Wisdom from The Action Wisdom In Action

The Economy of the Garden, Part 2

From Huffington Post. Part 1 of series.

"The economic principle of scarcity is the backbone of both the financial world and my backyard garden. In spite of our limited resources, though, our appetites are fairly unlimited. Given the means, who knows what ends we would purchase. Yes, we humans are an insatiable bunch. Disproportionate consumption is the trademark of our modern age, especially as credit now allows us to live beyond what we can afford. We, and our watermelon-hearts are always hungry for more. More surfboards, more diamond rings, more cars, more cell phones, more, more, more.

Fortunately (and unfortunately), there's always more to consume. Every day bright and shiny new products are thrust upon us -- shrink-wrapped in striking colors, boldly proclaiming their dominance and necessity. They jump off of billboards with bright, white smiles and beautiful skin."

...

"This is the modern world. And this is normal. This is all I have ever known. But the human experience wasn't always this way. And our unquestioned commoditization of all that we interact with has striking implications for the things that cannot be bought or sold. Greed, envy, sloth, pride and gluttony: these are not vices anymore. No, these are marketing tools. Lust is our way of life. Envy is just a nudge towards another sale. Even in our relationships we consume each other, each of us looking for what we can get out of the other. Our appetites are often satisfied at the expense of those around us. In a dog-eat-dog world we lose part of our humanity. Perhaps our eager consumption is crowding the soil of the plants around us.

One might argue that these principles of consumption are nothing new. That it's evolution that has brought us to where we are today. That all is fair in love and war, and only the strong survive."

...

"We have to believe that the human heart can rise above the inane gluttony of mindless ingestion. Besides, the victory of consumptions achieved by the stomach are hardly unique to humanity -- these are triumphs achieved by many species with much less intelligence. There has to be a higher ground than a full stomach and a well-stroked ego."

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"In our amazing world of convenience every individual is king, ruler of his pocketbook. Yet, in many ways the modern consumer looks more like a slave to fashion than a true autonomous sovereign. Without moderation and self-control we are simply the servants of advertisements, chasing the bait, lures, and hooks like so many fish. Our significance, meaning, and purpose are very closely tied to the stereotypes that ad campaigns are built on."

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"Every advertisement is wrapped around me, myself and I. Acquiescing to our seemingly-endless appetites turns us into slaves blindly serving our lusts. And in this self-absorbed line of thought we begin to forget the needs of others. Our unthinking consumption reduces the human community to the involuntary greed of a watermelon plant. Yes, my soul is a garden that has become overgrown with commercial interruptions. Maybe it's time to prune these weedy desires and vices of mine. Any watermelon can take over the world but it takes a gardener to keep these ravenous tendencies at bay. Perhaps we have become very good at consuming and very bad at gardening."

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"If economy means "the administration of available resources" then is likely that our current "economy" is anything but economical. Given the mismanagement of funds, energy and time over the past few decades we might find the title "mis-economy" more fitting of our actions. Our accounting has no accountability. Our budgeting has no budget to work with. And our funds are no longer funded. The "productivity" of the past few years has produced only a large national deficit. It's incredibly depressing to think that our time spent "working" (our traffic-filled morning commutes, the headaches with colleagues, the agonizing office meetings) has actually worked against us. Our blood, sweat and tears have left our collective economy bankrupt and our environment irreparably damaged. The voices of future generations cry out against us, wondering what resources will be left here on the planet. The voices of the twenty-seven million humans in slavery today cry out against us; they wonder when our help will come to rescue them. Even the stock market has been trying to get our attention, wondering how far our human greed can push us."

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"A gardener doesn't invent a new plant. He doesn't purchase the midday sun to provide for his crop. He doesn't manufacture storms. He plants the seeds and waters and hopes. He partners with the creator of all creation in the regeneration of life. The gardener is in the business of bringing green from brown, many from few. He brings fresh, beautiful, edible life from manure, compost and decay. As humans we produce, we generate, we construct. But we lack the ability to truly create. We can only use the materials at hand. The gold that we mine from the earth was not our creation. The wood that we mill for our houses and paper plates is not a human invention. The skies and the seas that our planes and ships travel upon are not our own innovation. These are resources given to all of us."

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"I must trim the vines. I must make room for the other plants in this worldwide garden, even at the expense of my own consumption. Let us travel lightly and deeply, my friends -- for even this breath is not ours to keep."

This is stark contrast to the militant, demanding tone of the Discovery Channel bomber's manifesto, which essentially talked about much the same things. Clearly, the bomber needed to get a garden, and maybe a blog, to unload his tortured soul.

Posted by Cute at 8:20 PM

Labels: economy, financial (non-tax), health, politics, social issues