When Romantic Ideals Begin to Come True

At the very core of Romanticism is a yearning for the unknown, the unattainable, and the incomprehensible. And while the movement to spread these ideas began relatively recently, in the last few hundred years, many concepts dubbed "unattainable" had eluded mankind for thousands of years before the Romantic Era. Mysteries such as flight and lightning have consumed the imagination of men for as long as history has been recorded. In the late 19th century, however, things changed. 

Some awe-inspiring lightning

With advances in industrialization came advances in technology. Suddenly, we discovered how to capture lightning, how to harness electricity and put it to our own deliberate use. We finally conquered the air and learned how to soar through the sky without meeting the ground in an unfriendly manner. Almost overnight (in the grand span of time), things that people had romanticized about for thousands of years became possible and even accessible. The question I ask is: how did achieving some of our wildest dreams affect society?

Thomas Edison's Laboratory

Some might say that once a person fulfills a deep desire, that person loses purpose and becomes bored. I've definitely seen examples of this in my own life, such as finally finishing a puzzle and suddenly feeling let down because I've lost a sense of direction. On the other hand, however, I've also had experiences in which I've seen fantastic technology, been filled with awe, and immediately filled with even more questions and ideas than before. 

As we can see from history, progress did not stop in the 19th century. Perhaps some people felt a loss of direction during the Gilded Age; it is well-known that the U.S. Patent Office closed down in 1899 because someone apparently thought everything had been invented. But the evidence shows that technology continued to flood the world and advanced at a unprecented rate. 

In short, I think this quote by Walter Ong describes accurately the relationship between the Gilded Age and the Romantic Era which preceded it: 

From man’s beginnings perhaps well over 500,000 years ago until recent times […] knowledge had been in short supply. To keep up his courage, man had continually to remind himself of how much he knew, to flaunt the rational, the certain, the definite and clear and distinct. Romanticism and technology appear at the same time because each grows in its own way out of a noetic abundance such as man had never known before. Technology uses the abundance for practical purposes. Romanticism uses it for assurance and as a springboard to another world. (Walter Ong, Rhetoric, Romance, and Technology: Studies in the Interaction of Expression and Culture) 

Image Credits: in the public domain and licensed through Creative Commons 

I Don't Know

Something Big: The earth is absolutely massive
I've always loved flying. I love the airport, I love free pretzels and I love sipping a ginger ale cranapple mix out of a tiny red straw. The craziest part of flying to me is the descent. It's insane to look out the window and see how tiny and monopoly like all the buildings and properties look, sky scrapers look like you could push them over with your hand and the land plots in circles and squares make you feel like you're a child playing with a toy city. The magnitude of how enormous and how small the world is all at the same time is completely baffling to me.

Something Broken: Children's Unit at the Utah State Hospital
I'm taking an abnormal psychology class this semester because it totally fascinates me. We are required to volunteer 22 hours for the semester and I somehow ended up in a unit that I don't think I'm technically supposed to be on, but it's been cool, terrifying and heartbreaking at the same time. I volunteer on the children's unit. For a child to be institutionalized in a psych hospital, it has to be pretty intense for them to get there. They need to be completely uncontrollable, have almost committed murder or be a serious threat to others. To justify these kids being taken away from their families it has to be so out of hand that the benefit of treatment outweighs the damage of being away from parents. But there is so much dissonance. These boys will be in the hospital for months, with little to no parental love or closeness, they learn behaviors from each other, they hurt and have to sleep in their cell room with a sheet and a blanket. There is no one to hold them if they cry. It can't be right.

Something Artistic: Music
There is no other way I'd rather spend my money than on a good concert. I'm not moneybags over here, but I'm more than happy to shell out, travel or go to ridiculous measures to see one of my favorite artists. I think I'm my absolute happiest when I'm listening to incredible music that makes me feel things. I can't get enough of it. Now I'm obsessed with creating it on my own music that hopefully does that same thing for other people. (click here if you're curious) . I'm still not where I want to be, but the fact that music can do that for people enthralls me. I want to do that for others, and I'm not quite there yet, but I will be someday.

Something Mysterious: Death
The classic primary lesson of the glove and the hand makes sense. It does. But when someone I know dies, it still is baffling to me. The fact that they can be here, and then gone is so disheveling to me. The fact that someday my parents will die is haunting. The rest of the world will continue on, but when that day comes and the people that have been the most consistent in my life are gone I know it'll totally rock my world.