A Fundamental Sadness with Angst

This world, this country is blessed with multitudes of very intelligent, wise, smart, learned, experienced and very well educated people. Our country is saturated with informed people in industry, government, the military, academia, religion, economics, science, technology, research, sociology, medicine, psychiatry, space and sea exploration, on and on and on, ad vomitis. There is no shortage of brain power, of knowledge of our world, its history, its mechanics, it inhabitants.
And there seems to be no shortages in the knowledge of creating wealth, especially for the few.
Why then are we in such a state of disrepair, of disenchantment, of disillusionment, in such a state of high risk of unprecedented global disaster? Why are we going to hell in a hand basket while some privileged choirs sing hallelujah?
And as I ask these questions, I quickly admit and confess that I do not know the answers.
With all the wisdom, brain power, knowledge of history, deep insights into human nature at our finger tips, why, oh why have we reached such a state of disarray, of hopelessness, of despair, of a bleak future?
Why is humanity at a such a dangerous risk of self destruction? And, as I ask these questions and offer these observations I apologize if I seem depressed, hopeless, too negative, without faith or hope.
And I distrust those who will offer me trite, simplistic answers, or worn out truisms or moralisms.
I am simply so very disappointed with our civilized world, our seeming inability to find justice, equity, fairness, a shared joy with our earthly abundance, a common appreciation of the world’s diversity, an affirmation that ours is only one, finite, fragile globe that can be horribly damaged by human behavior.
And I admit to my ignorance, my limited exposure to the difficulties and problems of the human race. I am ignorant of the subtleties of power and empire, of the complexities of maintaining strength in a very combative world.
Five percent 5% of the US population own 80% of the wealth expressed in shares sold on the New York Stock Exchange, (according to a statement on PBS the other day.).
Money is on my mind more and more often as the cost of mushrooms, gasoline, coffee, dental service, medicines, most groceries, dining out, hardware, movies, and so much more are all increasing faster than the increases in our Social Security. And many of the foods we purchase are packaged in smaller and smaller units. Ice-cream no longer comes in half-gallon size. Yogurt is now 15 oz. rather than half a quart. Canned Tuna was long ago reduced in size. And so many other commodities, like a can of coffee, look the same but are less than one remembers.
We are to receive cost of living increases measured by the consumer price index. But the CPI does not measure most of the items at we see increasing almost daily.
Not only is money on my mind daily because of these hidden and not-so-hidden increases in the cost of living, but all of that is against the news such as the retirement of a CEO of a major corporation. He is to receive not millions or hundreds of thousands, but hundreds of millions. And will receive all kinds of other benefits like health care coverage, life insurance, use of the corporate jet, ad vomitus. I’m sure he is not at all concerned or even aware of the creeping, insidious inflation that is making more and more people poorer and poorer.
And then the news of a CEO’s annual income amounting to over seventeen million dollars even as the company he headed was losing profits, laying off workers, cutting wages and benefits, and otherwise reducing the economic benefits to the community, to people, to most other people affected by the company.
I am not poor. We can travel modestly, buy wines for $10 or so, rent videos, enjoy good food, maintain our eight-year old auto, afford to keep our lawns and gardens looking fairly good, use the dry cleaners now and then, enjoy dinners at home with friends now and then, and buy fire wood for the fire place in the living room.
But! Money is always on my mind because in part we are losing ground, running out of retirement income, while watching the costs, some hidden, some not, increase faster than the Cost of Living Index would indicate.
And, I am disturbed that this preoccupation with money keeps me from some of the joys of living, distracts me from good novels, histories, projects in my shop, good music, and other pleasant activities of being alive and reasonably well. [And I’ve not even mentioned the incompetent, criminal behavior of so many public servants at all levels of government.]
And I am constantly questioning the justice, the fairness and the propaganda of our history that keeps contradicting the realities of my present life.

Richard E. Lake