"From Tedium to Apathy and Back Again..."

 

 

"If not one of the best movies made, it should be..."

In the 1955 Joshua Logan film "Mr. Roberts", one of my favorite cinematic lines was uttered by Henry Fonda who played the lead role of LT. Douglas Roberts. The film takes place on an American Naval cargo ship the, USS Reluctant, during the waning days of World War II. Mr. Roberts has tried many times to transfer off the Reluctant and be assigned to the "fighting war". After the last time he was rejected, he told his friend "Doc" that we was tired of this duty - all this ship did was sail "from tedium to apathy and back again".

I thought of this line the other day when I was talking to someone about the economic climate leading up to the next election. The response was something like "I don't know, I don't want to know, and I am sick of hearing about it". In other words, this person was sailing from tedium to apathy and back again. Whatever. Who cares. Whatever will be will be. Tedium to apathy and back again.

In our country we do not have the proverbial 600 pound gorilla in the corner of the room. On the contrary, we have about 4 or 5 gorillas. However, it is good not to talk about them - it is uncomfortable. People that talk about the reality of our situation are considered "downers" - panic merchants. We want "happy talk". We sure don't want to have a good party spoiled by a wet blanket.

Here are some topics that I have recently put in posts that if discussed might get you dis invited to the next cocktail party:

• Our National Debt of almost $18T
• Gas prices of over $3/gal
• No permanent place to store highly toxic nuclear waste
• Chronic unemployment (U6) of over 12%
• Food stamp cost of $80B/year serving over 1/7 of our population
• Tens of thousands of homes with "underwater" mortgages
• No coherent, comprehensive energy policy
• An education systems which has lost its worldwide competitive edge
• Underfunding municipal pension plans which is now estimated well over $1T
• A nuclear Iran who threatens to ignite the Middle East
• Carnage in Syria and Iraq via ISIS that the world is powerless to stop
• Lack of fresh water/potable water policy for irrigation and drinking
• Crushing famine which is driving up food prices and causing starvation in the third world

This is not a complete list. However, I think you get the picture. Each one of these issues is critical to the success of our country. These are all items that we need to discuss, to solve. Many of the solutions are going to be tough. However, doing nothing will be tougher. We have had years of being the ostrich with our head in the sand when we should have been Chicken Little instead. These are huge, history altering problems - and there are legions.

So the next time you try to discuss one of our critical issues with a citizen who starts to glaze over, have sympathy. Our government has conditioned all of us over the years to not pay attention. Ignore it, and it will go away. Put some lipstick on the pig - it will look better. Sleep on it, things will be better in the morning. From tedium to apathy and back again. The problems are real, the problems are now. Our future depends on us paying attention and being involved. Ask our candidates when they come to your door. Don't accept pablum or fluff. From tedium to apathy and back again? Not on this ship.