The American Dream

Remember that song, back in the 60s, by Pete Seeger?

"Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky-tacky.
Little boxes, little boxes, little boxes in a row.
There's a green one, and a blue one, and a pink one, and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky, and they all look just the same.

And the people in the boxes all drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children, and the children go to school.
And the children go to summer camp, and then to the university,
And they all get put in boxes, and they all come out the same."

I guess it's true that a lot of those little boxes were built right after World War II. There were all those soldiers coming home from the war who had put their lives on hold for four years, and now they wanted to get married, have kids, and move into a nice house with a picket fence around it. The G.I. Bill provided them with the opportunity to do just that. They could continue their education, and/or get a mortgage to buy a modest home of their very own, things that their parents could only have dreamed about when they were that age. They also wanted to own a nice car so they could "See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet". It became known as "The American Dream".

You and I were born into that world and just took it for granted. Our grandparents used to tell us, "The trouble with you kids is that you've got it too easy." Then they would brag about how they came over from the Old Country with little more than the clothes on their backs and survived the Great Depression by working hard and denying themselves any kind of pleasure so that their kids would have a better life than they did. I always wondered, if poverty and hardship were so good for you, why did they try so hard to shield us from it, and than complain that we have it too easy.

Kids growing up nowadays don't have to worry about that. They can go to college, incurring mountains of debt in the process, and still end up working for low wages the rest of their lives. Forget about the little house made out of ticky-tacky, they will be lucky if they can afford to move out of their parents' home into some crummy apartment before they have kids of their own. The Chevy, if they are lucky enough to own one that doesn't get recalled for safety defects, will sit at the curb much of the time because they can't afford to fill the gas tank. They can still "see the U.S.A." on television which, I guess, is better than nothing. At least they won't have to listen to the old folks harping about how they've got it too easy.

You and I went in two different directions, but one thing we had in common was our disdain for the American Dream. We called it "materialistic", as if that was a bad thing. Truth be known, materialism, like a lot of other things can be carried too far, but it's not so bad in moderation. One thing about us, we had choices. We could turn our backs on materialism, confident that, if we ever changed our minds, all we had to do was just turn around and it would still be there.

I don't know where I'm going with this, I'm just kind of rambling, and I seem to have run out of ideas for the moment. Just as well, it's time to go stuff more wood in the stove and huddle under the covers for the rest of the night. The temp has dropped below zero, and our little ticky-tacky house is groaning in protest. Come on global warming!