Austerity

Background reading

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/austerity-measures-a-thousand-cuts_n_1666309.html

The problem with austerity is that it hurts. It requires sacrifice and sacrifice always hurts (that is why it is called sacrifice, but anyway).

Today, it seems that we are attempting to live our lives without pain, without sacrifice, and I wonder if that is even possible. It seems to me that life in our real world is full of hurts and pains, and things that will bring us hurt and pain and discomfort. It is not how we avoid these things that make us, but how we accept and deal with them.

When I read tragedies such as described in the above article, I am struck by the fact that I, too, have paid a price. Granted that price was practically entirely of my own choosing when I sit down to analyze it, but, still, I figure that I am not all that unique in this world. I could sit down and list all the bad things that have happened to me in my life, but to what end? It might act as a warning to others not to do as I have done, but then again, people being people, I doubt it.

I agree that austerity is not the nicest concept, but what alternative is there? By that I mean that we have to understand that absolutely nothing in life is “free”. Sorry, everything comes with its own “cost” like it or not. Even those things we take for granted as free come with a cost, whether it is in the effort to achieve them or the mere fact that our survival always has a price tag on it.

You may not agree with that concept, but I would say that you are denying reality.

So, if you cannot pay the price, then what happens? You, as an individual, have to adopt your own austerity policies. Can’t afford that house? Then you have to give it up? Can’t afford that lobster and steak dinner? I guess it is another macaroni and cheese dinner night.

That is what life is all about: Choices. Sometimes we have to make some pretty grim choices because life deals us opportunities in the form of illnesses or other medical problems, or shortages of this resource or that resource or any of a myriad of other things. We can either chose to face these things, or we can try to ignore them. (The latter doesn’t work very well, as I can personally attest to)

So, if we can’t afford something, then we have to do without; that is a basic truth.

Which brings me to the next question: Why can’t we afford it?

Well, if we don’t have something to trade with other people to exchange resources for those that we want; then we can't afford it. But then what if we think we need those things: Whose responsibility is it to satisfy those needs? That, I suggest is the great debate of today’s societies, pretty much around the world.

Does society (your community/nation/etc.) owe it to you as an individual to provide you with satisfaction of your needs? Or do you owe it to your society to provide for your own needs the best you can by trading the only things you own – your labor and intelligence – for the resources needed for your survival as well, if possible, for making your life easier.

That leads to yet another question: What are needs? Are needs merely things necessary for survival? Or, as seems to be the case in my country, needs have an every expanding definition. Is it necessary to have a cell phone? Is a G1, G2, G3 or G4 networked phone needed and which level? Is a television set necessary and how big and what format? Is a computer necessary? How about a stove (gas or electric?), a refrigerator, running water, waste disposal, heating, air conditioning, a microwave oven, a fireplace, a couch, a bed, a roof, a house (or an apartment or even just a room)? The list can be almost endless.

What does society owe us and what do we owe society? I have my own views on that, but I will save them for later. To me, that is the basic debate we are having this year in our presidential campaign.

My question to you, dear reader, is: What do you think? You have a functioning brain. You obviously can read (at least one of the languages that this rant can be translated into). Believe it or not, it is my belief that what each of us thinks is important. For what we think affects those around us, which affects those around them, and on, and on, like ripples in a pond.

So, if you think we have to accept austerity as part of life, you might want to pass that thought on to others. I do and I have just done that.