tjameswhite.com

In the process of cleaning out our office closet this past weekend, I came across an old poem I wrote, with its corresponding journal entry, for an English class back in 1989.

The poem is OK, but what caught my attention was the what I wrote in the journal entry:

… I found myself trying to write on two themes with no connection between them. The first theme that developed was the original [one] intended for the journal. It was going to simply be a recollection of things from my past, things I don’t want to forget, and things I want my children to experience. With this last bit I started to get the second though, which crept into the end of the poem. This second theme involved preserving our world for our children to inherit. At our present rate I’m afraid that there won’t be a world for my children.

I was rather surprised to hear myself saying that 15 years ago, and I still feel that way. Either I was more insightful that I realized, or things simply haven’t changed for the better.

This all prompted me to think about when our world started to go down hill? When did we (Americans mostly) become so stupid, fat and lazy? When did movies and television start to suck? My answer, verified by my long-lost poem, is around the mid-1980s. In my lifetime that is the first decade of real prosperity and excess cash. We had passed through the gas crisis, Reagan was illustrating how to spend and life seemed pretty good.

And we promptly forgot what it meant to spend wisely; to care about things; to think. The 1990s continued the general prosperity and economic strength, which lead to continued spending — urban sprawl, fast-food obesity, Springer and his ilk, “Reality” TV.

Perhaps our current economic slow down (you must disregard Bush, I don’t know what world he lives in — the economy is not doing fine. Don’t believe me, just ask the 4,000 people who have been laid off by my parent company in recent months) will help people realize that should take more care. Perhaps, with less income and movie prices at ridiculous levels, the audience will demand getting what they paid for. Perhaps.

So tell me, when do you think the world began to suck? (I realize this is incredibly pessimistic, but those of you that know me well, know this is me.)