Capitalism Stole My Virginity

It just hit me… like a stack of bricks, really.

I’m standing up here on my balcony, letting my thoughts hang in the wind, and then it just hits me.

I’ve been violated.

You’ve been violated.

We’ve all been violated.

Capitalism has stolen our virginity.

Draw in a deep breath. Close your eyes. Take a stroll with me down memory lane. Do you remember being 5? Not a care on the world, jumping from tree to tree, letting your imagination literally run away with you…that was the life wasn’t it?

Memories. Like footprints in the sand. You should be careful not to let the tides of time wash up all of them.

It all seemed just like it was yesterday. We were all so innocent. Getting into trouble with teachers. Sitting in detention. Nap time. Snack time. “Cooties”. Your first crush…your first crush on a teacher. The excitement of getting your first hand-written letter. Getting away with anything and everything at all, yet too young to understand that you can get away with murder, if you’re cute enough. Picture day…the barely combed hair; the clip-on ties. The dashingly innocent smiles and the big eyes that can light up the world.

Ah, yes. Life was so simple back then.

We did not pre-judge. We used to share. There was no back-stabbing or gossiping. Our opinions were our own. There was no such thing as class or race or gender or anything. We were just…free.

And, Oh! The games! How could I forget the games?! Recess. Playtime. The bruises, scabs and scraped knees. The grass stains on your uniform. Hide and go seek. Cops and robbers. Dodge ball. Tag. Kickball. Simon Says. Hopscotch. Wall-ball. Marbles. Not to mention the countless games that we made up as we went along… games where everyone had there turn to be a star on any given day.

But alas. Those days are gone. Paradise lost. Innocence forgotten. I would give anything to return to those years, to play those games once again, to receive another hand-written letter.

The scariest part of it all is that our kids will never experience what we did.

Never.

Lost are those days for us and for generations of kickball stars to come. Lost is their imagination and their creativity…

All at the hands of evil technology and “globalization”. All at the hands of the green-eyed capitalist.

Now they will be playing Sony Playstations and surfing the internet. Now they will receive emails and mass forwards. Now they will depend on the T.V. to supply them with an imagination and a story, rather than live their own.

So sad, so sad.

Yet the battle is not over. Youth and the free-spirit cannot give in so easily to these greedy multinationals. For in these children and generations to come, is the chance to rekindle the human spirit – to rekindle our childhoods and pass the torch on to our kin.

Never allow the child inside you to die.

Never forget how to play your favorite games.

And most importantly, never, never deprive your children from the liberating experience you were lucky enough to experience.

Open their eyes as you re-open yours.

“The glamour of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast down in the flood of remembrance.”

-D.H. Lawrence

~ by Omar on February 11, 2008.