"I was really happy to see there were no major suicides, people weren't jumping off bridges, and there weren't a lot of personal disasters." said a attendee at an NPR gathering in 2008, when the mortgage subprime crisis began to deeply settle in. The laconic, fresh, verdant green dollars we earn or inherit decide more than happiness or a luxurious way of life, they also determine survival. Simplistic rectangular cut pieces of paper, derived from a tree, dyed and printed. How bovine.
Listening to this podcast made my head spin, and by no means do I hope to sound dense. "Global pool of money...Seventy trillion dollars...Nervous armies of Investment Managers... Alan Greenspan...” is fading in and out, dimly. The sound of the conversation drilling and repetitive like the sound of water slipping down a rusty drain, hitting the furnish, instituting a headache in my brain. Is it possible only the world's geniuses can understand such psychobabble? Not to sound harsh, but you must have to obtain an IQ nothing lower than 140 to comprehend such communication. It feels like I'm listening to the African San Bushmen tribe, unable to decode their "clicking" language.
It makes me a little nervous, marveling my confused mind around the amount of money existent in the world today. All of the cerebrates, making their calculations, counting their pennies and dimes, flicking effortlessly through their stacks of green, with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, U.S. Grant, Benjamin Franklin, and countless other late President's staring back at them in awe. The distant sound of a safe locking, and the chilling echo it makes as it spins shut. Such an intricate instrument the market bestows. We now face Charles Darwin's theory "Survival of the fittest" in a new manner. Disregarding physical attributes, we now yearn for financial stability in order to survive.
What happened to common courtesy? It must be buried somewhere along the ruins of Mt. Vesuvius. People, losing their humanity, not caring about the Marine who needed the money originally intended for his son's college fund. Only caring about the next Black-tie event, being able to afford the Armani suits usually seen on GQ models, and sipping elegantly on Clos Du Mesnil champagne. What about the family who is going hungry? The elderly couple who is losing their home, unable to pay for their mortgage? What becomes of them? Aren't they more than just mortality numbers? All of the devastation circulates far away, and stays like a the naughty child in the corner with the cone hat, such a nuisance to the elite. How do we change this? I'm left dumbfounded and inept...
Carrie,
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you have--seemingly--taken it upon yourself to experiment with your prose. You have beautiful sentences and some interesting word choice. Bovine? Some of the thoughts her are very compelling on their own...but what is more interesting (and not present) is what you are thinking for things to come out in the way you say them.
For instance, what does "What happened to common courtesy? It must be buried somewhere along the ruins of Mt. Vesuvius. People, losing their humanity, not caring about the Marine who needed the money originally intended for his son's college fund." How does common courtesy fit into this picture? Don't call me dense, but you have a form grasp on expressing yourself in ways you choose, you dictate, but I want you to communicate with that same poetic vigor. Complexity is great, but it is your go-to. Try to say what you mean so that a universal audience can be hit with your expression and thought process.
Whatever you do though, don't think what you are doing is wrong or unwanted. Quite the contrary, I wish more first-year writers could do what you and think of things in this way. But working towards simplicity is a challenge as well.
Always interesting,
-F