Pong... Ping...

Sunny and Paulius made comments on my last post that sort of ask me to do a bit of follow-up. My last post was a bit of a ramble, but to summarize it, I essentially said that my generation, and the generation of my kids is a lot softer than my grandparents' generation. I stand by my comment, but I'd like to clarify the statement a bit, so that everyone has a better understanding of my point of view.

First and foremost, I should say that I'm speaking on the aggregate. I understand very well that society has a lot of poor people who can't afford the luxuries our culture at large takes for granted... air conditioning, Cable TV, cell phones, and automobiles. But at the same time, I will refer to a comment that Sunny and Paulius made one of their podcasts... "Even hobos have cell phones." So yeah, people DO go without common accommodations in our society, but when the homeless have access to cell phones, it's certainly arguable that our society's standard of living is significantly higher than the highest standard of living of our ancestors... which is a nice segue into my main argument that we as a society, specifically our generation, is far softer than our forefathers.

Let me bring up another point. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that it was Paulius who pointed out in one of his blog posts that many people don't know where their food comes from. There is a serious disconnect between the farm and the table. Consumers go to the store, purchase and prepare their beef, dairy, grain and vegetables without having a clue where these items came from. Many city dwellers are completely unaware that hamburger comes from a cow, that pasta comes from grain, and that cheese originated in milk-producing animals. Furthermore, if our society was actually required to hunt and gather food for our survival, I believe that a majority of us would perish.

Furthermore, Paulius mentioned that our grandparents were frugal and went without because they had to. This also underscores my point. They had to do without. Modern society, on the whole, really doesn't know what it's like to do without. We don't understand what it's like to wonder where we'll get our next meal. (This is a reference to the Depression.) We can't fathom recycling rubber and rationing sugar because our greater way of life is at stake. (A reference to WWII.) In fact, we are so averse to the prospect of denying ourselves our creature comforts that we are willing to increase our federal debt, forcing future generations to pay our bills. I understand Paulius' argument that the availability of technology doesn't make us soft, and I can see Sunny's point that some of us aren't affluent enough to afford a lot of our modern conveniences, but this doesn't negate my position. In fact, I agree, to an extent, with Paulius when he said that we started going soft many, many generations ago. (This is my interpretation of his overall point, not something he specifically said.)

Where my opinion diverges though, is when I think about the sacrifices that generations before made to make my country... my world... a better place. The American war for independence... the Civil War (aka the War Between the States, for you southern-types), WWI, WWII. During each of these times, our people made huge sacrifices for our way of life. Could you imagine a draft in today's society? There's no way it would work, because most parents are not willing to sacrifice their children. Indeed, most of these same children would not sacrifice themselves. Rationing? Yeah right. We'll simply borrow more money to buy what we need, and pass the bill to our decedents. Learn to hunt our own food? Oh no, that's just gross! Raise our own food? That would require us to spend time on our hands and knees, in the hot sun.

THAT.... is why I think we are soft. It's not because we have conveniences and creature comforts that our ancestors lacked. It's because we have become so self-absorbed that we are unwilling, or unable, to think of the bigger picture. It's because we are so accustomed to our way of life that if we had to REALLY fend for ourselves... provide our own food, clothing and shelter... that many -- nay, most -- of us would perish. THAT is why I say we're soft. And, by the way, I know how to provide for myself better than a huge majority of people. But even I am not 100% certain that I could keep my family alive. So when I say that we're soft, I'm including myself in that statement.