I met my friend Sandy when I moved to Georgetown, Washington, DC just after I graduated from college in 1994. Sandy and I are kindred spirit - we both enjoy a strange, sometimes ridiculous, and sometimes dark sense of humor. And in our own ways, we are both brooders. I'm sure we both brood less in 2011, being 17 years older. He and I often jogged together along the C & O Canal. I remember some beautiful Fall days along the river.
One particular conversation we had, probably while running...it was a brooding one. About the state of the world and how was anything ever going to get better? Luckily, we knew the answer. Even if it was an answer that may doom the world to eventual catastrophe because of its utter unlikelihood:
How are things ever going to get better? we asked ourselves in righteous, youthful cynicism.
"I THINK IT'S GOING TO TAKE A GENERATION OF MARTYRS." we decided.
"YES, THAT'S EXACTLY IT. IT'S GOING TO TAKE A GENERATION OF PEOPLE WHO ARE WILLING TO GIVE UP THINGS THEY WANT IN THE SHORT TERM TO MAKE LIFE BETTER FOR GENERATIONS TO COME IN THE LONG TERM." Probably, we then had to go listen to some Dave Matthews.
Yet, as I listened this past week, to the news about the debt ceiling, about the U.S. credit rating, the 'double dip' recession, I thought about two things: 1) this conversation with Sandy and 2) stories about my Gran.
My Gran lived to be 95 years old. She was born in 1908. When she was pregnant with my mom she went into labor in a rations line. During World War II, there was an enemy and it was clear what had to be done - everyone had to 'sacrifice' some short-term comforts like sugar, gasoline, etc in order to contribute toward the cause of victory.
The economy, politics, and looking at history really does intersect with our emotional health, both as a country and as individuals. Looking at the long term, big picture and foregoing immediate gratification takes emotional maturity.
Thomas Friedman wrote in the NYT last week about the need for prompt and 'collective action' to correct our economic situation http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/opinion/sunday/Friedman-win-together-or-lose-together.html?ref=thomaslfriedman .
I wonder if we can again be a nation of emotional maturity? Can we consider collective action without being reactionary and getting caught up in speech that automatically equates collective action with communism and threats to freedom? I think we can.
I also think it's a mark of mental health and maturity to take a realistic look and try to imagine all your options when you feel you're in a jam. Sometimes our options seem so far down the road, or so difficult for one person to try to achieve anything that we tend to throw our hands up and say, "I'll just deal with my own little piece of the world." That's okay. But I believe we all have one immediate option, should we choose to use it: let's talk about and bring into the public dialogue the fact that many of us feel and know that it is not a sacrifice to help make our earth, our country a more sustainable place in every way.
We are definitely all going to have to suck it up and take a hit on our quality of living.
ReplyDeleteOne can't blame the youth, of course, because we got them into this mess. That said, it does disconcert me how important "bling" and "fame" is to my students today. They don't even think about a reason for acquiring these things--they just want it. We have completely lost ideas about integrity, personal honor, and our individual contributions to society. In this way, I can go along with "collective"--because in the end, we all need each other to survive.