“That’s just the way things are” is how we explain commonly accepted practices of the day. Back early in the nineteenth century, the practice of slavery was “just the way things are”. The same went for racially separated water fountains and bathrooms of the mid-twentieth century. What of the unjustified treatment of the Native American populations as pioneers imposed themselves with little regard for the historic inhabitants? I’m certain the same justification for the actions in Central Europe of the 1930’s and 1940’s were used.
Today, we are appalled of these past “acceptable practices”, as we should be. However, this brings to my mind of the so called “acceptable practices” we take for granted today that may be equally offensive to the children of our future. Do we have any issues that we deal with on a daily basis today accepted as normal operations that will appall future generations, just as many practices of our forefathers of yesterday cause us to reflect? Do we justify our efforts by stating, “that’s just the way things are”?
It doesn’t take much effort, in my opinion, to quickly realize that some of the things we do these days are simply because “it’s just the way things are”.
First of all, the prosperity of our current civilization has yielded a general attitude that we can and should have everything that we want. As a population, we have become excessively demanding. Go to any eatery and the evidence is clear. “Waiter, my steak is not perfect as I expect it to be, take it back and fix it, and don’t make me wait more than one minute!” The court rooms are full of lawsuits filed by people who are slighted in the most fickle of issues. Of course, it is proper to expect to receive equitably for provided remuneration, but it often gets out of hand on the part of the consumer. Mutiple current issues appear to be the fall-out of this “give it to me now” attitude.
This expectation demand has entered the political realm. I have served in the public sector for a short period of time. I discovered quickly that the public official does not deny constituent’s demands without severe repercussions. We send our representatives to our capitals and we expect them to provide for our benefit exclusively, and be damned the greater need. It’s just the way it is today. As a result, our system of governance is gridlocked in conflicting demands. In attempts to satisfy all the unrelenting reachings of the citizenry, an unsustainable debt has accrued that may burden future generations in ways we can not conceive.
The unsustainable debt means that our current demands are to be paid for by those who follow us in the future. Our father’s generation conceived of a plan to assure that a social safety net was installed to assure that no citizen went wanting for the sustenance of life. A viable system of social security to protect the aged and a system of welfare to protect the destitute was initiated. These actions saved our nation from pockets of unacceptable suffering. It forced a nation to offer a reasonable degree of benevolence to it’s own citizenry of lessor means. Unfortunately, this effort has evolved into a significant portion of the citizenry who have come to expect this benevolence as a right to be demanded. As a result, those who would willingly contribute to the less fortunate have been jaded and have become increasingly discerning in their giving, while those who are not discerning become enablers.
A more sensitive issue no one seems to want to get real about is viable health care. This is a tough issue and there are no easy answers. However, the realities of how we experience health care must be considered. The provision of public health for the general population has been a godsend. Immunization for contractable disease has served the nation extremely well. However, current national budgets anticipate roughly 60% of the total to be dedicated to combinations of Medicare and Medicaid. That would be acceptable if it could be paid for by on-going income. However, the national budget operates in a deficit. It is not sustainable.
I read somewhere that the typical end of life medical expense ranges somewhere between 300 to 400K! No one contributes that much to their lifetime Medicare contribution! Something will have to give. I hate to even bring this up. No one wants to see an elder of the family to suffer or pass away when heroic medical procedure can extend their life. The fact is that innovation in medicine is miraculous. However, it can be terribly expensive. Somewhere, there must be a middle ground. One of the structural issues we must deal with here is that we have become a culture that abhors death just as nature abhors a vacuum. We need to come to realize that death is a part of life. When we have completed a full life, we should face death with faith and trust, not with anxiety. I can’t say I know how I will respond when I am faced with final decisions, but I hope I will take this path of peace. We can be anxious about death today without this sense of hope, then we won’t accept it until the last ditch effort has been cast regardless of the cost. We can do this because we typically do not personally pay for these unbelievably expensive procedures in the short term. The practice of hospice has helped considerably along these lines. However, we only can serve ourselves and our loved ones by a degree of acceptance.
Medicaid is also a difficult issue. No one should be denied basic health care because of lack of resources. Our society should be willing to foot the bill to provide these basic necessities. Even some of the more expensive procedures should be covered in given circumstances. However, some of this gets back to the earlier comments about demanding benevolence without one’s personal contribution. Some people avoid paying for insurance they can realistically afford when they know they cannot be denied once a medical situation arises.
Actually, when it come to medical issues, we now think of “that’s just the way things are” when we consider personal health. We often do not consider the personal responsibility for the on-going maintenance of our health. We chose to do only those things that make us comfortable. We no longer choose to do the things that can be hard in a physical sense. We don’t excercise our bodies, we eat too much, and we wait until our bodies respond in a negative manner at which time we try to make up for our discomfort using artificial drugs and procedures. As a result, we burden the medical expenditure that could have been avoided had we taken care of ourselves in a natural manner.
Our society has become so self-oriented that we have chosen to ignore issues on a world wide scale. Without a doubt, regardless of our faults and our issues, our Western society has been the most successful of all history. Much of the remaining world has not found that kind of success. In actuality, much potential of mutual benefit does exist when it comes to dealing with the world’s societies. In our culture, we have found prosperity by meeting the needs of others. Of course, many of the world’s leadership provides roadblocks to such efforts on a world scale. However, should we decide on a mindset to serve the world at large rather than total self consumption, then positive benefits may happen. This is a case where we should develop a new attitude regarding “that’s the way things are”.
The same goes for our fundamental religious attitudes that permeate societies today. It seems that all of the fundamental religions will not accept the ligitimacy of the other religions. This has been an issue that has impacted history for centuries. We don’t seem to have learned from it. When one delves into the intricacies of the various world religions, it is revealing how similar each of them are in general principle. Yet, we are entrenched in “the way things are” in this regard. In the same note, this demand of “my way or the highway” permeates the general attitude of most groups of society and our governance. It’s making for an ugliness among all of us. Our civility is suffering.
Finally, I want to speak of our lack of concern for the future or our efforts to invest in the well being of the future generations. Earlier generations invested in transcontinental railroads and interstate highways. These infrastructures changed the face of our nation. All we seem to be interested in today is meeting our current demands. On the other hand, we should be in pursuit of the future technologies that will build our children’s future. I’m speaking of the future space bound economy. Oh yes, some efforts are taking place, but they are anemic compared to where we should be along these lines. Let’s just consider the benefits of such investments of the past and how beneficial they were. Future investment for future generations should be a primary mindset. These future generations may have to look upon our contemporaries and shake their heads, saying “that’s how things were back then, and we’re paying the price today”.
