On March 25 I wrote a post ("Pander...") lamenting the fact that our grownups aren't grown and our leaders don't lead. Well, from the THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD department: miraculously, that's all changed. They heard this one lonely voice and all is well in the world. Hallefreakinlujah!
Naw, I'm just goofin' around. Not a fuckin' thing has changed, except maybe to get worse. Imagine that.
The climate has undeniably changed. In this country the first six months of this year were 4.5 degrees F. hotter than the 20th century average--the hottest ever recorded. Nearly 60% of the country is suffering drought conditions; some foods will likely become scarce and prices on many, many items will increase. The Week, in the July 20 issue, whence those facts came, had a great cartoon, from the Chattanooga Times Free Press of an ostrich, head buried firmly in the sand, "global warming denial" written on its neck, and its body looking like a cooked turkey just out of the oven, heat waves radiating from it.
The gun murder rate in the US is almost 20 times higher than the next 22 richest and most populous nations combined.
The unemployment rate creeps back toward 9%, homes still aren't selling, Europe teeters still on the edge of bankruptcy and financial chaos, student-loan debt is going to come crashing down on all of our heads like the housing bubble did. And what do we talk about in this election year? Birth certificates, tax returns, treatment of family pets.
Quick study that I am, it's finally dawning even on me: We don't want grownups or leaders. We don't want to focus on or even really look at the life-and death issues facing us, issues which are HERE NOW. We want HEROES: we want Superman to swoop in, or Bruce Willis or Harrison Ford to step up and do something dramatic and wonderful and instantaneous and just fix things, goddammit, so we can keep on with our normal, upwardly-mobile, progress-and-profit American lives, the way it's supposed to be, the way God planned it when he led white people to these shores. If the Hadron Collider is here, can Deus ex machina really be far behind?
Well, can it? Can it really be fair that we--us, you and me--have to pay some sort of price for the way we've lived? Us? C'mon.
So this week, on my radio show (I have a radio show, remember? Tuesday, noon till two on 100.1 FM, wool.fm on the webs) I'm gonna celebrate Superman, and heroes in general. Maybe they'll hear it and show up and do what they're meant to do. I'm'a go play golf.
"Are you out there, can you hear me...?"
But thinking back to my favorite medieval lit class - weren't ALL those epic poem heroes supposed to do that for us? Rescue, salvation, etc - wait, isn't that Jesus....no, getting a headache....
ReplyDeleteWait, heroes are myopic? Oh, heroes are myopiate. WE are myopic.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Mark. Glad you're back.
Righteous work
ReplyDeleteWe were recently working in Putney Vermont repairing/restoring an old barn. It was close to failure, in that the two mid tie-beam to post connections had separated due to peg shear, and the "push" of the roof load had split the posts apart... it was slowly on its way down. The sill had rotted out from under some of the posts, they were going down, the plates were going out. One afternoon (one of those record breaking hot days a few weeks ago)we were sweating profusely, and filthy with bat dung and other centuries old debris stuck to our bodies, when a lady drove into the yard, got out of her Prius, and looked at our toil and commented "you guys are doing righteous work". I was thinking at the time, huh? that's an interesting viewpoint that could only be made by the observer. That comment has stayed with me. So, what is righteous work? Does Mark's work, installing cabinets in a huge, opulent, summer home for a wealthy client qualify as righteous? Is building an elaborate timber-framed chicken coop qualify? (I'm not kidding). Sometime you just have to grin and bear it to put food on the table. Saving that historic barn was righteous,digging a ditch can be righteous. You just do the best you can, do good work, treat people fairly and try to maintain your dignity.. what else can you do? and who knows, maybe there will be that special kind of chicken who will really appreciate the fine craftsmanship of her new home.
Sometimes I'll go into an old barn and just be amazed at how the building is still standing. On one of the eave walls, 2 of the 4 posts are totally rotted away, bearing no weight, and yet the structure still stands. How? I don't get it. Seems like this old world of ours is on its way down too. How can there be any future? I don't get it, but who knows, maybe there are a few up and comings who are willing to do a little righteous work, and they will slowly jack-up/prop up repair the underpinnings here and there, and keep this ol world goin for a while yet.
I can hear the fiddle (lyre... actually) playing in the background! Maybe we just know too much today with all of the media and its hype. But, please, not Bruce Willis... (can't stand him), I cast my vote for Superman, but Christ will do just fine.
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