Our time on earth is now being likened to the Great Depression. That's greatly depressing.
The Great Depression was a long time ago. Our grandparents lived through it and then they had a big war and the most memorable years of their lives and lived into old age with a nice pension. The only sign of any lasting effect of the GD on my grandparents was an overall tendency to be cheap and, in the case of my paternal grandfather, a lifelong love of ketchup on white bread as a midnight snack.
Fortunately, or rather unfortunately, we folks hovering around the young age of 40 can look back in our own lives to a time almost as depressing as the Great Depression to get a taste of what we might be in for in the coming years. I'm talking about the Pre-Star Wars years, the early 1970's. Although, I suppose Recession is relative (just ask Cleveland, Ohio or Midland Odessa) so maybe you didn't experience this time the way I did.
I was living in New York City - think Midnight Cowboy. Do you remember the tv commercial with the Native American crying because of all the litter? That's what I'm always reminded of, because it was true. NYC was filthy, even my little self could see that. The city had no beautification funds, folks were strapped. Executive financial packages looked like droppings compared to the coming decades. Everybody was broke and on top of that everybody, no matter their reasoning, thought the country was going to the dogs big time.
As a family, we took a break. Moved to the Middle East for a few years where things were quite different (and that's relative to me as a kid going from NYC to a small European enclave on a Arabian desert island). When I moved back to the states in the late 70's it was to the Rice University area right next to the Village. The Village was filthy - there were two porno movie houses, a Vietnamese drug-infested disco house and a Jack in the Box...I don't remember too much else. If you live in Houston, you know the Rice Village has come a long way (and maybe not quite in the direction you might want).
That was a long time ago and both NYC and Houston are remarkably cleaned up.
I know this is a superficial way to look at things but I don't mean to equate cleanliness with righteousness. I mean merely to equate the state of our public spaces to how we feel about our community. I mean to say that a direct correlation to our economy and our physical well-being and our harmony as citizens is not a given. You see, in the Seventies while the economy had a big effect on the trashing of our cities - it was also the Culture Wars. The nation was greatly divided and pissed off folks didn't mind demonstrating their disgust by tossing their fast food remnants out the car window. I mean that quite seriously.
It actually happens in Chicago all the time right now (and has as long as I've been here). Chicago is an incredibly filthy city. Inexplicably so really, but it is a cultural thing. A significant enough portion of the huge and soured poor urban population in this town, has no problem letting go of that chip bag wherever it might fall. This is just one outward sign of the problem as I see it.
Now you may worry about the GDP - the gross domestic product - and the stock market and the bottom line, your wallet. But I'm here to tell you that it's not a good indicator of our well being. The GDP includes everything made in this country and that means poorly constructed exurban houses that should never have been built in the first place, Viagra, Oil, and your doctor bills from the asthma or cancer you got living too close to the Oil refinery. That last thing is the biggest problem with the GDP, it includes our medical bills. That fact grossly conflates the importance of the GDP and should make you very leery of its usage in the media and elsewhere.
I'm talking about quality of life, the QOL. And I'm here to tell you that is where we need to watch out. But I think there is every reason to be optimistic about this because I think our QOLcan rise considerably while our petrol fueled GDP sinks. We need to worry about a great culture divide. We do not want that. And I give credit to both McCain and Obama - I think neither of them is fueling such a thing in a time when they surely could. I think they just might be reading the writing on the wall pretty good. Really I think the atmosphere might be good to see some real positive QOL changes.
Of course I've lived through ugliness before and that outcome is just as likely. For one thing, the price of oil is falling as we hit a recession. I don't necessarily see that as a good thing. The QOLchanges I look forward to have a "local" effect. Less jetting, less driving, more farming, more community outreach - the further we can take our dollars from oil the better but right now they go hand in hand.
Posts
2 Comments:
I've heard some of these sorts of QOL arguments surrounding this economic downturn before and while I welcome the thought of less reliance on cheap, nutritionally worthless, heavily processed foods followed by more of a focus on farming, local, etc, not to mention less 'jetting' and the like, I still am way too cynical to not actually believe much of this will happen unless people are begrudgingly forced into it. Our entire culture in this country (as you no doubt well know) is defined by a desire to have more and more and more. As loosely shaped an idea as our having a national conscience may be, I think it's reasonable enough when you think of us as being superficially motivated by a sense of entitlement, greed, and selfish social ladder-climbing.
This "crisis," to me, is more cyclical than anything. Being prudent and sensible down here on planet earth, the part of the universe that actual people like you and me live in, would agreeably be a well-needed turnout. To basically reiterate what you mentioned above: being conservative in our consumption, be intelligent in picking what we eat, where it comes from, and what it can do for us, think of ways to reduce our impact on oil needs, conserve energy and support candidates who actually represent a solid and sustainable future, blah blah blah.
I know I sound like some sort of aging hippie. I will at least admit to the aging part.
I guess my point (if I have one at all) is that I don't see us anywhere near the level of disaster strong enough yet to warrant seeing much of these sorts of QOL changes happening anytime soon.
Then again, looking at what's starting to happen to the economies of places like China, maybe it will happen sooner than I think. Because, you know, when you come after our cheap crap, then it's on like Donkey Kong.
Thanks for the post.
hey Wednesday,
I really liked this post of yours so Thanks.
I think its fairly safe to assume that Obama is going to win this campaign. I would love to see him follow up with his promises to push and push hard.. an aggressive move toward going green, and exciting the states. I know its complicated, but its being done all over the world, and it truly is time. It gives me hope to think that we could really be at t he point, finally, where big business is accepting of the facts concerning their role in the planet's destruction.
As a parent, I find myself getting more and more depressed about the future. I'm sure I am no different from parents who came before me... except... I get to tell my kid that all of the polar bears are dead-- and we knew it would happen. All of the glaciers are gone and China is thirsty... and we knew it would happen, but hey cheer up kid because we have created some of theee fanciest gadgets for your consumeristic insulated comfort.
Its fucking sad. I hate it. I wish my family lived on some isolated little farm in Switzerland-- living off of the land... Even my escapist fantasies are invaded by my fear and loathing though. I imagine tending the garden with my children, and looking up to see a black wall of smoke and fire coming our way. ... War with children... No good. Everyday feels like wartime when you are a parent.
Post a Comment