Modern Day Version Of "The Lotus Eaters"

[PurplePotatoes]

I'm sure we've all read it... and if you haven't, hear's a little bit of background information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_eaters

I have alot of kids in my classes that look down on me because they know I smoke, it's no secret. I don't smoke that often (just on weekends), and they make it out to be so much worse than it is. But I was thinking about it one night. I remembered the Lotus Eaters story about Odysseus's men being enticed by the Lotus Plants, and wouldn't come back to help him get back home. It caused them to forget about going back home, and just stop caring. Of course this was a problem to Odysseus, and the lotus was seen as a bad plant because of this, and a problem to Odysseus. But as a fan of reefer, I thought maybe this wasn't entirely so bad. The Lotus fruits caused the men to be content, and not care about going home. This may seem like a selfish decision, but they could end up dying just trying to get home, as all/almost all (I can't remember) his men died. They were content, what more in life could you want?

Cannabis has made me feel the same way, I am content when it's in my system. I feel as if I don't need fancy cars and material posessions to some extent. It makes me feel content. I don't believe in pre-marital sex and do look down upon women when they give into pressure, and most of the girls in my classes that do look down upon me because I smoke do fool around with guys. (I'm in Gifted Classes, meaning I don't have alot of kids that break the laws, disrespect teachers, etc, in my class.). Because I'm content, it takes away my any sad feelings I have, and makes everything feel alright. I really don't believe in smoking for an escape, because than it's no different than using heroin to get away from reality.

Sorry if this is a bit incoherent, but I'm a teenager and MORALS are very important to me, and I'm just having some problems expressing myself right now. Does anyone see eye to eye with me?

--P.P.

PurplePotatoes Reviewed by PurplePotatoes on 02-10-2005. Modern Day Version Of "The Lotus Eaters" I'm sure we've all read it... and if you haven't, hear's a little bit of background information. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_eaters I have alot of kids in my classes that look down on me because they know I smoke, it's no secret. I don't smoke that often (just on weekends), and they make it out to be so much worse than it is. But I was thinking about it one night. I remembered the Lotus Eaters story about Odysseus's men being enticed by the Lotus Plants, and wouldn't come back to Rating: 5

[sawleaf]

I understand what you are saying. That's one of the great things about cannabis, you can view your life and be content and happy with what you have. You shouldn't really care what other's think. What's important is what you think about yourself. I don't see pre-marital sex or smoking cannabis as wrong, but everyone is different. It's acceptance that is harder. We are quick to convince ourselves that our opinions are right and others are wrong. Who are others to judge you???

[Rarrr]

All my friends know I try different drugs yet dont judge me for it. Infact they joke about the fact that Im always trying things. If someone did judge me for my own actions involving drugs I'd tell them to fuck off plain and simply but I understand what you mean about weed making you content because it was weed that got me through the hardest part of my life when I got kicked out of home. I say continue smoking weed if it is what you enjoy but make sure it isnt a substitute for life.

[sToNeDpEnGuIn420]

Man i remeber we read that last year, it was actually pretty good i remeber teh lotus eaters hehe. Yeah i know what your saying and maybe the lotus was canabis lol not really but im stoned so who cares? and purple dont worry what others think, just be like if they look down on me who cares i dont wanna be friends withsomeone who looks down on me anyways, i mean shit thats what i do i could careless what anyone thinks the only ppl i care about their opions are like my gf and some frineds

[PurplePotatoes]

I understand what you are saying. That's one of the great things about cannabis, you can view your life and be content and happy with what you have. You shouldn't really care what other's think. What's important is what you think about yourself. I don't see pre-marital sex or smoking cannabis as wrong, but everyone is different. It's acceptance that is harder. We are quick to convince ourselves that our opinions are right and others are wrong. Who are others to judge you???

Well, kids blame everything I do wrong on drugs. I'm not smart anymore supposedly? (Which I still believe I am, or well, I'm not any dumber, just more mature now). Now my math teacher knows I do drugs, which isn't a good thing. He's the head of the math team, and I have him for my math class. 2 out of my 7 classes I have are with him, I had him last year, and will have him every year until I'm a senior. He kind of played it off though... but it's still not good for him to know. I'm afraid they'll phone my parents or something, but I don't want to have to deal with the humiliation, or possible expulsion. I'm in fear every class whenever words such as "stoned" comes around (not meaning getting stoned, but as the punishment, or situations like that), or in English when my cool teacher says "if you can't remember definitions of words like that, you need to stop smoking so much pot", and people will just yell out "Mike!" and then stare at me (in a jokingly manner). Right now we're reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, and she's told us the author was an acid eater, and we have to do research on the Merry Pranksters and The Grateful Dead. I was reading a book called Acid Dreams, which was obviously about LSD, so people think I've done that (which I haven't, YET). I believe in the use of entheogens, and think the best cure for alcoholism is LSD (such as Hubbard's experiments, if my mind serves me correctly). And being a morally concious student, I MUST graduate highschool with honors, go to college, and not end up a loser like my two half brothers, who one is dead because of heroin, and both dropped out at an early, early age (middle school and highschool). If I were to get kicked out of school, I'd feel like I'm a failure, when I've done nothing wrong, and get in trouble because of the twisted truth. Pulling a Columbine, suicide (I know it sounds terrible, since my half brother killed himself due to his heroin addiction), or just beating the fuck out of people out of school are my only choices of what I could do if I did get expelled, (or to prevent the talk, just the fighting part I mean). I just want to leave class sometimes when shit like that happens, and maybe just run away and not return home. If I'm tested positive for drugs, I may lose all my federal level scholarships, which would pay at least 75% of my tuition, and my chances to get into college are lessened. If trying to be morally concious would cause all this trouble, what's the difference between being a good kid and a bad kid?

[sawleaf]

Listen up Purpletater, kids are dicks. Yeah not all of them, but a whole lot. What you have to do is fuck up the perception that these people have of recreational drug users. You have to excell, you have to kick ass, and I don't doubt you will. They think that your cannabis use will make you fail, and that's what they want to see. They want to see you fail so they can say, "yeah look what smoking marijuana did". Fact is, most of these people who are giving you shit most likely smoke cannabis also, but are looking to point the finger and give someone else shit to make themselves feel better. Don't let it get to you and dish back some shit of your own now and then. How is anyone else better than you? In some ways you are supperior to every other human being! Don't let people get you down. Show those fuckers!

[PurplePotatoes]

Listen up Purpletater, kids are dicks. Yeah not all of them, but a whole lot. What you have to do is fuck up the perception that these people have of recreational drug users. You have to excell, you have to kick ass, and I don't doubt you will. They think that your cannabis use will make you fail, and that's what they want to see. They want to see you fail so they can say, "yeah look what smoking marijuana did". Fact is, most of these people who are giving you shit most likely smoke cannabis also, but are looking to point the finger and give someone else shit to make themselves feel better. Don't let it get to you and dish back some shit of your own now and then. How is anyone else better than you? In some ways you are supperior to every other human being! Don't let people get you down. Show those fuckers!

Haha thanks man, bud really has helped me, which is why I continue to use it. It's turned me into a pacifist (I got into a few silly fights here and there freshmen year), so it looks like Mister Anslinger was correct about that . But yes, I'm a bit slow though, most likely because I'm a real laid back person now, and not really in shape, so I don't try to keep good reflexes, except when driving. But I'm consistantly doing better than most kids, but they'll still say "all you do is smoke weed", or "shut up at least I don't smoke weed", or something along those lines. I don't try to be combative just incase the teacher doesn't hear, but when I get the opprotunity, I strike them down

<3<3 sawleaf

[sawleaf]

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a raygun or something that made people instantly stoned. I'd get a concelled weapons permit for it and spit out cheesy one liners, while annihilating fools.

[PurplePotatoes]

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a raygun or something that made people instantly stoned. I'd get a concelled weapons permit for it and spit out cheesy one liners, while annihilating fools.

Shooting yourself in the foot doesn't so bad. Hahaha I would love that, and then I'd rob the people and call it reparations for the privelledge of this smoke-free session of getting stoned.

[RESiNATE]

Hi, Purple Potatoes

Firstly, if your math teacher 'knows' you smoke weed becasue someone told him (you, or one of your class 'mates'), then he really doesn't know shit - unless he catches you smoking it...keep it that way

Secondly, it was a great parallel to draw between the 'Lotus Eaters' and weed smokers - because, in many ways, it is a truism.

Mainly.
I'm glad you don't view smoking weed as being escapism from anything - because, quite frankly, it doesn't work like that. Weed has helped me through some of the darkest times of my life - not because it takes me 'away' from my problems, but because it helps me to view things in a calm and rational manner - always a good thing. However, I would say that it promotes complacency, to a degree, and that's when things start slipping away.
My single worst problem is that I keep 'putting things off', usually until it's nearly too late to do anything about it - if I'm honest, then I would attribute this to being stoned - not a good thing.

As I always say in my little 'speeches' about such things - Enlightenment comes at a price.
That price might be something as small as an hour or two lost in deep-thought, other times, it can mean alienation from your fellow man, as they struggle to comprehend your new-found viewpoint of life and it's intricacies. Often, the 'enlightened ones' will begin to close themselves off from the general populace, as they believe that their efforts at sharing that enlightenment seem to be lost upon those who are too firmly rooted within the protocol - this is where I find myself.

The trick is to find the balance between co-existence (and therefore a degree of acceptance and sufferance) and further enlightenment.
On the face of it, this seems to be an easy thing to acheive, however, the battle between knowing the truth and living the lie, becomes a difficult prospect indeed.
This is also where I find myself.

Sawleaf is absolutely correct when he says that you must work harder than the others, if only to show them that weed doesn't destroy your intellect and prowess.
If you (we) don't, then they'll see that as a means of discrediting not only you (us), but also the many values that weed has to offer the human outlook on life.

GOLDEN RULE:
Use the drug...don't let the drug use you!"

What you are going through, Purple, is something that you should embrace with a modicum of respect - I call it gaining 'Independant Thought'.
That is, that you are beginning to question the manner of things, rather than accept them as a given mode of existence...a wholly good thing!

It becomes a game, my friend - play it well, and you'll begin to discover a whole lot more about this world and yourself.
Play it badly, as we all do from time to time, then you'll discover a lonely world of frustration and despair, as your intelligence begins to scream at the ways that things are done, and you balk at the seemingly pointless practices of this world and its people.

It's a ying-yang-thang, everyone - find the balance, and all will be well

Shit, I'm sounding like some kind of shaman, init lmfaoooo
Maybe I'm talking a load of bollocks - if I am, then I'm fucked, because that's the way I look at things lol...
Genetics goes beyond the mere bodily construction etc, it also works with the psyche of people - it's how religion works, for example, beliefs are passed from generation to generation, and patterns evolve and grow - we, as users of weed (and thus seem to be more enlightened than those who don't) are breaking from the protocol, and are seen as different (stands to reason).
We have to show them that our difference is not a bad thing, and in time, maybe they'll begin to 'see the light', so-to-speak.

Fuck it, I'm rambling - and I'm not even stoned...but I am on heavy medication lol ...
I hope I made sense, and I hope even more, that I'm actually on topic lmfaoo

I just got strong ideas about this kinda thing, you know.
I hate the protocol, and how it manipulates people into living their lives in certain ways - they follow along like sheep, neither questioning themselves, or the world about them...continually contributing to the survival of the very thing that is destroying their souls and spirits - it's hard to watch, and it's even harder to know that, like it or not, we have to be a part of that system too

Anyways, I gabbled on for ages, so I'll go now...

Res...