Since this is a literary magazine, it's supposed to
be original and creative, right? Well, I've certainly tried my best to
do both, but that's not really the point at hand.
Have you ever thought about how unoriginal we are
on a daily basis? Conversations, letters, essays, gestures, however you
communicate, you probably spend most of the time you communicate regurgitating
phrases you've read, heard or seen. We incorporate these things into our
psyche where they lie dormant until we need them. Here's a good example.
Try to describe an extremely hot or cold instance in your life. If you're
like most people, myself included, you probably started out using a cliche
or two, and even if you weren't that blatant, you probably repeated a phrase
you've heard before, even if you've only heard it once or twice. It's unbelieveable
how the bulk of communication between people (and people/sheep, etc, you
get the damn idea) is comprised of so much crap we've picked up. Said something
funny in front of a group of friends lately? It was probably something
you heard elsewhere. Made a good point in an argument recently? Yep, you
guessed it. Someone else deserves the glory.
The point I'm trying to make isn't the fact that we
as a society are so unoriginal, it's the fact that we can go through the
day-to-day grind and never realize it. Some things we do and say are intentional,
which is perfectly normal, but as for the rest of it, we are so deeply
submerged in our culture, counterculture, and "pop" culture, that we don't
seem to realize the difference.
