This is the page of Andrew Marchetta, class of 2011 student at the University of Delaware. Until further notice, this will serve as my repository for any scraps of writing that I might have come up with and need a place to show people.

Andrew is currently in Tunisia and you may follow his journey here.

Happiness Forgotten

The cult of the factitious has been eroded by the cult of the facetious. Where at one time the domain of the human experience was ruled by rich relationships and clear minds, it has since been replaced with ephemeral interactions and distorted, distracted attention spans. The species which championed the concepts of love and happiness - indeed, had discovered and capitalized upon it - has forgotten what originally made them human in the first place. The ancestors of the happy people are but mere husks: organic bodies without any being, electrical potentials without any thought, hormonal changes without any emotion.

This malaise has created a cult of amnesiacs, who have only the faint, sweet memories of happier days yet have no clue how to emulate them, much less remember them. They are living lies, communicating words which they strive to give meaning to but ultimately fail to do so. Such is the effect of the loss of happiness in humanity, and only upon some stroke of luck will a genius among the depressed rediscover happiness and teach the best students of the race what exactly it is. Until then, our impressions of happiness are flawed and imperfect: In our desire to expand and prosper, we have lost a complex and rewarding part of our world without even realizing it, and to this day we struggle to discover: What exactly was happiness?

--AndrewM 15:13, 23 October 2008 (PDT)

Mirages of the Machine

We are the fast people. We are always on time. We like things done quickly. Shopping centers, convenience stores, credit cards, automobiles - even the coffee we drink. It's all about speed for us, and our sense of progress is us revving up the cycles.

But this speed is an illusion. We aren't getting it for free. We have accelerated the cycle beyond its natural constraints, and we're making it run faster and faster. We will pay for what speed we see now when the world comes to a grinding halt.

Our earth can't handle this speed. It languishes under the cities and roads we have built. Our mines are turning it into a hollow skeleton. And a skeleton, devoid of form or connections, cannot sustain a burgeoning civilization, no matter how advanced it is.

It's not just our planet which is becoming hollow. Our need for speed has turned long-lasting relationships into mere glances in the fabric of time. A face here, a voice there, but not rooted in any deeper understanding of ourselves.

So next time you feel impatient - slow down! Take the time to savor the niceties of life as God and Nature intended! Don't look to the future, stay focused on the present. One must appreciate his precious life and savor it, minute by ticking minute.

--AndrewM 21:09, 23 October 2008 (PDT)

Palpitation of the Vigilant Will

Foibles, blunders, mistakes, and errors,

That's all that seems to riddle my path.

Not a helpful sign anywhere in sight,

Only thousands of accidents waiting to happen.

Deftly I navigate across this terrain,

Forbidding as it is, I make my way anyway.

Yet even in light of my great dexterity,

The forces of life overcome me too often.

I trip over one of these thorny reminders

That life is, at all times, challenged.

My descent to the ground renders me shameful,

And I land face first into the cold mud.

For that frame, that instant in time,

I feel a lifetime of grief catch up to me.

It wrings my heart, it stymies my mind,

And my tears only make the mud wetter.

How, how, how can I go on? I argue with myself.

There is nothing but misery in this life,

Abject and hopeless, not a single scrupule

Of it worthy of a Panglossian anointment.

But, I see, I have come this far already.

I cannot give up this dangerous journey.

Despite these struggles that haunt my steps,

I have come so far, I cannot give up.

Resolute and proud, I lift my misery

I lift my body

I lift my spirits

I lift my great burden of struggles

And wrench them off my aching shoulders.

And as I stand up on my sharp rocky outcropping,

I cannot help but to smile at what just occurred.

Instead of being spoonfed the niceties of life,

I was force-fed all of its nastiest truths.

Yet, even so, I managed to come out on top,

Stronger and wiser and happier than ever.

Thus I continue on with my eternal voyage,

Slowly inching closer towards inner peace.