“We just can’t keep on living like we’re living… We just can’t keep on pushing to the limit…” — Paul Davis, “Do Right,” 1980
One of my greatest fears in my lifetime has been overlooking important warning signs and continuing to do the same things while everything around me is going to you know where in a handbasket.
There have times I’ve felt like we’re all partying down and deliberately ignoring the warning signs of a hangover. Why change anything while we’re having such a good time? Let’s enjoy ourselves!
That brings to mind the Aesop fable about the grasshopper and the ant. The grasshopper is fiddling and having a good time while the ants are working hard at transporting food for storage over the coming winter. When the snow arrives, the grasshopper faces serious hardships while the ants are safe and cozy.
This theme played a huge role in the Broadway musical and movie, “Cabaret.” Though I generally regard musicals like neighborhood fireworks displays, Bob Fosse’s film production in 1972 was an outstanding exception.
Though most folks know the general plot, the story is about well to do Germans, French and Americans in the 1930s flocking to the Kit Kat Club in Berlin to consume alcohol, flirt with sin and debauchery and pretty much get away from the troubles of the world. There’s not much wrong is getting away from it all occasionally, these folks almost make this quest for entertainment and fun an obsession.
The result is the collapse of Nazi Germany all around them. And too many of them didn’t know what hit them. There were almost totally unprepared.
A similar, but less devastating theme appeared in the elegant television series “Downton Abbey,” the story of an aristocratic British family just after the turn of the 20th century. Lord Grantham and his family members and servants do not seem to be aware of the growing societal changes that are surrounding them.
After the end of World War I, which essentially ushered in the era of a manufacturing economy and a rising middle class, the Granthams are shocked and puzzled by what happened. And just like the poor souls in “Cabaret,” they are woefully unprepared.
Perhaps the most significant shock in American society over the past 50 years, besides Sept. 11, 2001, was the gas shortage crisis. I remember a gas station attendant (now obsolete) telling me in late August 1973 that gas prices were about to make a huge leap.
The massive price increases had a huge impact when we learned that the price of everything else would skyrocket as well because it costs money to move goods and services.
Once again, we seemed unprepared. And it turned out there was no real gas shortage, just a new political era in which the U.S. would be pushed around by OPEC.
I can’t get over this feeling of impending doom — the prospects that we’ve partied too long and ignored climate change, so the chickens will be coming home to roost and we shall pay for our arrogant sins. I also continue to fear an economic crash because I believe the economic system we’ve built is unsustainable because of wealth inequality, leading to either some kind of revolution or the rise of an authoritarian strongman.
I base my fears on my lifelong study of history. And I fear, as Georges Santayana warned us, “Those who don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat it.”
David, do you recall a commercial from oh, so long ago, probably from the era of the gas crisis of the early 70s, in which a Tip O’Neil type character is driving a car at a pretty good clip, and the young, senate aide-type young man riding shotgun is saying “Senator, we’re almost out of gas!” And Tip-type retorts “Oh, we’re just fine,” as he continues to tool along without a care? “Senator, we’d better stop for gas!” “Don’t worry, we’re doing just fine.” Your column reminds me of this head-in-the-sand attitude. To quote Charlie Brown, “We’re doomed.”
Good piece.
Sorry, Lynn. I don’t remember that one. But I do remember Lorne Green telling us, “Don’t drive alone.” That was back in the day when we had public service announcements.
It would be fun to reminisce about the days when our worst worry was gas over 34 cents a gallon. I sat in many a line in Pittsburgh waiting for my turn to tank up my AMC Hornet with 32 cent gas. What idyllic days!
I’m not sure that preventative maintenance is possible at a societal level. Most of us are trying to make a living, and hopefully live a comfortable life. It’s just too much work to think about climate change or economic inequality, let alone do something about it. As you look back through history, you are pointing out the cycle of life. First, we live the “good times” while problems arise in the background. A few people begin to notice, but they are simply crying out in the wilderness, and no one wants to pay attention. Then the emergency hits, and we have a huge problem to solve that might have been a small burden when it first began to show. Hopefully, the problems don’t get to be beyond control.
By the way, when I first got my driver license in the summer of 1973, there was a gas war going on at the corner of 28th St and Kalamazoo Ave. Gas there was 24.9 cents a gallon. Less than a year later (late 1973 and into 1974), it was over 55 cents. Filling up that 68 BelAire got to be real expensive!
Alan, I appreciate your remarks. Sometimes even the little things we can do to thwart abusing the environment can seem insignificant, and tiring and time consuming in our busy lives.
One small suggestion to folks out there, in general, is to begin at home with the kids. Encourage them to assist with recycling: washing out the cans and bottles that aren’t deposit containers, sorting the paper and cardboard and making sure only clean materials go into recycling. Show by example that picking up trash and disposing of it properly is a good thing, and can even be a game when you’re out and about.
Sure, it’s a pain in the tuchus sometimes, but our attitude ought to be one of joint responsibility for the environment around us, which will translate into a sense of responsibility for the larger community, and thus the world, around us.
I like your response.