The morning air is refreshing—getting up and moving (location) makes stuff feel better. Staying in the same room, even if doing exercises like pushups and stuff, is not the same as using one's feet to move about. The explainers of the world may speak of Vitamin D or Serotonin or all sorts of other things I do not understand—maybe they are right. I do not feel like reading such-and-such scientific article now; I walk outside because it is what I want to do.

Today I wear no mask and likewise do not walk near anyone. I just wanna go for a walk. I don't want to have to think about such-and-such rules. I just want to live and let live; can I just cherish some muh freedoms?

Today, no words are needed to explain why a walk is nice.

A Word Governed World

I recall visiting Tokyo, Japan. One thing that stood out to me was that there were words everywhere, all the time. A door opens—

Doa-ga akimasu
"The door is opening"

...a door closes...

Doa-ga shimarimasu
"The door is closing"

The verbiage was overwhelming. Words everywhere all the time, imposing their model of the world into the minds of the city dwellers.

Muh Roads

In the novel IQ84, Haruki Murakami alludes to Anton Chekhov's Sakhalin Island (1893-94) travel diary, describing a people group who have no need for roads. Roads are important in a modern, urban societies because we need things like addresses to ship stuff, flat surfaces for large garbage trucks to roll over, and so on and so forth. For a more "primitive" group of people, roads are not so useful.

The trail runner may complain about how coating everything in concrete destroys runners' knees.

Muh Words

In a similar way to how roads impose civil order on the ground, words are used to impose civil order in our minds.

Before having words distinguishing such-and-such from this-and-that, the distinctions may not be present in people's minds.

For instance, I hear many overseas Chinese people upset that non-overseas Chinese laypeople do not understand distinctions like,

• American Born Chinese versus "China Chinese"
• Taiwan vs China vs Hong Kong
• Mandarin vs Cantonese

These distinctions are clear to a person cultured into a particular way; mislabeling could get you into a lot of trouble socially!

Yet to the South Asian living in the West, these issues may not be so apparent. Overseas Chinese issues are just all foreign. Likewise, most Overseas Chinese probably think very little of issues like,

• India vs Pakistan vs Bangladesh
• Hindi vs Punjabi vs Marathi vs Gujarati...
• Hindu vs Muslim vs Sikh...
• North vs South Indian style cuisines

Particular words and concepts are useful for particular contexts, which are often culture specific. Trapped on a desert island with a motley crew of people of diverse backgrounds, the utility of many of these distinctions rapidly diminishes.

The COVID-19 News Cycle Withdrawal

As the COVID-19 situation continues, I am seeing more and more people "checking out" of trying to keep up with news and stuff. Some of these people are avid "media junkies" who pride themselves on their volume of consumption and info-hoarding.

We were given words to describe this situation; do they have any utility? Insofar as we follow basic directives to protect one another, words can be useful. But at a certain point, more information does nothing of utility; we are "locked-in" and made to follow rules. People will just do what they do, so long as they do not get in trouble.

And so, we cross streets freely when there are no cars even if it is "jay walking" (a crime?!). What are the laws on this? Insofar as it doesn't concern their safety, I think most people don't know. Until I have to renew my driver's license or something again, I won't know either.