(Edited from a writing I did originally about Shirley Sharrod...look it up in history, eh? In July 2010...but I think it still makes sense today).
How we got here: Put er’ in the microwave.
We can blame the stall in race relations if we want to. But, there is great evidence to the contrary. Nearly everywhere in our culture, our races are mixing and working together more than in any other time in history. We have a black President, for cryin’ out loud! That has to say something!
I happen to think it’s something more systemic, more evil, more cynical, and more clandestine than we want to talk about. It’s all about the microwave. Yep.
The microwave was originally invented in the mid-1940s as an offshoot of a radar project. Code-named “The Speedy Weenie Project,” Dr. Percy Spencer found a new way of cooking a hot dog. From there….and years later came the “RadarRange”. By 1976 Microwave ovens were more commonplace than ovens in America’s kitchens.
Why am I blaming the whole (mess we're in) debacle on the microwave?
The microwave and many other technical inventions over the last 120 years have aimed to improve our lives by providing fast, efficient ways to do mundane and everyday tasks. One no longer needed to slave over a hot oven for hours at a time to provide food for the family. Microwave meals, and fast food have taken over feeding time for you and me.
It now takes minutes to prepare a meal. However, that meal now contains overwhelming amounts of sodium, preservatives, fat, triglycerides, and other chemicals. More Americans than before are suffering from overweight, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes. The “family meal” is now replaced by eating on the run. In other words, in the name of saving time and convenience, we are killing our families and ourselves. But, even worse than that…we have become a nation of impatient, rude, shallow people.
We want everything like we want our microwave meals. Fast, hot…not terribly satisfying, convenient, and wrapped tightly in a little package that’s easy to open, use and throw away.
And I mean, everything. Not just food. Everything. Relationships. Entertainment. Adventure. Books. Education. Friendships. Business. Love. Sex. Movies. Hunger. Unemployment. Poverty. War. Everything. We want it now. Wrap that up…it is a done deal! Next problem.
And you see there is where the basic problem lies. Some things in the human experience are not meant to be “consumables.” Some problems cannot be overcome by just snapping your fingers, throwing money at it, or “throwing the bums out.”
What is happening in the gulf was a terrible tragedy; one that only we greedy, ignorant, stupid humans could possibly inflict upon our own world. Yet, for all that we know about how dangerous it is to drill deep oil wells in the ocean… we continue and will continue to drill. Just the thought of gas prices climbing sends our volatile and already disengaged markets into a panic. I’ve said it before…thousands of people die in an earthquake… and for us, that’s “too bad” we may possibly dig into our pockets for a fin to send over there… but, if gas were to ever go over 4.00 dollars a gallon, there would be panic.
And yet, for all our knowledge… we have yet to learn from any of our mistakes. We continue to strive for a life of leisure, convenience, pampered and entitled to what the world owes us. Even our kids have caught our affliction. As many of us confused parents have wondered out loud, “how can afford to buy the kids the (BLANK) they want for Christmas?”
We extend that need for speed and apply it to all of life’s nooks and crannies. Shortcuts to everything. Every relationship must be geared and manufactured to provide maximum pleasure, minimal intrusion and constant adorations.
Unemployed? Ahhh…too bad, send me a check!
Sex? They have machines for that nowadays that are nearly as good as “the real thing” (or so I’ve heard)..
Education? Hey you don’t to bother with all that study study stuff… just send us a check, we’ll send you a diploma. You don’t know how to learn anything… but you don’t need to… just have that piece of paper that says, “Yes! I am S.M.A.R.T!!”
Politics. Well, we know we want change. But, you see…. I don’t want to have to change. I just want to change my neighbors who are annoying and lazy and not “like us.”
(RIGHT) Well, if you damned Liberals would shut up and stop supporting Obamacare and his socialist, Marxist, communist leanings…. And we impeached him… and finally elect Sarah to her rightful place as head grizzly mom of our great nation which our soldiers spilt their blood trying to defend against you gay, leftist commies….
(LEFT) No, no no!! It’s all because of G.W. that we’re in the mess to begin with!! My gosh, are you not blind? If we wouldn’t have made those tax cuts to the wealthiest oil-rich barrons… we would finally have labor unions back and our country back at work!
Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera…
The problem is, we live in a microwave world where we put upon ourselves the weight of the world and have grown deaf to the real problems in the world. The ones that require vigilance, sufferance, patience. We have forgotten the good fight. To fight for right. To fight for freedom. To fight for love. To find for understanding. To fight for those who cannot fight. To fight for the kids. To fight for the victims. To fight for truth and justice and honor.
This is the teachable moment: Learn to live the good life. Do no harm. Keep your mouth shut and your ears open. Listen to what other people have to say. Learn what you can from all those around you with something meaningful to say. Learn to hear things outside your belief structure.
Or, at our peril:
“You sharpen the human appetite to the point where it can split atoms with its desire; you build egos the size of cathedrals; fiber-optically connect the world to every eager impulse; grease even the dullest dreams with these dollar-green, gold-plated fantasies, until every human becomes an aspiring emperor, becomes his own God... and where can you go from there?” (John Milton…AKA Lucifer in The Devil’s Advocate)
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