For a few days, the sunrise was eerie and spectacular. The wildfire haze in the atmosphere had created an orange glow with essentially no corona. The other night the moon was almost full and for a brief while I drove home on a straight road heading towards the silhouette mountains with a big moon overhead.
For two days I was thinking about and trying to write about income inequality and the unfairness of wealth and greed. For two days I was thinking about things like the Protestant work ethic and our twisted sense of worth as measured through salaries and our attitudes towards poverty (viewed by many as a character flaw). Most people I know are modestly well off and just trying to get by (myself included). They want to have a little fun, and not lose the few things they really care about.
The recent obsession over billionaire’s launching into space bothers me. I work in a field where we struggle to raise $10,000 and $50,000 and $100,000 so that people don’t get evicted or to help kids get closer to an even educational and emotional footing… and in an instant, many many times that amount is spent to satisfy the egos of our billionaire class. I struggle with why this is even news. They are accomplishing slightly less than what our government accomplished decades ago (the first suborbital rocket was launched by Germany in 1944). So… why the fanfare? Because it’s the first time it was done by a private citizen? In other words, it’s the first time someone has amassed enough wealth to build their own rocket and space program? The uber rich have been building their own castles and mansions and yachts and now spaceships for centuries… meanwhile the rest of us… do what we do.
Greed (which is often masked as ambition in attempt to make it more virtuous) is something for which I have little tolerance. Somewhere in between the various news stories about climate change, the delta variant, space flight, and political shenanigans, I heard a story about how some entrepreneurs are hoping to mine asteroids for their minerals. My gut reaction was “man, we are a greedy, greedy species.” We see something and immediately think about what we can extract from it. Which to some degree sums up my evolving views about obscene wealth. When it came to light that many corporations aren’t paying taxes and that Jeff Bezos took a child tax credit, I was not surprised, but simply disappointed that we have no recourse to prevent this constant taking. This, in a time when people on unemployment are being blamed for milking the system and causing a labor shortage.
For those of us of modest means, the ones getting by, we’re told to be thankful and grateful, to recognize our good fortune. And there’s nothing wrong with that – I think it’s mentally healthy to practice gratitude…. But it also becomes a bit of a serenity prayer as we accept our limitations. Poor people aren’t allowed to want a nice car or a nice cellphone. If they do, they’re being irresponsible and living beyond their means. Billionaires, however, reach for the stars, start companies that lose money for their first ten years, take advantage of every opportunity (or tax credit) and are hailed as visionaries. What’s the line that distinguishes ambition from fiscal irresponsibility? What differentiates savvy, entrepreneurial use of one welfare system from those “lazy abusers” of a different welfare system?
What I wasn’t able to get at when I was trying to write about income inequality was why this bothers me as much as it does. I do ok. I have what I need. It wasn’t until I got home, appreciative of the drive and the moon and the overly excited dog greeting me at the door, that I thought about gratitude, desire, fairness, and the notion of having enough. I was taught to always wait my turn, that sometimes good work is reward enough, to give things up to people who need them more. At a social function where food is served buffet style, I usually choose to be last in line. I open doors for other people, I give up my seat on buses. I want to make sure everyone else has had a chance. I want to make sure there is enough to go around before I take. The thought of taking more than I need is foreign and uncomfortable. I don’t get to impose my worldview on others. And honestly, I don’t necessarily begrudge those who have more… I guess I just wish everyone would be willing to take a little less.