Changing our Culture

Recently I have not agreed with New York Times columnist Frank Rich.  It's not that I haven't accepted his premise or even understood his ultimate purpose, but he has been, I think, a cheerleader for the current Administration when he severely chastised pundits during the Bush Administration for doing the same thing.  When you have a major opinion column in the major newspaper (or maybe the last newspaper standing) in America, you have some obligation to be a critical thinker.

It caught me by surprise when I agreed with his recent column about the culture of greed in America.  The conclusion of his piece is the same thing I have been saying: in order to get out economy back into shape, we need, we must, get our culture into shape.  We must stop reveling the symbols of greed.

Recently I had dinner with friends, one of the couple's is expecting their first child.  They have both made significant amounts of money, like many young couples in the Puget Sound region, off of a software located in Redmond, Washington.  They are excited and nervous.  The dinner discussion turned, a little prematurely perhaps, to schools.  It turns out it is a topic they have researched quite extensively, as well as nannies and dulas.  And their belief has essentially come down to finding the best private school for their child, hoping that eventually it will attend Harvard or another Ivy League school, so that the child can essentially repeat their financial success.

I idly wondered what they would do if the kid wanted to be a carpenter?

But I think the thing that scared me the most is not only are we a culture that worships money, but that money continues to purchase elite status in this country.  No doubt the child will have to achieve in school, but already it has a leg up on most children without the financial resources of it's parents who are easily weathering this depression.  Essentially, we continue to create a country of elites and the rest of us.

Yet, we are in a depression.  So who can blame the folks who want to watch CNBC and stock jockeys like Jim Cramer who exhort you to buy low, sell high, and make a lot of money in the stock market.  Who can blame anyone for wanting to be as comfortable as the couple expecting their first child, eagerly investigating the pluses and minuses of private schools and what contributions parents must make to get their child on "the list."

On the other hand, if we also realize that each person is of value, that we all have amazing gifts to contribute, perhaps the private elite school education isn't as important as the ability to give to our society.

We voted for change last November, but the change really must come within all of us.  It's time.