We need a hero or at least somebody who’ll act like one. Our economy is sucking, civil liberties are being taken away, we are at war in two countries, our government is finding more and more ways to regulate and involve itself in our lives and as long as “Grey’s” comes on, it’s all good to us. College campuses have become bastions of our materialistic culture as opposed to the places that spurred discussion and tried new things, which they seemed they used to be. I thought college was where you “found” yourself. Now it’s just beer pong and mediocrity, although I’m a fair beer pong-er myself.
Where’s the outrage? Our parents’ generation helped bring about massive social change all because they got sick of the status quo. Then they moved to the suburbs, bought a waterbed and an SUV and had kids named Tucker and Mary-Whatever to paraphrase Steve Earle a little bit. Now we just want our Kavu, iPods and BMW from Daddy. We’re a generation of Neros, fiddling while the world burns around us. It’s cool, though, as long as nobody messes with “House.”
Then there’s Barack Obama and the change, change and more change he promises. What the hell? Why does anyone not try to initiate change on their own anymore? I guess we’re so used to buying everything pre-packaged and sitting on a shelf that the first guy who comes along to capitalize on that is hailed as a savior. Apparently, the people who screamed change and tried to deliver their message of change emphatically have all been forgotten. If you woke up from a daze and turned on the TV today, you would think Obama was the first guy ever to say the word change.
Whatever happened to the Woodie Guthries and Abbie Hoffmans who not only suggested change, but demanded it. You think it’s cool to learn how to rip off a Coke machine on YouTube and stick it to the “man?” Abbie Hoffman wrote a whole book on how to get free stuff and subvert the establishment. It was called “Steal This Book,” and a bunch of publishing companies refused to publish it because it was not only inflammatory but suggested thievery of said book. Woodie Guthrie stood toe-to-toe with the Dust Bowl migrants in California, while people were being killed and families were starving so rich fruit farmers could fatten their bottom line.
What about Muhammad Ali? I’m not a huge fan of the guy, but when he said he wasn’t going to Vietnam, he meant it. He didn’t run and hide in Canada. He owned up and faced the music. I admire him for that. My paw-paw would call that practicing what you preach.
We’re a generation without a backbone and so self-centered that as long as our little microcosm stays intact it’s cool. Let that balance be upset, and you get people getting shot over a bag of ice as in the wake of Katrina.
I’m not trying to be preachy. I’ve got an iPod and a new car, and I like them both. But my possessions don’t define who I am. I view my car as what it is – transportation. I think my acoustic guitar is more closely associated with my psyche than a hunk of aluminum on four rubber tires. My cell phone sucks, but I don’t feel like less of a person because of it.
Let’s light a fire under somebody’s ass. How about we demand our government work for us instead of corporate America? I hear so many people say that they support the war in Iraq. How many of them sign up? People bitch about gas prices, but everyone is still driving 80 mph on the highway and not rolling their windows down on nice days instead of using their air conditioner to save gas.
It just looks like hard times are on the horizon. I wonder how we’ll deal with it all. If it gets too bad, you’ll find me in a national forest with a coffee pot, guitar, fishing pole and maybe a couple beers. Join if you like.
David Breland is the managing editor of The Reflector. He can be contacted at [email protected].