There once was a utopia where -believe it or not - all citizens were declared free and equal - where women enjoyed the same rights as men, where education was free, and work communal, where the state provided for its elderly, where racism was outlawed - and fascism in all of its ugly forms was verboten - and rule by the workers for the workers was enshrined in law... All of the traditional hierarchies were overthrown condemned to the dust heap - the old rulers eliminated, the old oppressive class hounded, vilified and cast out - the backward types requisitioned, called to the cities or for military service or else left to their haggard and destitute form of agrarian subsistence...Oh the songs and posters, the artwork, the inspiring films, the news broadcasts, the daily papers - a spirit of "can-do, must-do..." in the face of imperial threats from abroad ...a terrifyingly beautiful conformity - a state of single-mindedness - all questions answered and known by all ...yet still yet still - desperate people afraid for their lives, whispering in corridors anxious of being denounced as enemies and traitors - or else singing the praises of the leadership loudly in fulsome agitated little declarations - and still and still waited to be carted off...In this perfect world - everything must be "just right" - the slightest deviation from the norm will bring the entire weight of the punitive state down upon you...The world was already made "perfect" - as you describe it - not once, not twice, but three, four times over with harrowing monotony - and still you demand another round of cleansing and overhaul ???
I have spent much of my early life in the suburbs and after a brief stint in the big city - with its noise, crowding and cramped spaces, I find myself immersed again in this familiar realm - an environment that seems part of my destiny. I've always thoughts of the suburbs as a place meant for children - where children can feel safe and protected - with non-busy streets and clean sidewalks - room to ride one's bike or go door-to-door selling cookies. To consider how many of our early impressions and sensations were spawned by this largely artificial world...How different such a milieu is from other places on earth, war zones, rain forests, Siberian outposts, tiny mountaintop villages or large sprawling mazes of high rise apartments in vertically-inclined mega metropolises...The suburbs are a place where a definite order and routine can be imposed...where regularity is king... lawns get mowed on time, shrubs are trimmed, garbage bins are placed at the curb and returned to thei...
Comments
Post a Comment