This discussion regarding the purpose of life is one we need to be having across this country and throughout the world. This purpose has to be more than attending 15+ years of school just so you can get a job and fit into this economically-driven social structure where most of our interactions are with job-related acquaintances whom we do not even see during non-work hours. How is it that parents are satisfied with a few years of being entertained by the joy their children exhibit during play and exploration with friends their age of the world around them? Most of them are now even buying off on the need for new government-sponsored private-industry run preschools. This will even further reduce the time they spend together with their babies during the most critical and formative years of their life (as well as increase their need to dedicate even more of their resources to greedy profiteering management of private industry.; and all so that the children will be better equipped to get some mentally stultifying job that will increase their dependence on an impersonal economic system they will end up hating. The reason that the government has been able to sell out our public schools and production of learning materials to private industry is because most parents have little or no interaction with teachers or the parents of their childrens schoolmates and, consequently, no power to demand or carry out evaluation of school programs or policies during their developmental phase. So, if and when they find out about objectionable policies and practices, the only actions left are walkouts or strikes, which are hardly practical given the way all unions have been beaten into submission by federal and state governments.. Working 9-5 for 40-some years while under the constant threat of being fired is hardly living; nor is retiring on SSA at less than half what you were previously earning -- and the worrying that you and your children may (due to some unforeseen medical bills end up in poverty (the situation already facing over 50% of the schoolchildren in the country). In addition to these economic threats, we live under the growing shadow of habitat and environmental destruction (caused by reliance on burning fossil-fuels for energy) because we allow less than 0.1% of the families -- those who own more wealth than the other 99% -- to export our jobs overseas and generally dictate the economic (and social) conditions that govern our abilities to provide for the necessities of life. Human beings are social animals. Their feelings of belonging (and purpose) grow out of their relationships with others in their social group (not to those who run the military, food, housing and entertainment industries). Without those close relationships and everyday communication with others in their community, people are subject to the distortion of their real needs into a set of substitute materialistically defined needs (owning a fancy car, an over sized house, and sending their children off to expensive schools) and imaginary competition-based relationships with members of phantom communities. Most of us are still addicted to the American Dream and the idea that our chance to participate in it is within our reach if only we work harder while a substantial (and rapidly growing) number have become part of poverty-driven depression to the point that millions have prematurely dropped out of the job market to rely on family members or government welfare programs. Its time for some big changes.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 21:56:31 +0000
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