PEOPLE AND PLACES: The Buried Life

The Buried Life

9 December 2009

One of the great things the Internet has the ability to highlight is will power.  It never ceases to amaze me how far passion can take you.  The Buried Life is a group of Canadian university students attempting to accomplish a list of “100 Things To Do Before You Die.”  Not only have they pursued this to the fullest of their abilities, but they inspire and assist others in their journeys as well.  From this I see two amazing things coming this project, through the use of technology:

1.  Collaboration

Yes, yes, we’ve heard it before, the Internet is all abut collaboration.  But, generally speaking, Internet collaboration refers to creating an application, a software, a product.  The great things about The Buried Life is that collaboration helps people accomplish personal goals and realise a dream.  Many things we hold as inconsequential or trivial may hold value to someone else.  This site is wrought with positivity in a way that not only brings out virtue, but stimulates creativity.  This here is a prime example of the kindness and collaboration of strangers:

2.  Grass-roots change and counter-hegemony

While it may have been a happy accident for MTV to stumble upon The Buried Life, this group of young teenagers have still evoked change – change in not only what defines young adults, but what characteristics are popular and trendy.  An article in  The New York Times noted that MTV wanted to change the direction of their programming to reflect the Obama era of change and “positive social messages.”  However, The Buried Life precedes the Obama reign, and to some extent, were innovators in the youth social responsibility in an decade characterised by consumerism, superficiality, and, for lack of a better word, dumbass-ery.  But, in some ways, they completely epitomise our young adult culture – revelling in spectacle.  The entire project was created on film, meant to be seen and heard.  Nevertheless, change doesn’t necessarily have to be in grand gestures.  It can borrow from the elements of the current state of society to create a new powers of influence and, potentially the most important of all, redefine our generation.

I am curious, though, as to what exactly others find captivating about this young group of adults.  Moreover, why do people feel compelled to help them and would they help others in this same capacity if it did not lead to the possibility of being profiled?  Were The Buried Life not up-and-coming Internet sensations and soon-to-be reality TV-show stars, I highly doubt Global News would allow them to open the 6 o’clock news.

[Via http://avenuel.wordpress.com]