I’m just inventing a term here because I don’t know if someone else has already come up with these thoughts and given it a name.

Over the past several years, I’ve been educating myself on some very useful matters: where my food comes from, peak oil, American history, monetary policies of the U.S., societal issues such as race relations, feminism, etc. I happen to like American history because its fairly new, and the effects of many events are still affecting people today. Indian history is very exciting and everything, but I started learning about it in third grade about what stuff was like in the B.C. era. Can you imagine the dates to keep track of? The battles that were fought? Which dynasty screwed over some other random dynasty? Lineage going back over a thousand years? In a nutshell I hated history because it was soo tedious and lengthy. But U.S. history is small and tiny and, learning about 10 key facts will make one seem like a genius in mixed company.

But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about how I wish I lived in this magical world where I didn’t have to worry. Where everything was safe. Where the food was not contaminated, the people were not jerks, where the poultry and meat farms were not horrid places for the animals living in them.

I was at a regular grocery store recently and was despairing over how little I could buy at the store. The Eat Local campaign has been successful and thus produce available with the "eat local" stickers, but the produce was not organic. I couldn’t just pick up any old fruit or veggie. I couldn’t pick up any meat because it came trucked in from god knows where. And was Bessie satisfied with her life before her head was chopped? I couldn’t tell. The organic milk was from Horizons, not some local farmer who was a pasa member. I know in time things will change, but why was there a change to this industrial/corporate environment where everything is so sterile?

And I do live in a crappy neighborhood, but why can’t I just walk out without stressing out on whether some random perv or jerk (always male) who will bother me? Why can’t I walk outside on the sidewalk barefoot instead of worrying about random nails and crushed glass from bottles that are broken every single night by nut bags? Why can’t I ride my bicycle without having someone yell or curse at me? Or buzz me and then hit on me?

One of the many reasons I’m interested in a bicycle trip across the country is because I’ve heard that it might restore my faith in humanity.  I have very little faith in pretty much anything which doesn’t add much to my self confidence, but I’m hoping to get across in one piece without hating everyone on the planet and cursing it to hell.