Elders

Elderly people are reduced to putterers, doing little chores, taking out the trash, wrangling the dishes, etc. Trying to be helpful to stay at home, and then drawn into more serious work when needed, and the risks are justified (might break a hip), Or, go to the nursing home? Ram Dass said years ago it doesn't make any difference what you've been today (perhaps you were the president of Harvard, or?), you are nothing but a person on their way to institutonal care in a age of NOW, just a matter of time.

Wishful thinking

Self deception is an inevitable result of a civilization hell bent upon illusion. The present oil spill in the Gulf is an excellent example of this. After the explosion there were immediate under estimates of the damage .... we could relax and the President could proceed with further off shore oil drilling elsewhere (?). A day later it was evident that this mammoth "blow out" would not have a convenient exit, no amount of wishful thinking would help. ps. An oil burn was proposed to prevent this spill from moving toward the coast, almost the perfect panacea proposal, supposedly proven as a way to do this at a burn off Nova Scotia years ago. What became of this version of wishful thinking?

A further development here has some of the energy czars suggesting that it will probably be nuclear power that will be a more convenient panacea than off shore drilling. I guess they missed the news out of Russia this same Earth Day week which proves that the Chernoble disaster had been largely covered up, and the victims and damaged survivors (most of whom are dead) was in the millions, not as earlier downsized by the Russian government. When will they ever learn?

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going."

An old Roberts' family saying (shared by Norman, but who knows how far back it goes?), you were admonished to "hang tough" (a more modern version) as a way of making your way through difficulties. It wasn't necessarily a "stiff upper lip" attitude, but more of a call to action, not to give up or give in. This was suggested as an obligation of circumstances, to not back down or negotiate with circumstances. It would be interesting to know if this was suggested to our sisters too, or whether it was a male thing ... some of it was.

I remember one Christmas afternoon, we were about to join other family members for the big meal. An automotive customer of Dad's called, she was broken down 10, 15 miles away, unable to get to her family gathering. He invited me to join him to deal with the problem; we dropped my Mother, Brother and Sister off at Grandfather & Grandmother's house and then went on ....he did get her started and on her way. This would be one of many character building episodes for me, & probably for my Brother Jim as well.

The basis of this character building aspect was a version of "tough love," what might be called "tough care" the way Bell Hooks
describes the differences between love and care in her book "All About Love; New Visions." Which meant that through prepared-
ness you not only might survive, but your shipmates or fellow workers might as well. Trying to lash down a lifeboat which we were about to lose in the North Atlantic, a shipmate acquaintence undoubtedly saved my life with a forceful grab of my arm, backed up by another sailor who fortunately had anchored himself to back up Johnny. It might have been just lucky happenstance, but we were trained to care about each other, and be "tough" in the process. Care for yourself and care for others, often spoken of in terms of our troops in Iraq and Afganistan.

Entitlement

Last year one of the elder statesmen of NPR was asked about his wisdom of past decades, especially the last round up, up to the changing of the millineum; I think it was Ted Koppel. And to give his view of the ruling theme of this period. He didn't waste time nor words, "entitlement" was it, and he felt that is was especially evident during the Bush administration years. At first I was surprised, but as it sunk in I was convinced he had nailed it.

From the billionairs & millionairs down to those who feel they can run their credit cards right up to the max, from the Wall Street manipulators and giant banks & investments firms, to the petty on line criminals & pornographers, the entitlement junkies take it to the max, and then wonder why our so-called democracy is in so much trouble. People are "entitled" to fine wines, brandies
(cognacs), beers and the cusines which can go with them? The unrealities are forgotten in the process. Can anyone be surprised that countless numbers of people were convinced to take on mortgages for which they had no possibilty of pay off, and that the cynical people who made them available were also convinced that the pay offs to them was just a logical extension of the American entitlement dream.

Does this entitlement business only apply to those on the top and bottom? No sir, it is endemic, up and down the line, especially in the middle classes. & the ultimate paradox is that the entitlement mania has, in large part, driven the damage to our environment, created the huge weather problems we are suffering through, and helped to undermine our own abilities to produce products which would be healthier and more sustainable. & this doesn't even touch the glossed over subjects such as bad diet (diabetes & fat), childhood malnutrition, homelessness and a host of other problems which do not belong to a working democracy.

"Shit Happens"

A couple of decades ago (?), perhaps during the Reagan years, maybe later during Clinton's presidency, a very common bumper sticker appeared. At first I reacted negatively to it, assuming it was a kind of existential brush off, we can't do anything about it so be it. Well, this attitudinal slogan has stood the test of time, and now seems ingrained in our way of doing and accepting things. It doesn't have to be utterer or displayed anymore, it just is part of the "boilerplate."

Whether it is the corporate or wall street executives appearing before congressional committees, or the stereotype responses and actions of "Tea Party" activists on the media, the cynical descriptions of their "realities" and expectations resonate with this now timeless slogan. As far as I'm concerned it is part of common mindsets which assume a negative base combined with a personal expectation of self fulfilling prophesies.

There is an absence in all of this of a resilient, active, determined attitude of positive change. As a version of personal shortfall, of a willingness to bow down to misfortune and chaos, it seems tailor made for the Boomers and the following generations. But perhaps it predates them as well, I hope not, and my hope is the the so-called Millennials and their successors will turn it around and then a new bumper sticker will appear. And I don't mean "Expect a Miracle."