When I jumped off and began watching this generation-spanning train-wreck, I honestly did not think it had a chance in hell of dominating the ethos of America.
I. was. wrong.
When factory towns, family farms and businesses were being gobbled up, sacked and plundered, I fully expected a groundswell of anger and demand for redress of grievance. I warned, I tsk-tsked, I shook my head in disbelief, but I never considered it transformative. The American Ethos was too strong for that. Too many had worked too hard for too long to give up without a fight. There would be a response, any day now...
When the malls, anchored by big box stores and temperature controlled environments, were popping up like pimples on prom night, when they replaced the community-focused community centers as our loci of life, when the food court replaced the diners, drive-ins and dives, when the cineplex usurped the Bijoux, when all these shifts in how we live were altering how we live, I believed we were smarter than this.
I. was. wrong.
To what can we attribute the relative ease with which the switch was flicked?
How did we not recognize that this road we were on lead nowhere any of us really wanted to go?
What made us think our way of life would survive this kind of alteration?
What folly? What madness? What whimsy seized us? When did we wake to reality? Have we woken yet?
If so, how do we stop the insanity? How do we give up the comfort and convenience?
How do we wrest control over our lives and our choices from those who have taken over?
Get back to where you once belonged?
See, that's just it. Where did we once belong?
1 comment:
I have that Walt Kelly cartoon from the original paper, cut it out the minute I saw it. If only more people realized its truth, we'd get somewhere on this miserable planet.
I envy your ease with all the graphics you employ on your blog.
Besides insight and wordplay, you've got that. Well, you young 'uns have always been more techie....Best Wishes!
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