I find that I spend a lot of time thinking about the world’s problems–it’s not that I sit around thinking about them, it’s more like they are constantly thrust in my face. In geography class, it’s global warming. In health class, it’s diseases like AIDs. In English, it’s reading Les Miserables and Death of a Salesman. Most of the people that I surround myself with are on the “liberal” side of the fence. Lately I’ve noticed I really don’t like to talk about politics because you can sit and deliberate over one issue and its potential solutions but what it always comes down to is that for that solution to become a reality there are other greater issues in play. It’s all one big ball of dirty wax so stuck together nothing can change.
I recently had a conversation with a friend of my Dad’s who is the president of the American Motorcycle Association’s District 36. The purpose of the group is to work with the government and appease environmentalists so that back woods dirt roads stay open to off-highway vehicles. He explained that, in policy, the AMA wants the same outcome as the environmentalists. They want the woods to remain pristine. 99% of riders respect nature and stick to the trail. It’s that 1% who tear tracks into meadows and leave garbage behind that give riders a bad rap. Because of that 1%, the two groups are pitted against one another. If the two groups could communicate in an open forum they could collaborate to get the best results.
In first grade I remember doing this project where we were given a whole bunch of empty containers, paper towel rolls, milk cartons etc. The task was to construct a city. We all pitched in our ideas and built it together. Of course we didn’t agree on everything, but we worked as a team. As a country we have lost all sense of being a team united. It’s two teams now in competition with one another. The winner is deemed Right. The loser is deemed Wrong.
We all want the same things don’t we? We want health care, education, a home to live in, a home for our parents to live in, and a healthy planet for our children and grand children to live on.
In the beginning of the film American Gangster, Bumpy Johnson says:
“This is the problem. This is what’s wrong with America. It’s gotten so big you can’t find your way. The corner grocery’s a super market. The candy store’s a McDonald’s. And this place. [a discount store] Where’s the pride of ownership here? Where’s the personal service? Does anybody work here? What right do they have cutting out the suppliers, pushing all the middlemen out, buying direct from the manufacturer?”
There aren’t corner stores anymore. There’s no sense of community. I know that people have different views but I just think we could all be happier. George Bush may have a trust fund that’ll last his family generations but is he happy playing the scapegoat? Are any of those Suits happy?
I worked for an extremely wealthy family for about 9 months. For four of it, I was their nanny. And you know what? They were all miserable. They don’t know it, because none of them live the way we lowly middle class folk do. According to pop culture, there financial status alone should equate happiness and they buy it. The only way The Father knew how to find happiness was to keep accumulating buildings and money “stimulating the local economy.” But he can’t connect to his kids. I won’t even start on his wife. It’s sort of like when you go out to buy a nice shirt because you think it will make you happy, but the happiness that comes from materials only lasts minutes. If it’s something big like a car, maybe a month or two. But think of the happiness you get from being with the ones you love. You can call up those memories at any time and the warmth is just as penetrating. It never fades. He’s got money most of us can only dream of and yet, he’s still chasing more. With money, it’s never enough.
Here is my synopsis of the platform of the republican party: I’m gonna get mine.
That’s why so many business people are conservative. They don’t want their hard earned money going towards federal programs like welfare. I understand that sentiment but the way I see it, neither party is right. Things need to change and not in the democratic slower-than-rocks-rot way we need an idealogical revolution, and fast. We need to all “be the change [we] wish to see in the world”(1) instead of “waitin’ on the world to change.”(2) It’s that John Mayer-esque complacency that’s killing us. If we stood together we could change things, but it’s easier to set back on our haunches and wait for someone else to do the dirty (and dangerous) work.
Here’s what I’m really trying to say in this crazy post:
If we took Howard, the jerk-off boss in Death of a Salesman who fires 63-year-old Willy Loman, and sat him at a table across from Jean Valjean of Les Misérables is there any way, in any amount of conversation (overlooking the obvious era and language barrier) that the two could come to an understanding of one another? Is there any way for the Valjeans of the world to come together and guide the Howards to a better place? All this badgering and bludgeoning that goes on between the two parties is a ridiculous side show. We aren’t following the basic rules for team work that we teach our six year olds.
Where do we begin to bridge the gap?
The first step, is opening the lines for communication.
(1) Mahatma Ghandi
(2) John Mayer
