Self indulgence

Having been raised in the thirties, within the depression and in thus much more stoic times, I must admit to a sense of shock about what people's expectations and life styles are now-a- days. It seems "the skies the limit" in so many ways, the top 1 or 2 percent of people who spend money in this country live in such opulence as to be downright beyond belief. To hear a muckraker like Jim Hightower describe some of this is to go way beyond any sense of credibility. How could Michael Moore satirize it, even it he had the chance? The seeming lack of self consciousness within these opulent lifestyles is instructive in itself.

Thorstein Veblen's classic "Theory of the Leisure Class" Chronicles how all of this filters its way down to the middle class and lower working class, in the past, of course. Eg. the tastes in liquors, beer and wine, food and entertainment. I remember his classic comment about the lawns of the very rich becoming the models for the millions of yards that are mowed today (?) ... "keep up with the Joneses" ... (?).

I've just finished a book that won Patti Smith a National Book Award, "Just Kids," a fascinating study of the creative process and the unbelievable amount of self indulgence and preoccupation that artists like Patti and Robert Mapplethorpe soldier through to become successful. The so-called "ladder" they ascended is described by Patti in a way that is utterly beyond any parallel in the lives of the artists I have known, including support by wealthy patrons, the relationship of the Gay community, etc. I highly recommend this book.

Meanwhile, I find myself winding down further at 80, trying to enjoy what I can, and sort of looking forward to an elderly existence wherein more of our population is going to have to live more stoic lives and try to help those who have less live better. Vamos a ver.