Don’t waste time/energy at the waterfall, look upstream to sources of problems
As the fire hose of accusations, recriminations, distractions and chaos fills our consciousness, I think of the fable concerning the valiant but unsuccessful effort to prevent babies from cascading over the waterfall. The moral of the story is a plea to travel upstream to find out who is throwing the babies in the river in the first place. Everyone knows that if you don’t get to the root cause of problems, you fall into the expression of “the hurrier I go, the be hinder I get” and you fall into a financial sink hole of “spending good money after bad”.
So what prevents us from going to the source while we continue to be distracted by the end results? I present the following reasons:
The end result is identifiable and quantifiable. It’s the “low hanging fruit” from the tree whose invisible roots are rotten.
We all know…..
The name of the mass shooter but we either don’t know (or don’t care) about where exactly he went so horribly wrong. Who let him down? Why was his condition allowed to fester? It’s hard to believe that he woke up that morning and suddenly became a mass shooter. The same sequence of questions could be posed concerning all repeat-offenders, criminals, addicts, domestic abusers, bullies, etc. Who were the persons and agencies in the lives of these persons who “looked the other way”? Did they mistakenly or willfully refuse to see these imminent train wrecks? Were they all “asleep at the switch” lacking the time, energy, resources or concern to avert these end results?
We all know….
The stories about the “welfare queen” and the “food stamp fraudster” but we don’t know (or don’t care) the names behind the massive scams and white-collar crimes perpetrated to defraud millions. Most persons recognize the names Bernard Madoff (Ponzi scheme mastermind), the Enron company scoundrels (though their personal names are long forgotten) and the Sackler family big pharma villains. However, they are only the tip of the corruption iceberg. We have no recollection and express no sense of outrage concerning the rest of the corruption conspirators because they are nameless and faceless. Can anyone recall the names of the real estate and lending speculators who collapsed the housing market bringing harm to millions? Can anyone recall the names of the corporate giants who crashed the stock market in 2008 and were never prosecuted because they were “too big to fail”.?
We all know….
That the immigration system is a mess but it’s so much easier to focus rage on the immigrants rather that drill down to why they are refugees in the first place.
I raise these questions since deep down we all know there are systemic sources behind every bad result whether it pertains to a person, agency, state or nation. But it’s so much easier to hate both the sin and the sinner rather take a cold hard look at what led up to the sin and the sinner.
This gnawing sense of angst about conditions and disillusionment with society in general and the government and media in particular is palpable whether you’re a MAGA supporter, working class/middle class member, liberal, progressive, conservative or libertarian. We all know deep down that something is very wrong and the deck is stacked against us way up stream far away from the crisis at the waterfall.
I cite my own experience as a boomer whose swam hard all my life but realize I’ve been treading water all these years. I’m an avid swimmer so pardon all my water analogies. I’ve worked 2 & 3 jobs concurrently for over 40 years just for the opportunity to own a house and put my kids thru college. I was raised on the American Dream of good house, good school, good town while exerting good effort. These goals were generally accomplished, though my “good house” is a “fixer upper that never got fixed up”. It’s been a pyric victory since it’s been “mission accomplished” but I question at what cost. Well over 60% of my disposable income all these years has been eaten up by housing costs (mine) and education costs (my kids). Where did I go wrong? Did I go wrong? I have no arrest record, no addictions, no civil judgements, no spending sprees, no vacations and no extravagancies. Anyone who knows me considers me a minimalist whose satisfied with “3 hots and a cot”.
Am I disillusioned and angry? Hell yes! And I’m not alone as represented by the polarization and discourse in the public square.
As I ponder the circumstances of myself and so many others, I look upstream to the three headed monsters of commodification and speculation in the housing, education and medical realms. In all cases, it’s the exorbitant interest expenses and entry fees that crush the American Dream. It’s the shell game and the blame game that they all play so skillfully to divert attention and blame to hide their profiteering. It’s the following unholy alliances upstream that are the culprits:
Realtors-Speculators-Developers-Bankers….in the real estate market.
Colleges-US Dept of Education-Loan Servicers…in the college market
Doctors-Medical Insurers-Pharmaceuticals….in the medical/pharma market
So what might be some solutions to exit this nightmare?
In the short run, call them out. Identify their corruption and excesses.
In the longer run, identify alternative lifestyles, adjust our perspectives and dream different dreams. This includes refocusing in the direction of the following:
Cooperative, mutual aid societies and alliances in our workplaces, careers, housing and education.
Pursue resiliency and self-reliance so we are not beholden to the upstream culprits. Pursue a simpler life that reduces our costs and increases our independence. Stop trying to “keep up with the Jones’s” and instead “unite with the Jones’s” so we can redirect our outrage for constructive results.
Stay tuned for an upcoming blog that delves into these proposals. As always, share ideas and check out my website www.dunnwriteswell.com and my novel (Mall Child) which includes these notions of angst and alternatives.
Dunn Writes Well 