My Heart Can Be a Liar

yellow-day:

For instance I own a vintage Mexican dress. I find it beautiful, I enjoy wearing it, though I recognize that it is not of my own culture. Does this make me a horrible person?

I have a dream catcher above my bed. I love dream catchers. I love the idea and the aesthetic quality. Should I not have one because I’m not a Native American?

Many different cultural designs and ideas shape different types of art. Was Picasso incorrect for being inspired by African Masks? 

Where is the line drawn? I completely understand that I have an amount of privilege because I am white and it is wrong to steal someone else’s culture. But is it okay to appreciate and share in other cultures as long as you have an understanding? Or am I just a terrible, horrible hipster that should only stick to my white, Western-European Culture, even though some of it feels completely foreign to me? 

I think as long as you understand the reasons behind the objects and appreciate what they can do and what they stand for then yes you’re entitled to it. Such as a dream catcher is made to catch bad dreams and let the good ones in. After living in a Navajo reservation I realized it’s not just good ones but wise ones that pass through the dream catcher. Also this object is specific to the person not the room it encompasses. So as long as you know these things then I seen no reason to not have them as long as they are appreciated and honored.

My hand is turning old. A rusty creaking comes from it when I bend it. It aches through the days when I have to write more and more. And there were days I look back upon when I was inspired by what happened around me… where did that passion lie? Where has it gone? Why am I so desperate to pour my soul onto a piece of paper?

likethesun:

there are so many better things that we can be doing with our lives away from playing video games and watching TV shows and getting fucked up all the time. we could make music, we could travel the world and experience different cultures and different languages, we can create endless amounts of art and share it with everyone so we all can gain endless inspiration and make it into something of our own. we could have different and spontaneous experiences every day rather than living in this miserable daily routine. but people are so used to this ideal of spending most of their time at a job to get pieces of paper ( money ) in order to have freedom, so because they waste so much of their energy on that, all they want to do is distract their minds with petty bullshit. that’s why there’s drama, that’s why people talk shit about each other and worry about social status, that’s why it’s ideal to starve yourself in order to get the ‘perfect body.’ that’s why there are MILLIONS of video games consisting of murdering people and stealing shit, millions of board games and television shows and movies… and SURPRISE, all of that costs money and it goes absolutely no where.

I’m no good at creation. I’m no good at drawing or sketching or writing or creating music. I’m sometimes good with words but not where they count. And you want me to believe that I don’t enjoy working hard, or meeting people through working, or even using that money to go to the places that have other ideas and cultures. You think my “routine” is bland and boring? But it’s not. Because as much as it is a routine it is different every day. One day it’s rain, another I see a nest with chicks who grow and take flight, and I see people showing care for other people through actions and never in my life have I thought that I was bored or tired of how my life has gone. All of those days add up and those days are the days that count towards going somewhere new.