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under_control
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» oranges I remember, when I was young, imagining a perfect society that would someday come to be. I was too young to know the word Utopia, but that is what all children think about; whether it's a world where pizza is served three times a day and no parents have to go to work because robots do everyting for us, or a world were everyone rides horses instead of cars and we all live on sweet little farms. As children we have no concern for Fascism, and we can imagine fabulous, perfect civilizations, for us at least. Just recently I began thinking about society again. I avoided using the term Utopia, even to myself, as adults realize that there is no such thing. One person's Utopia is another person's nightmare. Any Utopia would be a Fascist regime to someone. So I began formulating a civilization in which everyone would have the freedom to live as they pleased. But, oddly, even when I was allowing my imagination to run free, I found myself concerned with niggling little details like, "who would mine the ore?" "Where would the money come from to maintain the highways or the fiber optic communication lines?" "Who would police the citizens and what kind of authority would they be allowed to have?" These are questions that wouldn't concern a young civic planner, but they stymied completely and infuriated me. Mostly because I worry that I've lost the capacity to simply imagine, daydream without being "reasonable." One interesting thought that did come from all this was imagining that all grocery stores were gone. Instead, each of us was given land. On this land we would grow or raise whatever food we ate. Imagine that. Imagine that from now on you had to grow everything you ate. You could not just go out and pick up a loaf of bread and some butter. Want butter? You'll need to set aside some of your land for a dairy cow. Milk it and churn the cream to make some butter. Bread? Well, you'll have to plant, grow and harvest wheat. Thresh it and mill it for flour and then find some salt in a dried riverbed or from evaporated sea water. Leave a little water and sugar (from your sugar cane) out on the window sill for a few days and hope that a natural yeast finds the mixture and begins to grow in it. God forbid you should crave a hamburger with the works. Being a bit lazy myself, I wondered what I would be eating. Probable a lot of stuff made from corn. Potatoes and onions seem easy. I'd probably try growing rice because it's as good as bread and requires less work. With those thoughts in mind I went to my local diner this morning for breakfast. I took small sips of the orange juice, imagining the time it takes an orange tree to grow and bear fruit. I thought of the harvesting of the oranges and then the sheer number of oranges required to make a full glass. And here I am, paying $1.75 for something that is so delicious and amazing. Don't even get me started on the gourmet dark chocolate bar I bought later.
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diaryland |