Obscenity

Ever notice how popular romantic comedies or otherwise good-spirited entertainment these days almost universally features very wealthy people, often with little explanation as to how they manage to be very wealthy? Also, take a look at similar genre films from the 80s and note how they generally featured middle class folks - blue collar workers or perhaps academics (who don't make much more than blue collar folks). When I was a kid, every one of my teachers had a house, and most of them had spouses who didn't HAVE TO work to support their families, which included, on average, 2 kids. I am a teacher, and a new father. There is no way that I will ever be able to buy a home for my family, unless my wife also works and earns at least as much money as I do. And even then, we could never buy in the communities in which we have lived recently. But let's say that we sacrifice much; we eat frugally, take no vacations, use public transportation, entertain ourselves cheaply or for free, and work a lot of overtime. I'm sure that with careful budgeting we can eventually scrape together enough to buy a modest house, and we might be able to pay it off by the time we're in our 70s or so, so long as we don't try to pay for our son to go to college, or have another kid. In the mean time, what kind of life have we lived? We spent minimal time with our son and enjoyed ourselves even less - save for the joy we get from our work... hopefully. Now, maybe it's not so bleak as it seams. Perhaps I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed right now and I'm not seeing something that will become clear later, but for the time being, it sure seems to me that a person has to sacrifice something, or a lot, in order to have a modicum of security. All I would like is a little house, a reasonable schedule, and no fear of eventual poverty. As it stands, I don't know whether illness, serious injury, banking fine print, or whatever might cast us down into a very uncomfortable situation.

But let me back up a little here. I had a student this year who remarked (I'll paraphrase), "you're a really smart guy. Why are you wasting your time teaching? You don't have to be smart or talented to teach. You could be doing something much better." After some probing, I learned that "better" to him meant "more profitable." This got me thinking... I chose teaching as a career because I love people. I love connecting with people, and I love the idea that I can do something to improve the lot in life for at least a sliver of the population. I am dedicated to teaching, and it is not an easy job. I would say that, on average, while teaching full time, I am 'working' in one form or another, a good 70 hours per week. And there is really no break in the summer, when I find myself reflecting on the efficacy of what I did the previous year, planning new approaches that might improve my results. I can say that I have a passion for the work, and I think that as a result I am fairly effective. Now, my dedication has no financial incentive. Money is an abstraction that has been made a necessity by the structure of our society. It seems that if a person can find something that (s)he enjoys doing and does well, something that society needs done, that they should expect to be able to live a decent life while doing it. The fact that there are many professions for which the compensation is much more modest than teaching, and/or the expectations are such that those folks have no chance of living a balanced, healthy life (my cousin works for John Deere, and is expected to work, high pressure, in the office 12-15 hours/day for his salary), is cause for alarm.

There is a sickness in our "civilization," and we are not the worst off, though we might be the most obscene. Nowhere else is wealth so highly concentrated, and yet the facts of daily life so atrocious for a majority of the citizens. This represents horrendous mismanagement of resources. To make matters worse, many of our best minds are being squandered, either through their application to commit financial crime, or because they are not being nurtured (in the case of some of our brilliant poor). If you grow up in this country in a situation that isn't privileged, the American dream will not likely become a reality. You will find yourself poorly educated, without adequate health care, under-qualified for decent work, and eligible only for ridiculous sorts of loans if you want to invest in yourself or your ideas. The middle class is about dead.

We are heading toward a sad, dark place visited by many societies throughout history on their way toward a brutal self-destruction. Even those who are profiting from this deteriorating arrangement are in danger, and if they think they can insulate themselves with the ever-growing disparity between themselves and the masses, they are delusional. History does not favor injustice. Only by cooperating can people succeed in the long run. Isolation and separation are the tricks of the doomed. Before too much damage has been done, we will have to re-evaluate and re-build ourselves. IT IS ENTIRELY POSSIBLE TO HAVE SOCIAL JUSTICE, A MINIMUM STANDARD OF LIVING, AND TO DO IT SUSTAINABLY. All we have to do is commit to it. Mainly, those with all the power have to commit to it - a difficult thing considering all that they will have to "give up." I put that in quotes because they will gain so much more, but that which they will gain is not given much value in the current scheme, while that which will have to be given up is highly prized, though without actual value. There is no price tag on human dignity.