Don’t put your root down, no matter what the Beastie Boys say.
In my experience (three words that should never be uttered by any rational human, but there you have it), the best source for speculation on contemporaneity are conversations with older people who have been unable to adapt to the massive social changes human relations have undergone in the last twenty years.
The only thing better than that is to overhear the aforementioned older people and quietly judge them. When there’s no feedback, absurd theories thrive unchecked. I recently overheard a discussion (between two 60-somethings) about how constantly moving is terrible for children, because it ruins their chances of establishing meaningful human relationships and effectively setting down roots somewhere. They were proud to have settled down as soon as their children were born.
I quietly loathed them, and felt terribly sorry for their children (now adults, most likely), who are probably out there somewhere believing that the city they were born and grew up in is the center of the universe. It got me to thinking, who the fuck needs to have strong roots anywhere?
The concept of roots is thankfully giving way to networks. We are constantly connected to nearly everyone we know, through social networking websites, instant messaging, email. A few decades ago, I might have never heard from the friends I made in Germany again, which would have been an awful shame. Imagine investing a ton of emotional energy into delightful people over the course of a few years, and then suddenly being cut off and getting a Christmas card for a few years and then nothing?
Since the need for firm roots has gone the way of Infoseek, I know that a friend in New York is struggling to find happiness despite problems with her ex, I know which former work colleagues from my thankfully gone advertising days have switched agencies, gotten promotions or abandoned advertising altogether (good for you, guys), I know that a lovely Estonian friend has been living in Australia for some time and that since Iceland went bankrupt, the tiny Brazilian community is breaking apart. I’m connected to all my friends spread around the globe, and am looking forward to moving to New York and being connected to my friends spread around Belo Horizonte.
In this wonderful age of connectivity, the world is a huge playground, and just hanging out at the slide an entire lifetime doesn’t make sense.
