in this dream

You are walking down a long hallway. The walls and ceiling are not visible, but you know it's a hallway. You walk forever and eventually the walls and the ceiling come into view. As they get closer you see that the ceiling and the walls are segmented and are all identical in both length and width. There is no noise, not even the sound of your footsteps. The reason; you don't seem to be standing on anything as you walk. Eventually, you reach a junction where the hallway offers you a left, right or straight ahead option. None of them seems to have anything to offer you as an alternative to your present course other than direction.

You choose and you walk. The surroundings do not change and you do not seem to find the terminus.

A friend from Canada came to America for the first time and my mind swirled over what to showcase. First visit to America, have to experience "America". When visiting any new country, you should dive into their culture and live as Romans do. A buffet was my choice, as it shows America's love of gluttony and need for variety. Not only that, but how the American individual can not make up it's mind and is so prone to the weakness of greed. Buffets offer tons of food in every combination possible (think carrots in jello) and as much as you want for a small price. Take as much as you want, eat as much as you want. The only rule; use a new plate each time you visit the buffet. Apparently the restaurant people were not happy with just wasting food, but they figured that using another plate wastes water as well. Genius.

You can take all you want, leave it stacked a foot high, eat none of it and go back for another plate. Not eat any of that, and get more. You really can. That's America. People pushing and shoving, no courtesy, no ethics, just get me mine. Shovel it in faster because they might run out. America. Meanwhile, countries starve blah, blah, blah.

I could have offered any number of restaurants but they don't speak of America as very original; Chinese, Thai, Italian, Mexican, Indian. Or, I could have suggested a diner, or a chain restaurant, but these places have become so homogenized that no matter what corner of America you visit, they contain the same menu items; Cobb salad, Caesar salad, Club sandwich, Burger, Chicken sandwich, Hot wings, Chicken Fettacini, etc. There is no difference between a TGI Friday's menu, an Applebee's menu and a mom and pop diner's menu. So, you can not really "experience" America in the same way you might have thirty years ago. What you eat in Florida will taste just like the food in North Dakota.

Homogeny. Everything blended together so that big business can make you feel comfortable where ever go. You can seek out their business as an oasis in all this confusing, option filled world. Strip malls, clothes, hairstyles, radio stations, television shows, language, ambition... it is all blending together so that the world is truly becoming nothing to see. Just comfortable, no stress, no brainer options. Easy.

There was a time when traveling to Africa meant seeing a new world. Now you can stay at that Nairobi Hilton and shop at the Gap there. Get hungry, have a whopper. There was a time when visiting Europe meant shopping for goods that were sold in no other corner of the world. Now, they are available everywhere. I have three Swiss army knives. A German beer stein, a jar of nutella, some yardley soap and a porsche. None of which were purchased in Europe.

There was a time when you couldn's see the ceiling and walls of the hallway, when things started to seemed limitless and, at it's best and worst, different. When the view changed and so did the experience. Now, you travel somewhere, you look for familiar businesses to feel comfortable, you stay in surroundings that you feel you "need" to enjoy yourself and you only use products that are comforting and that you "can not live without". I have watched people do it. They are packing for trips to exotic locations and they take FOOD with them so that they can eat while they are there. They take along music, clothes, food and beauty products and then stay in their rooms during their trip to "relax". Then they buy postcards showcasing the "difference" of the locale they are visiting and send it back to others to see what they are "missing".

The walls and the ceiling get closer and closer. The options seem to offer no change from the present course. They wall and ceiling are segmented and there doesn't seem to be a floor.

Homogeny is making us weak. Reliant. Needy. Bland. "and the meek shall inherit the earth". For a long time this meant the humble, now it means all those tribes of the world that never bought into modern day civilization and won't be affected by it's demise. The meek, as we know them, will indeed, be the last civilization standing, in a lovely bit of irony.

Their hallway still has no ceiling and no walls.