Food, Tools, and Shelter

The three words above designate the basic needs of all animal and plant life to survive and succeed. Somewhere along the line, human life (probably with the advent of the 20th century) lost its way. Rather than individual humans having to grow, invent, and provide the three basic needs for themselves, those became specialized to the care and provision of and by a select portion of the human community.

Parts of the earth continue to this day to take reponsibility for the basic needs by which they survive, but with the advent of money and time to spare, many nations have turned to amusement, frivolous consumption of bawbles, and travel involving new sights and relaxation at the expense of those nations and peoples still dependent on food, tools, and shelter. With the blindsided dependence on bawbles and service, as well as refusal to recognize that out-of-control population growth is a phenomenon which we have no ability to best, in the end they will destroy us all. If anyone is lucky(?) enough to survive, it will be the people who have known only how to provide their own food, tools, and shelter.

In response to the possible fall of Capitalism, the father of unnecessary consumption, it would be best that those who have founded businesses, and/or those who have been employed in businesses that depend on consumption of unneeded goods, look for more meaningful ways find a livelihood by which they can not only survive but also find a more complete and satisfying life. There is the possibility for home gardening, home-made clothing, and homemade art in many forms. Work such as these may, in response, cause the loss of jobs in the grocery business, clothing stores, and trucking as a result. And they, in turn, will also face possible loss of employment, and so on, and so on.
And the resources of the world are running out, under the pressure of Man, who is fast turning into an animal whose only lasting gift to the Earth will be complete consumption.


But if the worst should happen, it may lead to a much simpler life in which the Consumers either change or die out. This time of trial and fear should be a time for creative thinking and hope.

ARW
3/27/09