“One of the
characteristics of a civilization which promotes form over content is that
memory evaporates.” John Ralston Saul
///
The other day I asked my wife, “Do you remember when it was
just you, me and the dog? Life was simple then. Remind me why we rolled the
dice and produced children?
///
Our 18-year-old son who didn’t go off to college as planned
is miserable, a tortured soul who blames us for his unhappiness. When he’s not
outright hostile, the boy is morose and withdrawn; he’s also completely
solipsistic. What bothers me most about my son is his utter lack of concern for
other people – his sister, his grandparents, his aunts – all people who love
him, care about him, and are willing to do almost anything for him. Why this
isn’t good enough for the boy is a mystery to me.
///
Our 13-year-old daughter is, well, 13, and riding the
hormone rollercoaster. The slightest provocation sets her off. She’s like an
eggshell loaded with dynamite. She spends a lot of time in her room, behind a
closed door, and woe to him or her who enters without knocking and being
granted permission to enter. In addition to being mercurial, my dear daughter
is also an accomplished procrastinator. Why do today what can be put off until tomorrow?
13, the awkward age, filled with acute self-consciousness and a burning need to
simultaneously fit in and stand out. The junior high drama never ends; today’s
best friend and confidant easily becomes tomorrow’s betrayer and archenemy.
///
Raising children is a contact sport, emotionally speaking,
and a lot of the time I feel like a failure as a parent. I frequently remind
myself that my offspring are beyond my control. The dog was easier. Oh sure, he
destroyed a few pairs of shoes, pissed on the rug and got us evicted from one
apartment, but compared to my kids, meeting his needs was easy. All he needed
was food, water and attention. I miss him.
///
There’s no end in sight to the War on Terror, is there? Like
the War on Drugs, the War on Terror will be with us for many years to come,
sucking national resources that could be put to better purposes, enriching
defense contractors and keeping the budgets of the security-intelligence apparatus
robust. A political constituency now exists for the War on Terror, large sums
of money are at stake, and this means it won’t end; new enemies will be identified
as soon as old ones are vanquished. This “system” generates perverse momentum:
the more terrorists the US kills, the more terrorists it creates.
///
I have the sense that some economic birdies will soon come
home to roost. Since the meltdown of 2008 and the taxpayer-funded bailouts of
the big banks and our nation’s casino economy, pundits and mainstream media
mouthpieces have assured us that the economy has been stabilized and, in fact,
has recovered. The evidence offered for this is the all-important stock market,
the share prices of Fortune 500 companies. The shills don’t talk about the
massive stock buybacks that corporations are making with money borrowed at zero
or nominal interest from the Federal Reserve. Nothing all that productive is
being accomplished here, mind you, the corporations are simply boosting their
own stock prices to keep shareholders happy and pacified. Those of us who live
in the real world and work for wages know that the economy has not recovered.
College students in need of money for school don’t have the luxury of borrowing
at zero or very low interest rates…only big banks get to dine at that trough.
///
A memorial service for our very good friend Richard Teraoka
was held today at Trinity Church. A few hundred people turned out to say
goodbye to Richard, a sure sign of how well loved this slight, gentle and
unassuming man was. Richard was a person of uncommon courage and integrity. He
loved his work at UCSB, loved helping students succeed. When a good human being
like Richard Teraoka passes on, the world becomes a lesser place.
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