On the Way Home From Good Will…
Sometimes, unpleasant truth is unavoidable. Wanted or not, it can smack us squarely in the chops when we least expect it. Driving back from Good Will after dropping off donations yesterday afternoon, I saw a car parked along the side of the road. It was a twenty-year-old Toyota Camry that had clearly seen its better days. Its oxidized paint and cracked windshield spoke volumes. But most eloquent was the weathered duct tape holding the hood down.
My first inane thought was to wonder how the owner dealt with oil changes, battery maintenance and coolant replacement. I was on the verge of laughing at the unknown owner’s complete absence of foresight. Duct-taping his hood down? But as I got closer, I realized there were multiple layers of duct tape. Literally duct tape on top of duct tape. That’s when it occurred to me that the owner was performing maintenance of sorts on his car.
Before I could even make it home, I went from amusement at the owner’s expense to what that duct-taped hood symbolized. What does it say about us, I thought, that here in California, in order to live you have to have a car, whether you can afford it or not? Against the odds, this unknown owner was somehow making it work. Cutting through the duct tape holding down his hood to perform the maintenance he couldn’t afford…but couldn’t afford not to do…then layering duct tape on top of duct tape to “keep on keepin’ on.”
By the time I got home, my mood had sagged, to a point lower than it has been since November. How many more are there like that? Hard-working but under-resourced good people who feel life closing in on them, often through no fault of their own.
The Hubris of Success
The Hubris of Success
Living in a neighborhood that tends to facilitate self-satisfied pride, I’m guilty of a measure of success hubris, modest though my own success may be. Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is a seductive narrative. To some extent, I’ve done it and been inspired by others who have. But I didn’t do it alone and I did it in a time when it was probably easier than it is today. And If I’m honest with myself, there was an element of luck involved. Others who did everything right, as near as I can tell, still haven’t been as fortunate. What do we, who have been more fortunate, owe the less fortunate?
I thought of my own journey from the wrong side of the tracks to where I am now and wondered: “what if I had been less interested in school? What if my family had been unwilling or unable to afford the little bit at a time enabling me to compete successfully as a swimmer? It was that and student loans at a time when the interest rates and terms were favorable, that earned me a scholarship as a competitive swimmer…until I could qualify for an academic scholarship.
Character matters, of course. All the talent and opportunity in the world won’t guarantee success for one unwilling to seize it. But in our time, context matters even more. Within twenty miles of my neighborhood, many are mired in painful contextual realities. Realities orders of magnitude tougher than any I dealt with growing up. Are they even surmountable for the average human today?
How many actually have not an ice cube’s chance in the hot place of escaping from another generation of grinding poverty without help? As I was writing this post, I flashed on Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables and thought—not for the first time—we really haven’t evolved much. For me, that car became an effigy of hope hanging on by its fingernails. Our society once honored that along with our way of life. How can we reclaim our faith with each other as brothers and sisters, irrespective of ethnicity or origin?
Nobody asked me, but…
We have met the enemy, looking back at us, in the mirror. As someone whose undergraduate degree was in history, I see the nearly inevitable pattern of empire in the country I served in the Corps for 22+ years and still love warts and all. Please note I said nearly inevitable. We can be so much better. The land of the free and the home of the brave has become the land of the enslaved and the home of the fearful. Which is exactly what far too many of the self-anointed “leaders,” known and unknown, want.
What are we afraid of? People of color? Immigrants who don’t look exactly like us? Along with our own children, these are our best hope for a vibrant future. They come as our forefathers did, with hope and innovative ideas fueling success yet undreamed of. Or maybe it’s our fear of the uncertain and the unknown. But the unknown is our inescapable reality. We can face it or run from it but tomorrow will always be in front of us.
Or maybe it’s the truth we’re afraid of. Have some of us abdicated responsibility for what we have become, preferring to offload the “fix” to someone else? Have we allowed others to lose hope completely and opt out in despair?
Readers of some of my other posts already know what’s coming. We—you and I—are the answer to all of this. In my previous incarnation as a Lieutenant of Marines, there was an admonition we got almost daily. It’s still burned in my memory. “Do something, Lieutenant. Even if it’s wrong.”
I now pass that admonition along. All of us can and must do something! Not simply for ourselves, but our children or someone else’s… Somehow, we can all find the time to help take back the dream.
This is a very well thought out webpage. Very engaging and a great read.
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, Elliot.
This is a great page. It’s very informative and well organized. I’ll come back from time to time for more posts like this one.
Hi Dan. Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. Make it a great day.
That is really interesting, You’re one of the good bloggers, out here. I have joined your rss feed and sit up for searching for more of your fantastic post. Also, I’ve shared your web site in my social networks!
Thanks, Bill. I appreciate it. Make it a great day.
Wow. This post really jerked a knot in my butt. I’m not sure I agree with everything you have to say in it, but I think we could all be a little more caring as a society that we are.
Hi Nate: And that was the whole point of the post. I still think about that car and what the owner must be going through, just to make ends meet. Make it a great and (hopefully) kinder day for someone.
You’re a great storyteller. Are you books as good as your blog? I’ve joined your rss feed and look forward to seeking more of your excellent post. Also, I have shared your website in my social networks!
Hi Elena: Thanks! The only way to know for sure is to read the stories. I’d recommend starting with Through the Windshield, Drive-by Lives. It’s short fiction and is a great way to decide if you like my writing style. You can find a link to it on my Books page.
This is quite a story and from the tone, I’m guessing it’s actually true? Thanks for sharing.
Hello Joy-Anne: Yes, the story is true. Thanks for stopping by, reading and taking the time to comment.
Its like you read my mind! Living in an upscale neighborhood myself, I could really relate to your story. Great post.
Thanks Tate. Make it a great day.
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you make this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to construct my own blog and would like to know where u got this from. thanks a lot
Hello Katarina: I’m afraid I’m the culprit behind this design. Thanks for commenting.
Hello there. I’m really excited to find this article. Completely by accident, I might add. Love the theme design, too. Don’t have time to read through it all at the minute but I have bookmarked it and look forward to coming back for more. This post sounds like it actually happened?
Hello Rae-Dawn: Yes, the event in this post actually happened and was the basis for my post. Glad you enjoyed. And thanks for your thoughts on the theme. It’s actually my own design. Make it a great day and come back any time.