It seems that our society is more stressed out, fearful and
polarized than it ought to be.
Let’s be honest, there was no “good ol’ days.” There was no time that was perfect or even that much better
than our current time, but there was a time when it seems people appreciated
the little things more and took more time to live. Businesses used to be closed on Sundays, employers used to
leave their employees alone at home and people were able to enjoy time away from
work. Today it seems that so many
people are caught in jobs they do not enjoy with not enough time to create
positive thriving relationships with those around them. People are too busy and lose their
perspective way too easily. I know
too many people who didn’t know quite what they were getting into when they
accepted a job out of college and now they just can’t find a way to really do
what they once wanted to.
I see three main problems in America today. First, many people are
underemployed. In other words,
they take a job out of necessity that they are way over qualified for or can
only find part time work when full time is desired. Second, many people find jobs that pay an exorbitant amount
of money and get trapped in a luxurious lifestyle that they can’t escape,
despite their apathy toward their job. Third, some people don’t care what the job is they just want
a lot of money. I know many who
have to take a job to make ends meet, that’s not a bad thing, that’s a
responsible thing, but when you chase a major in college or a particular career
purely for the end of a high salary, that’s a problem.
All three situations are all too prevalent in modern day
America. I would argue that these
issues in our culture stem from 3 major problems in our society.
1.
The corporatization of our society.
2.
The love of money over people.
3.
Rugged individualism.
The corporatization of our society has occurred for several
reasons, but the largest reason is that we are an incredibly consumeristic and
materialistic society. This comes
from having a capitalist system that puts value on capital. People implicitly start to value people
based on what they’re worth or what they can do for them. This has eroded the value we place on
people intrinsically. Furthermore,
people used to have a blind trust in the government and while that has eroded
due to Nixon and Vietnam, people have seemed to turn that blind trust over to
corporations. Consumers often turn
a blind eye to who makes their products and under what conditions and focus on
a cheap quality product rather than the ethics or morals behind it. The markets reward corporations with
investment without looking at how they provide for their employees. Our society has turned away from
government and social involvement and given our blind obedience to Nike,
Starbucks, Gap and Apple. The only
positive in this is that some of these companies have been forced by a minority
of consumers to think twice about how they treat their employees, give better
benefits and support more altruistic charities.
The love of money over people can be seen throughout our
culture, in many “media” outlets, films, reality shows, certainly on Wall
Street and even in too many Churches.
Much of this message is given to people, especially young kids,
implicitly and skews our perspective in a way that puts value on things and not
people. In the inspiring book, “The
Last Lecture” written by a cancer patient dying of cancer one of Randy Pausch’s
dying lessons to his children was to value people over things. Our culture emphasizes youth and
vitality over wisdom and gravitas and therefore we see too much an emphasis on
fashion, elective surgery and appearing a certain way. All of these contribute to putting
style over substance and this leads a society down a consumeristic road rather
than one focused on those people within it.
Finally, rugged individualism. Ayn Rand is one of the foremost philosophers on this, the
irony is most Americans have never heard of her, but her cultural values are
ingrained in our culture. Study
after study shows that amongst the developed nations of the Earth, America
works the most hours, is least happy and has the smallest communal
attitude. In most of these studies
there is a clear correlation between happiness, less work hours, more family
time and a more communal society.
The Economist has run multiple articles on the new “science of
happiness” and which countries are the happiest. I, like many, am quite skeptical about scientifically
determining happiness, but The Economists articles are quite convincing and
well researched. They find Scandinavian
countries are the happiest and that the USA and ironically China are quite
unhappy, despite China’s recent economic boom this has not correlated to
happiness. The problem being that
as a society material success has been put ahead of leading a significant life
that impacts others for the positive.
In America today it is popular to make fun of Europeans,
their governments and their lifestyle, but it seems to me they are light years
ahead of our society that gives fewer holidays and no mandatory parental leave
for new parents. America is
lacking on finding a work life balance and while the problems are clear to me,
the solutions aren’t. I laid out
three problems above, but what sort of solutions are there?
To me the solutions are also threefold:
1.
Recreate our public education system from K-12.
2.
Emphasize living significant lives rather than
successful lives.
3.
Stress a balance between individual rights and
community goals.
Within our education system we have all kinds of great
schools and amazing teachers, but we also have unforgiveable inequality and
complacency. These are two major
problems facing America today, but there is seeming little political or public
will to change these. First off,
inequality. Jonathon Kozol wrote
an eye opening book entitled, Savage Inequalities, in 1991 where he pointed out
cases of public schools within the same state that were quite different. One school was dirty, worn down,
crowded classrooms and ancient textbooks; while the other had state of the art
technology, amazing cleanliness and plenty of room in class. He wondered, as do I, how could this be
in America today? The answer of
course is the way that we fund schools.
Typically it is done locally via property taxes, which sets up a grossly
inequitable system. The rich areas
and neighborhoods have magnificent schools and the poor, well you get it. We need to rethink the way that we fund
schools, but also be willing to embrace dramatic new trends in education. We have so many antiquated systems in
our schools. The way we grade,
assign homework, have kids responding to bells, and more were set up for an
agrarian and industrial society where children were either being prepared for
the factory or the farm. This is
not the case anymore in modern America.
Our children need to be prepared for a small, global and highly
technological world where quick and creative thinking will be valued. Education funding and design must be
rethought if America is to stay a world leader in the 21st century.
All too often I believe we erroneously encourage our children
to pursue success rather than leading significant lives. This is not semantics. Success is in pursuit of an
individualistic or materialistic measureable goal. The irony here is that the goal posts of success are always
being moved by society and ourselves; therefore, it’s almost unattainable. There’s never enough for a person
driven by success. There is always
a faster car, bigger home or better job.
Significance on the other hand is totally about other people. It is about using your gifts, talents
and riches for the betterment of others.
You can do almost anything in a significant way in fact. The point is not what you choose to
major in or career path you choose, but it’s about why you have chosen that and
what you intend to do. People who
chase success never find joy and contentment, but people who find significance
are full of jubilation.
Balance is key to these ideas truly taking hold in our
country. A balance needs to be
struck between individual rights and truly valuing those in our community and
country. Our individual rights
ought never be given up, but we also need to realize that I am not just an I,
we are a we. It’s not just about
me, if it was the rest of you wouldn’t be here. A fundamental assumption underlying all of this that is very
difficult to refute is that we are social beings meant to live with one
another. Anything done alone is
not nearly as sweet as sharing it with a loved family member or friend. Therefore, we need to have value for
each and every person and realize that not everyone is like me. Our understanding of each other is
critical for our society to continue this amazing experiment called America
that no other people have ever endeavored upon. America has always changed and will continue to evolve in time,
but our society is all too angry, stressed, scared and polarized to keep this
experiment alive.
I think that being aware of the problems in our society is
clearly first and foremost before we can solve them. But every problem also comes with a solution. They’re not always easy, but then again
the things most worth anything in life aren’t easy.
I'm
still getting used to my new occupation. When I met someone the other day, and
they asked me what I did, I immediately replied, "Nothing." I felt
like Hugh Grant in About a Boy. But
in my case, that actually is not the right answer. I hang out with Neyla all
day, and I make sure my little toddler doesn't kill herself. There's more to
it, but that part is my biggest job, I would say. 