“There are those who have more than they want… and there are
those who have less than they need”
The majority of this country is striving, and striving, and
striving. What is it exactly that they are striving for, the ‘American Dream’?
Does such a thing still exist, after the housing debacle? Americans were lured
into purchasing their own home (part of the Dream) by being offered adjustable
rate mortgages which was the beginning of the end. It turned out that white
picket fences, golden retrievers, a Toyota Prius, 2.5 children, and a two story
home were not actually intended for everyone. Come on people, did you actually
forget your place?
Let’s break it down
for a second; the economic structure for which we live in is based on
consumption and or consumerism. The more you buy/waste your money on, the more
the country can prosper. The powers that be want you to be neck and neck with
the proverbial Jones’s. But here is the trap; the Jones’s are not actually a
part of the 1 percent. Mr. and Mrs. Jones live next door to you or across the street,
in the swanky exclusive neighborhood with its own golf course that requires a
pay check stub for admittance. So go ahead and work 80 hours a week to buy and
or lease the newest Mercedes, or buy the house with enough bedrooms to house a
small village in Africa, or buy a riding lawn mower for a lawn the size of the
infield of a little league baseball field. Take vacations that you can’t afford
just so you can tell the neighbors to pick up your mail while you’re gone so
they know you are on vacation. Feed
the machine. Live beyond your means in order to conceal your own insecurities
which you address by buying things you don’t need. Money makes the world go
round.
After it’s all said and done, what are you left with? Debt and
an estranged relationship with anyone you consider to be “close”. Is it really
worth it? Well the answer is clearly yes; how else could this country survive
if it were not for greed? If you don’t have the latest gadget, i.e. ipod, ipad,
iphone, then what the hell are you doing with yourself other than being a
burden to society? And for the generation who lives in cyber space where face
to face interaction is lost in social media, trouble has yet to come. Your
education will consist of math and science because critical thinking and
problem solving will soon be outlawed to make room for mass worker bees who can
contribute to the technological consumer machine where the tablet 12, the
galaxy 15 and whatever platform which will instantly give you access to
facebook, pinterest, Instagram and whatever useless medium we use to spew the
nonsense about our so called personal lives that no one cares about. But in the
end, it is what it is. Who am I to stand in the way of advancement? After all,
God is on our side. Pieces and Creases
No comments:
Post a Comment