On Following Mouse from Reed........
Submitted by SwimmersSong on Wed, 04/16/2008 - 5:24pmHello-
New to Icarus. I am very pleasantly astonished to find this precious community of minds! 100% agreement with Mouse from Reed about the perils of navigating society with any sort of thinking other than the sanctioned role models provided. But, in today's world, preserving independence of thought is more important than ever before- the ability to step outside the thinking norm, with all the anxiety and other potential issues that may bring. Fresh ideas, insight and inspiration are how we as humans will arrive at the very solutions, the new perspectives required for our future survival.
At times the path can seem lonely, perhaps scary and confusing, especially when environmental stressors are part of the equation. I wish there had been a group, as described by Mouse, meeting at Reed when I was a student, many years ago. It would have been nice to have a place and time set aside just to share with others; to share with people open to developing another view of emotional, brain wellness, rather than to constantly feel a need to cloak my fragile side. However, I have a good feeling knowing such a positive group exits on campus now. Reed is just the most wonderful place for such new thinking to flourish!
welcome!
hi, swimmersong,
so i take it you used to be a reedie? at our first meeting last november or so, one icarista said something very interesting as we were talking about our mission: "why isn't every student in here?" i mean, the school demands that you keep your social life in the margins and stay up for days doing work, but provides very few outlets for people to cope with stress without drugs (prescribed or recreationally). isn't that strange? i don't know how it was while you were here, but it doesn't seem like a healthy recipe to me... but at the same time, you're spot-on about kids "thinking outside of the norm" here.
sometimes i wonder if that's it's own kind of conformity, though... are people allowed to think inside the norm if that's their informed choice, or would they be ostracized?
at any rate, i wanted to thank you for your words. welcome to the site & i hope we hear more from you!
in mad solidarity,
mouse