had no intention of walking. Then the big They said I wouldn't get my diploma. I said They owed me the diploma, and would They like a lawsuit over it. The big They said I had an attitude problem, and that I would have to wait until the ceremony was over, then pick my diploma up at the office during business hours the following school year. I said okay that's fine.

Then the big They made me really angry by trying to lay this huge guilt trip on me. They said I would regret my decision, that all of my friends were graduating at the same time and what would they think about me, that I was depriving my family and friends of celebrating my achievement, blah, blah, blah. It turned into a bit of a scene when I asked if attending the ceremony was required, and the big They were forced to admit it was not required but got very nasty with the personal comments and dire predictions about my life. The closing line was something very much like, "Someday, you're going to realize that these were the best days of your life, and you won't have a single thing to remind yourself of them, and you'll regret it." When my mom came home that night, I told her about the big scene, and she said she was fine with my decision, that I was not just a big girl, but a grown woman, and I could participate or not in whatever I saw fit.

I also did not show up to have my picture taken for the yearbook, did not buy the yearbook, did not buy the ugly and incredibly overpriced class ring, did not show up for the reunion. At the time, I thought all of these things were just there to squeeze money from us or our parents using a combination of peer pressure, guilt, and sentimentality.

And guess what? I've never regretted it. I've been having a full, somewhat unusual, yet very fun and adventurous life. For the record, I did get the cap and gown when I earned by bachelor's and again when I earned my master's. For the bachelor's, I tossed the cap in the air and donated the gown to a local community theater's costume closet (I knew the troupe's choreographer). For the master's, I still have both, but that's because the sleeves are really cool on the masters. Sometimes my teddy bear wears my master's cap. Oh, and most importantly, it turned out those weren't the best days of my life. These are.

Well I did get the overpriced class ring, and my mom made me get the yearbook (though I haven't gotten one my whole high-school career).

And I do plan on having college be the best years of my life, I won't be living with my mom, and if I've got a job I'll be able to do something else that I don't do enough of...

No, not that, I haven't done that yet, I do hope that will happen too though...

On a tangent, here's something about my alma mater - A29014102.

Have you had any thoughts about majors and such?

Something that could get me into a career where I get paid good money to sit in front of a computer screen all day. Something along the lines of programming or something like that.

Oh and how many of the references did you catch?

References? What references? You mean Plato's Allegory of the Cave? Or the mindless zombies from Dawn of the Dead?

The American ideal of freedom of choice is often cited by both sides in a debate. In this current election season, please email me a dollar for every time you hear a member of one of our two major parties insisting that the policies of his worthy opponent would limit our freedom of choice. You can post me 50 .

>>>My mom cited that "others ruined it for everyone else", and that "you don't get a choice in the real world." I respectfully have to disagree with the second statement. You do get a choice in the real world. Some choices have immediate consequences, other choices have consequences that are only seen after some time has passed, and some options are unavailable to some people. For example, let's say you make a relatively trivial choice, to stop at a major chain coffee shop and have a double caramel whippacino or some other beverage with a phony-baloney name. You spend $3.50. At the end of the year you will have spent over $1,200. Some people would argue you could do a lot better with that money, some would point out you could do worse.

Wasn't "The government that governs best is the government that governs not at all"? from Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, rather than an actual decree?

But on that point, yes, we have a right to our individual versions of civil disobedience, reference Bill of Rights and numerous U.S. Supreme Court rulings. But Thoreau sat in jail for his civil disobedience, so did Gandhi, so did Rosa Parks. The point is that each of these people picked a battle that was important to them personally and to society as a whole. Although I have to admit, that's quite a racket Jostens got going, but maybe there's a better way.

And on the "Am I being unreasonable in my attempt to be an individual, or has mankind finally lost all hope?" Oh, you got me there, is that the general malaise of the philosophy of Methodical Individualism?

You missed the South Park reference. But aside from that, yes.

Bummer. I don't watch South Park much, okay I've seen maybe one and part of another. In one the South Park kids had to forgo playing a video game in order to execute a military operation to rescue a sentient towel. In another I remember Tom Cruise was pouting in a closet because one of the South Park kids told him he was a terrible actor. Too bad that hasn't happened in RL. I can't tell you how unhappy I was about the movie version(s) of Mission Impossible. I had rather liked the TV show. Some things are better left alone.

Okay, if you tell me what episode or season I should add to my Netflix queue, I'll do it. Otherwise do have fun your senior HS year, and I'll see you on N3.

being in nz, my 7th form yearbook was free and we don't wear gowns to graduation from high school. Maybe you should just abandon america once and for all

Considered that, but I don't know about Canada, something about French being an official language...