broken

recently i read the book 'brave new world' by aldous huxley. i really enjoyed it. it was a good read, interesting and all that. today as i stood in front of a burning fireplace i was thinking about how much my world is like that of the society in brave new world. it was weird because when i was actually reading it, it didn't register as being like my world simply because it is such an extreme. but when i really thought about it, they are so much alike it is really rather frightening. all i was thinking about was new shoes. i love new shoes. they are clean, pretty, perfect and make me feel happy. when shoes get old, they have less appeal to me usually. i still like them, but i don't love them as much as i did when they were brand new. i even looked at the new shoes on my feet and was sad that one day they too would be old. i then became a little disturbed. sure it's natural to love new things....but is it? i think that our society has been conditioned to love new things, and only want new things. i appreciate old, vintage things, or historical things, like old postcards that my deceased great-aunt left behind, but i must admit that new things are cooler to have, in a way.
anyway...all that to say that i think it's crazy how we are conditioned to be this way, to think certain things, and to act particularly. we think that being old is a hideous state, and offer surgeries, supplements, and programs so that we can prolong our youth for as long as possible. the elderly are viewed as ugly and useless, a burden to society, when it's the opposite, in my mind at least. i think we have a lot to learn and hear from the older people we know. i love hearing the wisdom and stories of people much older than me. society via the media puts a huge emphasis on young being the only way to be..."young hollywood" is a perfect example. everyone wants to know who paris is dating this week, which two teen queens are fighting, who was caught drunk driving, and what have you...it's ridiculous.
another thing that i have been thinking about is the abuse of medication and the like. let me just say that in most cases, like people with serious mental disorders like schizophrenia or anything that can cause dangerous reactions that harm others, i don't think there is anything wrong with taking medication. i mean i don't really think it's ever really "wrong" but i do think that a lot of the time it can be unnecessary. it seems like the whole point of taking medication is to make you "normal", but who decides what normal is? where can we produce the standard of normality, and why do we depend so wholly on it? why is it that talking to yourself is irregular? because society says so....but why? just because most people don't do it or something, but most people don't do it because it's not normal...i know that's circular reasoning, but that's what bothers me.
when you think about it, the way society tries to make everyone "perfect" (whatever that even means) is really just the world trying to reverse our fallen nature. because man sinned, we get old and fragile. because man sinned, people talk to themselves. because man sinned, the world is the way it is.
our world is trying to deny that fact and become autonomous.
you don't have to grow a baby inside you anymore....just do it in a tube.
you don't have to look old anymore....just botox yourself to oblivion.
you don't have to have curly hair anymore....just get it chemically relaxed.
you don't have to send a letter anymore....just have a robot send it via e-mail.

...i'm not saying these things are wrong. not at all. they are convenient and helpful for some.
some things save people's lives.
it's incredible.
but have we become too comfortable in the society we have created?
we think too much about being comfortable and safe that we start to forget that there is a whole world out there beyond our borders.

i think that our scientific advances really are amazing. i can't even comprehend being that intelligent.

all i'm wondering about society is this:

is it possible to get too comfortable?
is it possible to be too advanced?