This is Calcutta, Bohemia is Dead

Recently I went and saw my first musical-to-theatre production in about as long as I can remember. Rent is a musical about the interconnecting lives of seven friends in New York City, struggling to get by. I'd like to call them hard working, but the truth is they weren't. They're all involved in some form of the arts, trying to make money and perfect their respective opuses (I actually looked it up, its opuses, not opi). Though the movie/musical was real interesting, one of the major feelings I couldn't shake was that this lifestyle is the exact polar opposite of the direction most of us brownies are heading in.

As children we all aspire to the professional fields, as businessmen/women, engineers, and of course the most ubiquitous of the bunch, doctors. I'm concerned with reflecting on the culture, how we're groomed differently then these artists striving to get by on songs, videos, and their performances alone, trying to make sense of life.

I never had a particular amount of difficulty growing up. I've always had a direction to head in, a guiding hand of sorts in my family and friends. The obvious "I'm thankful" applies, but this movie did a good job of displaying what happens taking the road to Bohemia. As far as I know, Bohemia is the romanticized concept that applied to artists and writers trying to live, as wikipedia puts it, "a non-traditional lifestyle." Sounds about right, especially compared to the relevant tradition we follow, to live life trying to break into a professional field.

The movie gave me conflicting signals though. Sure they're all freezing to death and dying of AIDS, but at least they have love. The movie doesn't really even end on much of a happy note. One of the members dies of AIDS, another nearly kills herself because shes a druggy, and then they decide "Oh, here's a movie the film geeks made documenting our happier times together." They roll that movie showing some of their happy times, and the musical ends. That's a cold analysis, and there's more to it, but regardless, the bohemian lifestyle comes with its own set of problems, problems that outweigh the need to "pursue your passion."

I'd like to live life as a free spirited bohemian just as much as the next person, doing what I want, but that's not the way society works. You grow up, get a job, support a family, and continue the life to the perfect grave. Along the way a lotta stuff happens that I'm leaving out, and as a result, that certainly sounds about as morose a summary of life as I've ever heard. Truth be told, there are, as the cast of Rent puts it:

525,600 minutes - how do you measure,
measure a year?
In daylights,
in sunsets,
in midnights,
in cups of coffee?

So it's alright, the point is that you should pursue your passions, as long as you make your time here worthwhile. Don't sit around painting all day. Don't sit around playing your guitar for the whole day, something my roommate frequently does, regardless of the fact that he's got a biochem exam the following day (though I'll admit if I knew how to play the guitar as well as him I'd probably do the same).

It's good that we got religion to justify our existence, the belief that this life is temporary. I understand that religion is there for a lot more then to justify why we live, but one of the things I'm the most thankful is that I don't find myself constantly asking "Why are we here?" That question is already answered by Islam, so I don't have to spend my whole life pondering existentialism. Instead I can listen to Straylight Run sing about Existentialism on Prom Night, pray Isha, and go to sleep. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

Sing me something soft,
Sad and delicate,
Or loud and out of key,
Sing me anything...

Does that even fit into the context of my post? I don't think it does, but it's just such a good song. Sauce out.