On Ethics
A few weeks ago in an UberPool - in San Francisco — my driver and I sat in silence listening to the trendy convo that a pair of girlfriends were having on a full and fun Saturday night. It was 11:24pm and there was precedence to get them to the next bar in a timely fashion.
But time on that ride turned over, like an hourglass funneling down it’s seconds not in flow, but individually. As if each piece of sand was it’s own little self, out riding the flow of the others to race to it’s final destination — the bottom of the hourglass. And just like each grain of sand, each second that went by, our car was filled with chitchat about a new makeup trend of geisha chic. When was the clock to run out? The more that I heard about this new trend supposedly starting in the cross dressing and gay community first, then the instagram celebrity stylized shots, to then ecomm and in store makeup stores, and finally to them. I wondered if they thought about the historical context and how the style evolved versus it’s nominal and relevant now.
I wondered if they too were entertainers in life or artists or princesses or queens. But listening in an out of their talk it seemed that they dismissed other forms of progress that moved the world around us or that context for the authenticity or origin of things didn’t matter to the here and to the now.
And that was hard. That funneling of time until being dropped off could have easily been escaped by clicking through my cellphone. But, I do not live on trend and can honor that normal I am not. So I drifted into the world that was taking over my everyday thoughts. And in taking in the SOMA skyline, I made mental notes and observation of the number of connective points that made up the cellular telephony of the area.
But it wasn’t until recently that I’ve committed to the ways in which I see and experience the world. It is not until the last year that I can now see how it is that I am giving it back to those in the hourglass. It’s not about being so far removed from normal living, but being a little far out there in order to serve the higher order and call to action of purpose and to communicate all that I observe and take in. My thoughts and wants revolved around civic innovation and working with experts in order to update outdated processes.
This will is tenacious and hungry and can’t wait to be understood, instead of being locked in it’s own hourglass but instead of nominal chat, it trapped inside the glass of gathering and knowing with sharing it. Because when the strength has a voice, my mission can be extended and come before those that can assist the practice of new ethics and exercise hygiene in our changing times. If it’s one thing I learned about the geisha makeup talk was that it was being talked about. And it got me thinking about the trend, if I could apply it me, observe it anywhere else, etc. I started drawing parallels to the spread of common thinking and new things to what I needed to be doing with high technology. It’s needed it’s own trend that was understood, and not necessarily complex in having to have all the details of it’s origin and evolution. It was here, and it was now. It’s past context really didn’t change the meaning or way it was showcasing in the now.
We dropped the friends off. We, the driver and I, coupled in silence, belted in to a temporary oblivion. Would it break? Was there a need to connect based off on the conversation that we had just heard? What would it do us in for? We were both thinking about it. Who would make the first move?
My driver engaged me in conversation on my way out of the car — temporarily displaced mentally unpacking the digital infrastructure, exiting to my temporary home, and entering a warm newly known room where only my observations, desires, and passions could swarm around purpose.
“I don’t really think about that stuff, how about you?” I asked. The driver replied, “You never know who you’re going to get, sometimes it’s really interesting and you learn something, and sometimes you just really want ear plugs, like this time…What do you do?”
It was slight — the direct in to the universal question in San Francisco. A loaded question. And I definitely was a revolver ready for my loaded barrel to be triggered. “Well,” I said, “I’m doing a couple things.”
I’m exhausted. Scared. Unable to explain my product because of the stress around living on less that $1 a day for over a year. I’ve fought hunger, seeking shelter, and have kept a straight face to face adversity and learn. Every part of my essence and knowing is committed to serve my country and make the slightest emboss on the envelop to the future of our world so it can systematically balance and function again in a time of real complexity. Yet instead of a very simple way of explaining how I went about learning those categories of complexities, I make me more confusing. When there was more than $1 in hand, I used it to get to the next place in order to dive a little deeper into learning. I opted to doing pro-bono consults to figure the inner workings of a legacy system screaming for an update because the more the technology was shifting away from national security use, the more the companies had no budgets for marketing consultants. I’ve fought rejection and trial and stigmas. I’ve voiced opinions and found mentors and kept talking to more and more people.
Did she need to know this? No. So, I answered simply.
