Why are we Americans so afraid of catastrophe?
Why are we so allergic to crisis?
Why has this pandemic left us so paralyzed?
Our ancestors were used to incessant war, harsh winters, and poor crop yields. They were used to pain and death. Crises and suffering were realities of daily life in a fallen world.
Now we panic buy toilet paper and binge watch ridiculous Netflix shows.
We are, it would appear, not the hardiest of folk anymore.
We simply cannot accept the inescapable fact that bad things happen. When we encounter hardship, we run to Uncle Sam for help. Decades of peace and prosperity, along with our ignorance of history, have rendered us helpless and dependent. We believe that we should be immune to the chaos of our broken world.
This weakness, so often bemoaned by the Boomers who epitomize it, defines our culture. Our political and economic system is dominated by those who are convinced that the government should eliminate risk from the lives of the constituency. We cannot accept that some people are born into and spend their lives in higher economic brackets than others. The government, we insist, should not only protect, but fund, our modern, first-world rights.
When crisis strikes, we expect someone to pay us to sit at home. We want the evil corporations to pay our wages even though we're not rendering any services. We want our banks and landlords to forgive our mortgage and rent payments. Instead being grateful that we are still able to work, we demand hazard pay.
This coronavirus pandemic is proving our mettle, and we're not looking very impressive. We are being tried and are consistently found wanting. The beauty of the American Dream is fading into the annals of history. The days of pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps are long gone, it seems. Our ancestors sailed across oceans and drove horse-drawn carriages over mountain ranges, but their indomitable spirit has drowned in a sea of ease and materialism.
If we will not learn the lessons that history has to offer, she will have to teach us these lessons once more.
Why are we so allergic to crisis?
Why has this pandemic left us so paralyzed?
Our ancestors were used to incessant war, harsh winters, and poor crop yields. They were used to pain and death. Crises and suffering were realities of daily life in a fallen world.
Now we panic buy toilet paper and binge watch ridiculous Netflix shows.
We are, it would appear, not the hardiest of folk anymore.
We simply cannot accept the inescapable fact that bad things happen. When we encounter hardship, we run to Uncle Sam for help. Decades of peace and prosperity, along with our ignorance of history, have rendered us helpless and dependent. We believe that we should be immune to the chaos of our broken world.
This weakness, so often bemoaned by the Boomers who epitomize it, defines our culture. Our political and economic system is dominated by those who are convinced that the government should eliminate risk from the lives of the constituency. We cannot accept that some people are born into and spend their lives in higher economic brackets than others. The government, we insist, should not only protect, but fund, our modern, first-world rights.
When crisis strikes, we expect someone to pay us to sit at home. We want the evil corporations to pay our wages even though we're not rendering any services. We want our banks and landlords to forgive our mortgage and rent payments. Instead being grateful that we are still able to work, we demand hazard pay.
This coronavirus pandemic is proving our mettle, and we're not looking very impressive. We are being tried and are consistently found wanting. The beauty of the American Dream is fading into the annals of history. The days of pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps are long gone, it seems. Our ancestors sailed across oceans and drove horse-drawn carriages over mountain ranges, but their indomitable spirit has drowned in a sea of ease and materialism.
As economic collapse looms on the horizon, we demand a bailout from the Federal government. We never really debated whether or not a bailout should take place. We only debated the dollar amount on the check.
If we will not learn the lessons that history has to offer, she will have to teach us these lessons once more.
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