Process of unnatural selection

By: Annie Sragner, Arts and Life Editor

When you’re in college, there is an ever-increasing amount of pressure to figure out “the plan” as graduation approaches. This process requires analysis of who we are on an individual level. Although there are counselors and other people around to talk to about the everyday things with, the big decisions must come from you.

This process may feel a little unnatural, because it is. As man-made industry grows around us, this decision-making becomes more relevant to our lives and turns into a higher priority.

And we managed to make a pretty sweet situation for ourselves. We’ve created a convenience-based society where we produce labor, goods or services in exchange for security and the ability to easily satiate our basic needs.

But through this development, we installed middle men that distance us from the source of our production. Most people are so far removed from practical practices that we don’t consider where our food comes from or who is filtering our water.

Generally, these processes are given to us and we usually just accept them blindly. We know that food comes from farms, but we’re not interested in what happens between the farm and our kitchens. It’s no wonder that the concept of nature or environmental maintenance seems sometimes irrelevant because we’ve lost that connection to where it all starts. The more we try to figure out our contribution to society, the more complex the world begins to appear. This passion for production often induces tunneled vision that makes it difficult to connect to the natural world around us. It’s easy to forget that humans are just animals that managed to milk the system more than other species.

Over time, money became our means of survival. If you obtain enough money, you don’t have to worry about producing things yourself. Lost is the need to craft endurance skills if we can use money to trade. Especially after the pocket-draining experience of college, the temptation to find a job that offers big kid money becomes inviting.

It’s nearly impossible to know what the simple solution is in such a complex world when we continuously choose convenience over the harder options that may be better in the long run.

We’re facing a turning point in our environment where we find ourselves stuck between choosing another quick fix or figuring out something sustainable. As we dig deeper into our decisions, we all have the choice to either go with the flow or find an alternate path. Consider the longevity of your investments and don’t be afraid to challenge what you don’t believe in.

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