A Narrow American Perspective

We grew up during the late 50s and 60s in a comfortable middle/middle-class American environment. We lived in relatively small to medium-sized homes, in a relatively small and insular neighborhood, but with the benefit of a panoramic view of the Manhattan skyline, no less, and a 23 acre park, just blocks away, with rolling hills situated between the East River and the Long Island Sound. Two cars, boats, many good friends, church, choir, piano lessons, Sunday School, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and so on and so forth were the norm.

In virtually all respects, we never went without, as it were. In other words, we grew up in a very stable, comfortable, and well-fed environment and in a very average American way. As a result, we're secure today, to the point of arrogance in some people's minds, in our knowledge of what we are, who we are, where we came from, and where we've been. There's no doubt that we're the lucky ones and there's no doubt that we'd like nothing better than for our children and grandchildren to be even luckier than we are.

Other than in a feel good sense, what someone does for a living, or how much money someone makes or has, or how much "formal" education someone has, or what kind of neighborhood they live in, or how much they pay for their kid's college, is meaningless. Just like there's always and necessarily an "opportunity cost" in any economic endeavor, there's necessarily an opportunity cost associated with any road or path we choose to take in this life. Life always reaches a point of balance and equilibrium for the average American. What goes around comes around.

The reality is that for all of us, there's no escaping the hard times just as there's no escaping the good times. Indeed when the foibles start pinching and slapping at our faces and ultimately the sorrows follow and come in battalions, we're all on equal footing. Rich and poor alike, and everyone else in between, cry that life isn't fair and ask themselves what they've done to deserve all their pain and suffering. Life is what it is! We need to make the best of it! But in order to make the best of our lives, we need to take chances at times, live on the edge at times, and think outside the box. If we fail we fail! But at least we've tried.