This is an informal essay I wrote this year. Hope you enjoy.
Become Gookish
My father owns a company. He is the president of an industrial air-compressor manufacturer run in Barrie, Ontario, that supplies large portions of Canada, and some reaches of the U.S. with quality machines. His business is doing well. I guess there is a substantial consumer market out there for super-powered leaf blowers. I understand that the air-compressors power factories, hospitals, and well, other machines. What I do not understand is, why? Why must the forty employees of my father’s company come into work every day in a noisy factory? “Well, that’s easy they need to make money.” Why? I’d ask again, and receive the blatant answer that they need to pay for food and shelter. But why? They are obviously handy people; could they not manage these things themselves? “This is how the world works, Mr. Greenough get used to it.” I am used to it. We all are, and I think that’s the problem. The entire economic and materialistic system is extravagant. I think things could be simpler, and for a lot of us, it would be healthier.
Douglas Gook, my uncle, lives simply. He exists in a joyous realm, overshadowed by our own, guided by straightforward beliefs: find a home, cultivate food, and travel. With these three principles at heart, I see the coolest, happiest, most peaceful dude lead a fulfilling life. He runs a farm that produces fruit, vegetables, and honey. He sells what he grows to markets and spends his time hunting for chunks of a specific fungi, Chaga, which he also sells for a surprising $50 per pound. The man eats every meal with his wooden chopsticks and always licks his plate clean. He is not a hippie; he’s too old for that title, and it doesn't suit him — no, he is a Gook. He is 6’5” and rocks a tight braid down to his mid-back. He pees in nature and does not own a cell phone or car. Like every spiritual person, he doesn't eat meat (he’s a pescetarian), and music is a simple pleasure. He plays an instrument called a jaw-harp. Picture a small metal key that you bite down on, which produces a sound comparable to a didgeridoo. I do not know if was part of his selection, or a beautiful coincidence, but my Aunt (actual blood relative) that he has married, is a flight attendant. Gook travels frequently and usually freely. Being directly related has its perks, and my uncle takes full advantage. (Side note to how my aunt and uncle met — it was on a nude beach.)
We worry about bills, jobs, gas prices, and stock trends because that is the system in place. I’m not saying let’s collapse it and all join a commune. I’m also not claiming to know an extensive amount about consumerism and the free market, industrial world. But I do know we could live in a way that is more rewarding and beneficial to ourselves, that still impacts our society in the same, cog-in-the-machine way we do now. Explicitly, our current concept of a commendable life is too complex, and ultimately unsustainable.
My father expands his company deeper into the United States, and my uncle expands his horizons as he travels to Barbados for the first time. I worry about the fluctuation in my stock investments while Gook pockets the $12 from selling a tub of his honey. As we are promoted in our jobs, and bestowed the bonus of working longer hours, my uncle receives another llama at his farm. We envy our neighbour’s new home entertainment system, but should be green with jealousy when hearing Gook describe the first skate on Dragon Lake. A place where the ice is so smooth that you can glide hundreds of meters off a single carve, and so clear that you can chase the fish dancing below you, while skating laps on the transcendent, crystal platform.
426 000 cell phones are retired in the U.S. every day (Bourne). This is similar to the entire population of Halifax throwing out their old phones and getting a new one, everyday. It is said though, that this consumerism drives growth — that we wouldn't be where we are today without the competitive market. Many think that this history of buying and selling in a redundant cycle has brought us to the first world. I received a new phone last Christmas. My previous one did not break or get lost. I did not grow because of this consumer act. I just produced waste that will add to problems of the future. My uncle is selling the hula-hoops he has made by hand at a festival, but we are getting road rage in traffic because we have a car in the first place, in these foolish, two step situations. Situations where the dilemma we are faced with is caused by a selfish decision we had already made. It is messy, fruitless, and not a way of living that our families can continue, or at least shouldn’t want to.
The saying goes that “Ignorance is Bliss”. My uncle is not ignorant of the mess, but simply chooses to live free from it. Something can be learnt from his bohemian ways, and maybe if we became more Gookish, we could swim in the bliss as well.
You're welcome,
B.F. Greenough, aka,
Chief Hanky, Thought Thinker
