I am in this same river. I can't much help it. I admit it: I'm racist. The other night I saw a group (or maybe a pack?) or white teenagers standing in a vacant lot, clustered around a 4x4, and I crossed the street to avoid them; had they been black, I probably would have taken another street entirely. And I'm misogynistic. I admit that, too. I'm a shitty cook, and a worse house cleaner, probably in great measure because I've internalized the notion that these are woman's work. Of course, I never admit that's why I don't do them: I always say I just don't much enjoy those activities (which is true enough; and it's true enough also that many women don't enjoy them either), and in any case, I've got better things to do, like write books and teach classes where I feel morally superior to pimps. And naturally I value money over life. Why else would I own a computer with a hard drive put together in Thailand by women dying of job-induced cancer? Why else would I own shirts mad in a sweatshop in Bangladesh, and shoes put together in Mexico? The truth is that, although many of my best friends are people of color (as the cliche goes), and other of my best friends are women, I am part of this river: I benefit from the exploitation of others, and I do not much want to sacrifice this privilege. I am, after all, civilized, and have gained a taste for "comforts and elegancies" which can be gained only through the coercion of slavery. The truth is that like most others who benefit from this deep and broad river, I would probably rather die (and maybe even kill, or better, have someone kill for me) than trade places with the men, women, and children who made my computer, my shirt, my shoes. Derrick Jensen
About This Quote

The river of life is a metaphor for the challenges that humans face as they live, and as they become older. It is also a metaphor for how we deal with those challenges. When a human lives, he or she must make decisions about life, and those decisions can either be positive or negative. If a human walks across a bridge and falls into the river, he or she may drown.

If a human avoids the river at all costs, he or she will not have many hardships along the way. However, if a human dives into the river head first to save another from drowning, he or she must face his fears and deal with his greatest fears along the way. The high levels of adrenaline that surge through the body during such a heroic attempt can be described as a rush, but it can also be described as a crash.

The crash is an intensely painful experience where the body is forced to rest and take stock of its situation after being traumatized by an extreme situation.

Source: The Culture Of Make Believe

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More Quotes By Derrick Jensen
  1. I am in this same river. I can't much help it. I admit it: I'm racist. The other night I saw a group (or maybe a pack?) or white teenagers standing in a vacant lot, clustered around a 4x4, and I crossed the street to...
  2. This question of grades being coercive, and of politics being inherent in teaching, applies not only to writing, but to all fields. Mathematics, science, economics, history, religion, are all just as deeply and necessarily political. To believe they’re not–to believe, for example, that science (or...
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