A rather conservative thinker in our area wrote an editorial in our paper a while back about an argument he had with a millennial. His point was people should be self-reliant and not ask for government handouts. These were my thoughts on the matter.
Mr. O’Rourke wrote a thought-provoking My Turn column, maybe a month or even two ago. He talked about a debate he’d had with a millenial friend and he made the point that people shouldn’t whine and ask for handouts, but instead rise up and do what it takes to carve out a living for themselves. It is classic Emerson, and I must say I totally agree with him. Ironically though, I suspect it is exactly individuals who exemplify his ideals that have lead to the national discord that might have fuelled his millenial friend’s opinions.
Since moving to Western Mass. I’ve met many of the self-reliant individuals he describes. The rural nature of this area doesn’t provide a wealth of economic opportunity, yet the people here take care of themselves. They make art for the tourists, do landscaping, sell wood, work the farms or tap our maples for syrup.
There are the owners and employees of independent businesses, like restaurants, shops, and car repair garages, and those who commute to Greenfield to work in the medical industry, or a bit further south to work in the universities. All self-reliant people working with what’s here. And those that want something different, well just as Mr. O’Rourke suggests, they go to our colleges and move to places that support high tech, big business or mass entertainment.
I like to think that I exemplify his ideals as well. I was raised in a middle class suburb of New York, Levittown. It had excellent public schools that I took advantage of to get into an Ivy League school, which my parents could afford back when tuition wasn’t so crazy. The contacts I made there led me to a career in software development, my own small company and my retirement in Shelburne Falls. I worked hard, and my hard work, while not making me rich, led to a satisfying and comfortable life.
I’m thinking Mr. O’Rourke’s debate with the millenial was about Black Lives Matter.
I compare my path in life with George Floyd’s. For one, it was only years later that I learned Levitt, who built Levittown, wouldn’t sell to Black families, so that particular path would have been closed.
From what I’ve read, for people who grow up in neighborhoods like George Floyd’s, there aren’t local schools that lead to good colleges. Even if there were, it’s unlikely his parents could have paid the bill.
But lack of education aside, there’s plenty in Western Mass. who fend for themselves cutting wood, waiting tables, making syrup.
What, then, are the similar opportunities for an enterprising young person in the inner city? One who exemplifies Mr. O’Rourke’s ideals? One for whom welfare handouts can’t answer the drive to succeed, to make something of oneself?
Drugs, prostitution and petty crimes are some. These are where self-reliant individuals can turn to make their own way in the world. Gangs, the equivalent of corporate America for the inner city, provide both support and a livelihood, organizations where through hard work one can rise up and get ahead.
It’s those enterprising, self-reliant Blacks from the inner city who take advantage of these opportunities that wind up in conflict with the mostly white police.
There are currently something like two million young Black men in our prisons, at a cost in the billions to our society. These aren’t lazy welfare cheats who were looking for a government handout. These are men who wanted to make their own way in the world, who took advantage of the economic opportunities available to them.
Wouldn’t we be better off if all that self-reliant, Emersonian energy had been channeled into more socially productive areas? Wouldn’t a great start be to provide equal educational opportunities to all? To stop funding public schools with real estate taxes, and instead fund them on a state level so everyone gets the same quality education? To get rid of the concept of “good school districts” available only to those who can afford to live in them?
And shouldn’t college be affordable as well, and health care available to those who don’t work in corporate America?
These aren’t handouts for those who don’t want to work, but rather investments in the futures of those who do. I’d rather see us spend billions on education than incarceration. I’d like to see us tap into that self-reliant human spirit which is, as Mr. O’Rourke points out, the very essence of America.
