The GOOD LIFE?

Hello gorgeous.

Summer '09, its looking mighty good wouldn't you agree? The heat, the events, the people--summer so far has proved to be quite fabulous! Despite its ups and downs, whether they be personal and individual, or global like the loss of the great Michael Jackson, summer still pushes on and it still feels good!

So the topic of this blog came to me while I was at San Francisco Pride '09 with some friends at the end of June.What defines the good life once we all "grow up" and get older? And are the things that are thought to compose the good life what we really want, or what society has advertised and brainwashed us into believing we should want? The things that would compose this so-called good life would be a man and woman getting married, driving a decent car, living in a nice house, having children, and having stable careers. Many people strive to achieve this life or are taught to at least want it--but what happens if you don't want it or anything like it?

Generally if you do not want this life, don't get it or at least some part of it by a certain age then society says something has to be wrong with you! I talked to several individuals and most people of my generation do not entirely want this illusion of a good life. So is there something wrong with them? Should they be condemned for not wanting the popular perception of the ideal life? I personally do not see myself getting married when I get older. I am not bitter towards marriage; I believe marriage can be beautiful when two people truly love one another and want to grow old together, but I don't think that's for me. Children I could see myself maybe adopting, and as for a home I don't see myself living in one place for long periods of time. Am I wrong for not wanting to live the life society says I should?

Even as children we are taught to be housewives and macho men. We are given baby dolls to encourage motherhood, and foot balls and toy guns to roughen us up. But what if you're a little boy who does not have a crush on the girl next door but instead has a thing for the other boy up the street? Or what if you're a female in your twenties who would rather establish your career first instead of chasing a man to succumb to being a wife or some body's baby mama? I think that the people of my generation are not necessarily ignoring the principles our parents and many people before us tried to instill in us, but I think we are going out into the world and inventing our own. Marriage, family, and stability are beautiful principles that have been perpetuated by society and those before us, however I do not see the harm in young people today stepping up to plate to make our own rules and define ourselves. Perhaps there is nothing wrong with anyone wanting the "good life" by wanting to be married, living in a house with a white picket fence, with a few little rascals running around. But maybe there also is nothing wrong with a woman wanting to spend her life with another woman, or a man traveling the world instead of being tied down to a wife with kids--we should not let society label it a wrong or bad life, but just a different one.

At the end of the day, we are the rulers of our lives. Too many leaders and individuals before us have stepped outside the box to not break the rules but invent their own--and it is their examples we should model ourselves after. We live in an age where gay men can look better than some females, women can run corporations and businesses, people with no musical talent can still have fans and make money, and the president of the United States can be a man of color; who the hell says we can't live our lives the way want to?! Maybe the "good life" is not what society says it should be, but it is whatever we want it to be based on our own happiness.

Later my little monsters!

Mikey was HERE.