I think you're wrong to liken yourselves to "parasites". It's more like symbiosis, where two species co-exist to the benefit of both. The "wealthy" would not be able to exist without people to perform the manual, semi-skilled work. In the US pre-Civil War era, wage earners were far better off and more independent that the hardscrabble southern dirt farmers.
I think you're wrong to liken yourselves to "parasites". It's more like symbiosis, where two species co-exist to the benefit of both. The "wealthy" would not be able to exist without people to perform the manual, semi-skilled work. In the US pre-Civil War era, wage earners were far better off and more independent that the hardscrabble southern dirt farmers.
Your perspective allows for more of a sense of dignity, to be sure. I am bothered by an entire host of conditions which were undertaken long before I was born. I realize that I romanticize previous epochs and their social configurations and I actually have no basis of reference to support my suppositions. Nonetheless, in my imagination, I would prefer the constraints of village life, where at least your fate was largely determined for you by dint of how your family was situated, and you simply worked to exist. There is too much "freedom to choose" between an abysmally unattractive array of non-viable options in this modern arrangement, for me anyways.
Again, I have no tangible solutions. And I don't go around bitching out loud to anyone within earshot about how screwed up everything and everyone is. In the actual practice of day-to-day living, I accept the reality of my situation and make the best I can of it. But here, on this blog, I like to dream out loud, even if it only amounts to so much vaporous musing.
Nearly 20 years ago I did a year-long stint as a carpenter's assistant for a large mansion remodel in Lyme, NH. To a man, all of the builders told me their own houses were dumps because:
1) They were too tired and disinterested in the craft after their shifts to do the upkeep on their homes themselves.
2) They couldn't find reliable help that they could afford to make their own homes sturdy.
This conundrum I found profoundly disturbing. This feeds into my conviction that we simply do not have intact, viable communities in this country, any longer.
I think you're wrong to liken yourselves to "parasites". It's more like symbiosis, where two species co-exist to the benefit of both. The "wealthy" would not be able to exist without people to perform the manual, semi-skilled work. In the US pre-Civil War era, wage earners were far better off and more independent that the hardscrabble southern dirt farmers.
Your perspective allows for more of a sense of dignity, to be sure. I am bothered by an entire host of conditions which were undertaken long before I was born. I realize that I romanticize previous epochs and their social configurations and I actually have no basis of reference to support my suppositions. Nonetheless, in my imagination, I would prefer the constraints of village life, where at least your fate was largely determined for you by dint of how your family was situated, and you simply worked to exist. There is too much "freedom to choose" between an abysmally unattractive array of non-viable options in this modern arrangement, for me anyways.
Again, I have no tangible solutions. And I don't go around bitching out loud to anyone within earshot about how screwed up everything and everyone is. In the actual practice of day-to-day living, I accept the reality of my situation and make the best I can of it. But here, on this blog, I like to dream out loud, even if it only amounts to so much vaporous musing.
Nearly 20 years ago I did a year-long stint as a carpenter's assistant for a large mansion remodel in Lyme, NH. To a man, all of the builders told me their own houses were dumps because:
1) They were too tired and disinterested in the craft after their shifts to do the upkeep on their homes themselves.
2) They couldn't find reliable help that they could afford to make their own homes sturdy.
This conundrum I found profoundly disturbing. This feeds into my conviction that we simply do not have intact, viable communities in this country, any longer.