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Working In the Garden Today
by James Glaser January 7, 2009 Yes, it is cold for North Florida, and working in the garden might not have been my first choice, but I'm starting to think getting that garden ready for planting is becoming more and more important. If times were different, I would be going full speed ahead getting my new shop ready, but the way the country is going, I think it is more prudent right now to think about worse case scenarios. I don't really think America is going to fall apart, but for the first time in my life, I'm not sure of that. I know how to garden. Eating the fresh produce you grow yourself is great, and even if everything starts getting back on track, that garden will be a plus in my life. Tonight I took a quick trip to Winn-Dixie to get a couple of onions for Wanda to finish up her chicken noodle soup, and all the people in line ahead of me at check out were using food stamp credit cards. All of them! I know most of these people work, but the average person's pay can't buy groceries, and all the other necessities of life, too. Washington has been playing with the inflation numbers for years, and if you are making a good wage you might believe what the politicians are saying. However, if you are right on the edge, where you make just enough to exist, you know that your pay check just doesn't cut it any more. This has been going on for a long time now, and those people at the bottom now see how far they really are from the top. All you have to do is look at any mall parking lot. Poor people drive cars that wouldn't even qualify as clunkers, while those at the other end are driving a BMW or a Lexus. A lot of people at the bottom have stopped dreaming, and that is bad. Bad because if you don't have a dream, all you have is reality, and at the bottom, reality is not very nice. I believe some day, and this is why I am not very confident about our country's future, those at the bottom are going to quit. They are no longer going to do the menial jobs for what is now inadequate pay. They won't stock the shelves, they won't fix those tires, pick up the garbage, detail your car, cut your lawn, dry clean and press your clothes. First they will quit, and then they will try and take—take what they will never have. Take what they used to dream of. When that happens, I will be happy that I worked on my garden. I know all of this seems depressing to think about, but we as a nation should be thinking about things like this. Barack Obama was elected President because he tapped into what the people at the bottom were thinking. And don't get me wrong, the people who put Obama in the White House were not all black. There are way more white people at the bottom numbers-wise than African Americans, and they bought into Obama's words about hope and change, too. These people bit—hook, line, and sinker. It has been a year now, and most are worse off now than when President Obama was elected. These people, black and white, are now starting to see that they were had. They look around and see that their path to any sort of prosperity is filled with people that a year ago were a few rungs up the ladder, but who are now down at the bottom with them. The more people at the bottom, the closer we get to unrest. I think it is a good thing we have this cold snap happening right now, because people don't usually run amok in the cold. However, by next summer if things are looking like they do today, I won't be running to Winn-Dixie to get onions, I'll be guarding the crop I planted. Well, have a nice day, but do yourself a favor and give your future and your family's future a few minutes of thought. Oh, and if you can, plant a garden. |
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