don’t take the escalators
don’t take the escalators,
if you can walk too;
because they only pretend to make your life easier:
they turn you into a lazy automaton,
motionless and lifeless.
take the steps instead,
where you
with every heartbeat and breath
feel that you are alive,
even if it takes effort
mindful of the easy going, or
efficiency or convenience.
look into the eyes of the shapes passing you by:
what do you see?
don’t take the car,
if you want to get from a to b.
because it only pretends to make you more independent and faster.
take the train, bike or walk instead,
even if it seems unattractive, annoying and time-consuming,
so it takes effort.
the car makes you sluggish,
turns you into a motionless automaton,
which locks itself into a larger machine,
to feel safe and protected,
from other automatons out there, who, if they can, will,
also enclose themselves in larger vending machines.
look the shapes rolling past you in the eye:
what do you see?
don’t use the television,
if you can also hear, read, think or feel.
because television only pretends to inform or entertain you.
it makes you a lazy automaton,
motionless and lifeless,
images that are not yours trickle past,
inside you
nesting like parasites, the twenty-four times per second cells of your ego
eat up.
even if it takes effort,
switch it off;
otherwise it will switch you off,
transforms you into an automaton,
who hangs on to the pictures like floury machines on a battery,
like cheap ready-made clothes on the clothes rail.
what do you see when you look into the windows of the flickering living rooms?
never take the first hand,
that stretches out towards you, smiling loudly,
of the greatest sympathy,
latest findings,
unique opportunities,
sensational offers and
wants to convince you that it’s all for your own good,
what she offers you.
does she really mean you?
overcome your first reflex to reach for it,
even if it takes effort.
reject,
take out,
awkward, spontaneous, uncool and rude
to be,
which is hard because you were brought up to be polite,
trained to agree at lightning speed,
calibrated for social efficiency.
better look twice;
look at the full-bodied owners and
busty owners in the eyes.
what do you see if you don’t say yes?
never take the escalators,
if you can walk too:
because they only pretend to make your life better and more beautiful.
Cologne, January 2007