{"id":10012,"date":"2007-07-17T20:20:11","date_gmt":"2007-07-17T18:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.harald-bluechel.com\/dont-take-the-escalators\/"},"modified":"2007-07-17T20:20:11","modified_gmt":"2007-07-17T18:20:11","slug":"dont-take-the-escalators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.harald-bluechel.com\/en\/dont-take-the-escalators\/","title":{"rendered":"don’t take the escalators"},"content":{"rendered":"

don’t take the escalators<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

don’t take the escalators,<\/p>\n

if you can walk too;<\/p>\n

because they only pretend to make your life easier:<\/p>\n

they turn you into a lazy automaton,<\/p>\n

motionless and lifeless.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

take the steps instead,<\/p>\n

where you<\/p>\n

with every heartbeat and breath<\/p>\n

feel that you are alive,<\/p>\n

even if it takes effort<\/p>\n

mindful of the easy going, or<\/p>\n

efficiency or convenience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

look into the eyes of the shapes passing you by:<\/p>\n

what do you see?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

don’t take the car,<\/p>\n

if you want to get from a to b.<\/p>\n

because it only pretends to make you more independent and faster.<\/p>\n

take the train, bike or walk instead,<\/p>\n

even if it seems unattractive, annoying and time-consuming,<\/p>\n

so it takes effort.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

the car makes you sluggish,<\/p>\n

turns you into a motionless automaton,<\/p>\n

which locks itself into a larger machine,<\/p>\n

to feel safe and protected,<\/p>\n

from other automatons out there, who, if they can, will,<\/p>\n

also enclose themselves in larger vending machines.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

look the shapes rolling past you in the eye:<\/p>\n

what do you see?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

don’t use the television,<\/p>\n

if you can also hear, read, think or feel.<\/p>\n

because television only pretends to inform or entertain you.<\/p>\n

it makes you a lazy automaton,<\/p>\n

motionless and lifeless,<\/p>\n

images that are not yours trickle past,<\/p>\n

inside you<\/p>\n

nesting like parasites, the twenty-four times per second cells of your ego<\/p>\n

eat up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

even if it takes effort,<\/p>\n

switch it off;<\/p>\n

otherwise it will switch you off,<\/p>\n

transforms you into an automaton,<\/p>\n

who hangs on to the pictures like floury machines on a battery,<\/p>\n

like cheap ready-made clothes on the clothes rail.<\/p>\n

what do you see when you look into the windows of the flickering living rooms?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

never take the first hand,<\/p>\n

that stretches out towards you, smiling loudly,<\/p>\n

of the greatest sympathy,<\/p>\n

latest findings,<\/p>\n

unique opportunities,<\/p>\n

sensational offers and<\/p>\n

wants to convince you that it’s all for your own good,<\/p>\n

what she offers you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

does she really mean you?<\/p>\n

overcome your first reflex to reach for it,<\/p>\n

even if it takes effort.<\/p>\n

reject,<\/p>\n

take out,<\/p>\n

awkward, spontaneous, uncool and rude<\/p>\n

to be,<\/p>\n

which is hard because you were brought up to be polite,<\/p>\n

trained to agree at lightning speed,<\/p>\n

calibrated for social efficiency.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

better look twice;<\/p>\n

look at the full-bodied owners and<\/p>\n

busty owners in the eyes.<\/p>\n

what do you see if you don’t say yes?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

never take the escalators,<\/p>\n

if you can walk too:<\/p>\n

because they only pretend to make your life better and more beautiful.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cologne, January 2007<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[425,424,419,422],"class_list":["post-10012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autobiographical","tag-biography","tag-capitalism","tag-politics","tag-zeitgeist-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.harald-bluechel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.harald-bluechel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.harald-bluechel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.harald-bluechel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.harald-bluechel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.harald-bluechel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10012\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.harald-bluechel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.harald-bluechel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.harald-bluechel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}