There once were people who lived and breathed the means for sustaining life. Picture pastural landscapes, dotty with farmhouses and flocked with grids of beans, corn, cows and the damp-browed beings that churned out dinners, one room schoolhouses and the occasional jug of moonshine. Productive, rational and resourceful.
Maybe you would argue that this scene does exist. Okay yeah, it does in some cases but at some point the rest of the world filters in. The clapboard farm is shaken down by every pork barrel corporate executive turning a gold coin over in one hand while twisting their mustaches into a fine point with the other. Those schoolhouse children graduate into a world that makes higher education and employment a stepladder for the connected and a barrier for the rest. And the moonshine makes the medicine go down.
Were people always opportunistic of others? I’d like to think that sometime, somewhere, people bartered honestly and if they did, I am sad I haven’t known that life. I think our definition of sustenance has shifted. It has shifted in a way that closely resembles how I figure out buying nice jeans.
Too tight, too expensive and I feel fat. Translation: We live life on the periphery of what we’re actually capable of attaining and despite that, we have more than we can even handle.
sidenote: Have you noticed yet how liberally I use confusing comparisons?
Gone are the days of getting by. We have so much and we don’t even know where it came from or why we want it. Even more jarring is that we can’t even afford these mystery things. So we know that no, we can’t afford that but yes, we will buy it because we are convinced of the necessity.
Where do you go from that? Well if you’re looking for premium denim (which was probably created by satan), you might join the gym or shop another brand that cleverly sizes up their wares for those in denial. Neither of those options properly addresses the issue, though. We ease ways out of what is uncomfortable or doesn’t fit and avoid the ickiness. So maybe shop for different jeans or don’t pay your taxes, but your body ain’t changing unless you change and the IRS will be on your doorstep sooner or later if you don’t pay.
On the very brightside, in Western North Carolina I have found no shortage of people determined to keep it simple and look out for their community’s sustainability. They grow their own food, make their own clothes, and run their homes and cars on the leftover excess of others. But hell, I’m not innocent from heathenism. I too enjoy the accommodations of modern life. Look, I am on the Internet right now.
If you want any control back in your life, you have to rely on what people did before convenience/dependence. It’s really nice to heat the inside of your four walls by burning a fallen tree and grow your own salad. That takes a lot away from a society that wants to cram unnecessary desires into your life and out of your bank account and then back into your jeans – and I don’t mean your pocket.
Posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 1:37 am. Filed under: blog Tags: biofuel, confusing metaphors of life, food, fuel, old-timey things, ramblings, rant, sustenance RSS 2.0 feed.
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