A Really Long-winded Rant on the Follies of American Culture

I'm so tired of so many aspects of this world/culture/society.  Our focus on unachievable perfection, our equivalence of money to happiness, our selfish disdain of others, our delusion that we are the best, our exploitation of others for personal gain, and our inability to drive or park a motor vehicle during any sort of precipitation (seriously, half the world needs to retake driver's ed!).  Trying to live here is exhausting.  We are always so focused on what is coming next that we forget to live in the present.  There is always something we can change or improve, we are never content.  Being content is interpreted as thinking you and/or your life is perfect, and that is arrogant.  Why can't women be proud of how they look, why can't someone do a job that they love in spite of low pay, why can't anyone not have plans?

As a society we are always moving, if you're not moving, you are lazy.  Why can't we just take a beat and be still.  What is so wrong with rest?  What is so wrong with wanting some down-time?  The answer, NOTHING!  Nothing is wrong with those things, SOCIETY is wrong.

The culture in which I live focuses on physical flaws, outward appearance, chasing perfection, money, pursuing a selfish form of "happiness," and being the best.  A lot of these things don't sound too bad, the pursuit of happiness is an American right, and there is nothing wrong with striving to be your best.  The problem comes from how our culture (especially the media) teaches us to interpret these things.  We are told that we deserve whatever happiness we desire, no matter the cost.  After all, you only live once, might as well enjoy it right?  We are also told that our best isn't enough, instead, we must be the best, we must be perfect.  This drive to be the best is called perfectionism, and perfectionism can cause a lot of problems in one's life.  There is no perfect life in reality, it is impossible.  We live in an imperfect world.  Instead of striving to be perfect, we should strive to learn as best we can when we inevitably make mistakes.  Mistakes and failures should not be synonymous.  Failure implies an end, mistakes should imply a new beginning, a change, or a lesson.  This culture needs to stop being so failure-phobic, it needs to stop ingraining perfectionism into its youth, and start teaching them how to learn.

One of the biggest problems with education in this country is that it focuses on test scores rather than actual learning.  All throughout my grade school "career" the only measure of my knowledge were test scores (and the occasional paper).  I was taught to take a test, to memorize facts in short-term storage so that I could spit them out at a later date and make my school look good.  Most of these tests were memorization/facts-based, very few of them actually asked me to apply what I had learned.  This style of teaching (which is not at all the teachers' faults) leads to HS graduates who can't write a research paper, create a proper citation, or think critically.  All they know how to do is memorize what has been handed to them by a teacher.  These students tend to struggle a lot in college, and often have to relearn how to learn.  As much as I hate learning about critical thinking, it is the most important skill a person can acquire, but I digress.

While I could be very knit-picky and go through every little thing that irritates me about society, I won't, because quite frankly I think I'd get tired of writing.  The biggest thing that annoys me about this culture, is that a person is never enough.  No matter what I do in life, society will always tell me I could be doing more.  No matter how I look, there will always be something I could change for the better.  No matter how much money I make, there is always a more profitable job to work towards.  We will spend our entire lives trying to be better than we are.  We are so incredibly focused on the future that the present ceases to matter.

Why can't who I am, and where I am in life simply be enough?

I personally struggle with being "enough" on a daily basis.  I always feel that I could be doing something more, or something better.  I am always second-guessing my decisions, which makes my life very stressful.  I never feel like I am doing enough in my life, and therefore live in a constant state of failure.  Luckily for me, I have an amazing faith that tells me I don't have to be enough, because Jesus has already been enough for me.  However, being submerged in a culture that constantly contradicts my beliefs makes remembering this very difficult.

In today's culture:

1. Premarital sex is normal
2. Children are raised by electronics (televisions, smartphones, and tablets have become the new babysitter)
3. Having faith is looked down upon, especially Christian faith
4. Violence is the answer
5. Money is the most important aspect of a job
6. You can never be too skinny or too rich
7. Reading books is for nerds
8. People can't complete full words (ex. totes, adorbs, probs, etc.)
9. Corporations own the government (white collar crime runs rampant)
10. No one knows how to drive or park a car    

And I could go on and on.  Strike that, I am going on and on.  Kudos to you if you're still reading, although you're probably going to be disappointed at the end...which is now.

Our culture is messed up, I don't know if there are any cultures that aren't messed up, but it is exhausting trying to live in this one.

Another thing our culture all to often instills in its participants is a feeling of entitlement.  A lot of people are growing up with the idea that they deserve certain things.  This idea leads to selfish, snobbish actions which tend to seriously piss me off.  This entitlement feeling goes right along with the idea that someone is better than someone else which is an -ism of some sort, racism, sexism, age-ism, weight-ism, etc.

Ok, this rant has gone on long enough.  The end.