Like many other Americans, Sunday night I went to a fireworks display. It was a small scale event in White Rock, New Mexico. The fireworks elicited ooo’s and ahhh’s, but observing the nature of crowd as we were leaving I got wondering what it was all about – we show up, we watch the display, we go home. I didn’t see anyone particularly moved by the experience. More so, we were like movie-goers. Simply good, obedient consumers. What about the signing of The Declaration of Independence? What about those who fought a seven year war to make it stick?
I would have liked Thomas Jefferson and his band. Trouble makers, all of them, and certainly King George III thought so. Most importantly however, these characters (in all, fifty-six delegates signed the document) stood up for what they believed in and had the commitment to take the heat for calling the King of a world super-power to task and telling him ‘see ya later.’
But here we are, embarking on our 235th year as a nation, most of us just doing business as usual. Encouragement to consume comes at us from every angle. Encouragement to rock the boat does not. The underlying message is be quiet and accept that life is as good as it gets. The economy and the tremendous wealth being generated by it for the very small number of people who actually hold the reins is dependent on this. However there is something greater in life than groceries, laundry detergent, automobiles and insurance to “protect” it all.
It’s called citizenship; caring enough about what’s going on to do something about it. The move from consumer to citizen takes gumption, foresight and resilience; it also takes a shift in consciousness. The building of a better society, a better world has to be more important than the consumption of stuff.
In case you’re thinking you can’t make a difference, in an upcoming post I’ll tell the story of how my mother and her best friend – they called themselves “Mutt & Jeff” – took on City Hall and won.
Gordon Bunker
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