Greider on the cost of prosperity
“The Future of the American Dream”
The cost of all our prosperity-
What families, even those who are prosperous, typically lose in the exchange are the small grace notes of everyday life, like the ritual of having a daily dinner with everyone present. The more substantial thing we sacrifice is time to experience the joys and mysteries of nurturing the children, the small pleasures of idle curiosity, of learning to craft things by one’s own hand, and the satisfactions of friendships and social cooperation.
These are made to seem trivial alongside wealth accumulation, but many people know they have given up something more important and mourn the loss. Some decide they will make up for it later in life, after they are financially stable. Still others dream of dropping out of the system. If we could somehow add up all the private pain and loss caused by the pursuit of unbounded material prosperity, the result might look like a major political grievance of our time.
More important than all the other losses is that people are also denied another great intangible–the dignity of self-directed lives. At work, at home and in the public sphere, most people lack the right to exercise much of a voice in the decisions governing their daily lives. Most people (not all) are subject to a system of command and control over their destinies. They know the risks of ignoring the orders from above. Not surprisingly, many citizens are resigned to this condition and accept subservience as “the way things are,” and their lives are smaller as a result. Many find it hard to imagine that these confinements could be lessened, even substantially removed, if economic organizations were informed by democratic principles.
I’m thinking about a question I’m supposed to answer soon on cnn.com: in these times, should we be launching a mission in space to fix the Hubble? And I was thinking about iconic images I’ve seen in the past of early space launches, and how I felt in 6th grade when I heard about the Challenger going down. Those were times when we could all coalesce around something like space travel: watch it all together on TV, mourn the loss of a crew together. Get excited about America’s future together. Now, I’d bet most Americans don’t even know the shuttle is launching because our news consumption is so diffuse. The days of shared experiences around national events feel over. In part because of what Greider discusses (families simply have no time to digest and share experiences like a space launch), in part because of our new media landscape.
Comments
About Me
Morra Aarons-Mele utilizes social media strategies to help employers, employees and communities connect. She also consults with leading organizations on how women can use the internet for professional and personal development. In her spare time, Morra enjoys blogging about women and politics. Read her full bio >>
Recent Posts
- Entrepreneurs: not who you think they are
- 10:25 am, Tuesday
- Read His Lips: Workplace Flex Not a Women’s Issue
- Blogging from the White House Forum on Workplace Flexibility
- Wolf at BestBuy- Women’s Affinity Group with Bottom Line Effect