The worst part of the American brand of Mediocrity is the idea that what we have is the best, so we do not fiddle with it.
Not only that but we package and send it overseas to third world countries and try to ply them with our supposed greatness. Yes, most people would say what we have to offer the world is really great stuff: modern technology, time-saving gadgets, and truly amazing marketing.
What it does not have is much substance. Mostly what we can give them is consumer-driven economies, the race for the next “big thing” which is actually not much more than a small improvement over the last next big thing. Yes, it’s what we do. But we chase our tails like this because our entire social structure is built on this ever-renewing, ever-expendable, ever-disposable society.
Of course the real problem comes when such concepts of “disposability” expand beyond the confines of products and begin to be applied to other things. Other things like morals, social structures, attitudes, beliefs… oh, and people as well.
When we reach that point, you could say we have decided that the race’s self worth is practically zero. And seeing how we pretty much disregard the homeless, the needy, the suffering, I’d say we are just about there.
Wait, you say, there are many who care, many who give to help those less fortunate.
Yes, I will certainly agree with that but that just proves my point.
Who decided that these people were “less fortunate”? The marketing companies looking for opening new markets? The religious missionaries looking for new converts? It seems more like they are preying on the helpless rather than actually doing any real helping.
I have been in the third world and saw a lot of people who, though they wore nothing but rags, no shoes, and had precious little to eat, were actually quite happy. They interacted with their spouses and children and worked together to maintain the substance of life. They were not “blessed” by the latest gizmos or packaged food nor even the latest styles of designer jeans. They did not gossip about the latest news of Lindsey Lohan nor the latest antics of Paris Hilton or any of the Kardashians. They did not attend weekly services nor did they tithe.
These people were so far removed from what we assume life is all about that it is really no wonder we think of them as backward, needy, and starved for food, material possessions, and redemption.
Yes, just as if all that was really what life is all about. And yet these people have much happier and more fulfilled lives than most any American.
They do not bother with an education system that is designed for one purpose only: to create more cogs for the machinery of a disposable civilization. They teach their children the skills they need to survive.
They do not bother attending churches that are supposed to connect Man with God but only connect them to dogma. They are connected to the Creator in all their daily activities.
They do not bother chasing money in order to hoard it or save it for those “major purchases” down the road. Most of what they need they barter for.
And they have no need of psychiatrists to tell them what their mental problems are creating all the stress in their lives, because they don’t have any.
Passing along our culture to the entire world is counter-productive.
Just like killing off 5,000 varieties of apples because they are “not commercially profitable”, our society is deciding what is good for us in the world and quietly putting down all things that smack of “different-ness”.
And they will soon do it with people.
The pattern has already been established and when that day comes, I’m sure the majority of the people will say, “Well, it’s about time!”
