Wednesday, December 3, 2008

...they were the worst of times

as a followup related to my previous happy post...

It's funny how we're constantly hearing recession recession recession economy economy economy and I still don't feel like it directly affects me one bit. I still have a job. I have friends (also in the architecture industry) without jobs, so I say this and knock on wood, as though I've been at my firm quite a while, I don't want to jinx anything. If I were to lose my job (like all the WAMU employees in Seattle), then I might be singing a different tune.

However, my circumstances, lifestyle and viewpoint have left me unscathed. My money is not in stocks. I don't rely on sales or commissions for my income, and I don't own a home to lose value. I don't spend a lot of money on things, and I certainly don't think about money that much. The tiny socialist/communist inside of me is quite pleased with the recession. Does that sound blasphemous?

My outlook, further explained: I like the economy slowing down because our economy was so unnaturally consumptive, like some gurgling, belching, shitting monster, that it was unhealthy. We all are now beginning to re-evaluate... the driving of giant gas-slurpers, the constant replacement of absolute-newest technologies, the entitlement to travel often, the bottled water. The culture of owning and not sharing, of consuming and not conserving. The exponential growth multiplied until it exploded and crashed.

And now we learn that life is more than economic growth. And I like that, because there is so much more richness to human existence than many seem to imagine. Take a breath- stop watching the DOW, stop shopping online, and enjoy dinner with your parents. Listen to some music before you go to bed instead of fiddling with an iphone; watch fireflies and moths in the evenings.

Screw the economy. History shows that art flourishes during harder economic times. People think differently. More creatively, perhaps, because they don't have the luxury of not thinking carefully. So now we are free to sit around and tell stories, or play poker, or make collages. We can have a less-lavish holiday and enjoy eachother's presence; let our hair grow a littler scragglier between cuts and put less meat in our sandwiches. Because it's the most capitalistic folk who are feeling the pinch, so who's going to judge now, even if they would have before?

It's a hard lesson to learn, for many of us. It's too bad for those who took mortgages that it turns out they couldn't afford. It's hard to be unemployed. It's hard for small businesses and the self-employed to stay afloat. But I do beleive that it's a lesson that life does go on- we have to learn- of conserving, of being creative and careful, of being thoughtful and ingenuitive. The identity our culture had gained- of being over-consumptive, of hoarding, and as big and fat and excessive and dumb and wasteful, was not something I identified with as a person. I didn't enjoy calling myself an American, or even more generally, a westerner, when those cultural associations came along. We are also a culture of pioneers, of entrepreneurs, and idealists; of craftsmen, and of great artists, and now is our time to show that we have not lost that cultural identity.

And that is exciting, and heartening. I realize that the stoic "it's good for you" outlook that was installed in me by my German/Scandinavian upbringing may sound harsh. But it's true that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. We were getting too soft, too flabby and spineless as a culture, and now we can all re-evaluate. It is a great thing.

No comments: