Blue Skies, Black Days Last Exploration From Charlie

      This was an very interesting and wonderfully written essay. I found myself agreeing to what he had to say about our society drift away from self maintenance and it interested me that there has been a huge swing from the domestic style of living and the industrial style of living in a very short period of time. With the birth of the industrial revolution in the 18th century (only three centuries ago) we found a better way to produce things more easily. 
     At the time, like most things, this was just a benefit aiding those who could not produce what they needed or allowed for alternative activities. The cost would come later in the form of social capital as Robert Putnam writes about in his essay "Bowling Alone." We supposedly no longer need each others' support and can project ourselves as an island, something that is  not logical. We have other supposed better ways to acquire things. Things provided by corporations. This boon has been gained but it has crippled us beyond the marginal benefit acquired. 
     I think that Wendell Berry points out a very scary point in "The Ideals of A Local Economy" when he says that "Our Major economic practice, in short, is to delegate the practice to others." (13) As a child, I did not realize that not all made things came from a store. I learned to trust the professional, the ... wait ... the people employed by the "machine". If you tried to call the corporation to come to your house personally, it cannot show up, because it is not made of flesh but of a ideal to "which a number of persons have sold their moral allegiance." (22) In essence its a justified form of slavery. I do understand that supply and demand are interrelated and that the best practice for profit is to buy low and sell high; but cheap is cheap and you get what you pay for. If we cheaply build people up you are going to have a cardboard society! Where everything relational is collapsible and sell-able. Now if it was a minor practice I think that we would not have lost as many of our "hand" skills or our craftsmanship.  Craftsmanship being the art embedded with the simple construction.
     Now imagine this, you have acquired a tooth brush and tooth paste and are now ready to brush your teeth. Instead of you doing this simple task, a corporate employee comes in and brushes your teeth for you. With your mouth full of bubbles you are unable to talk to this individual, a basic interaction. To the system, you are supporting the local economy by feeding the system through your purchases and by providing someone a job. The real question is who is this person and how much are they being paid to care for you?
     How did they get there, or better yet what is their name? Congratulations, your now supporting a system where the human life is a number. They have no names for acknowledgement but for tracking purpose only. We need to reach out to the neighbors that we have and realize that the neighbor across town is just as viable as the one next door. We live in a time where we can honestly not know how previous generations survived. Soon we will all have just popped up out of the ground with computers in hand.
    I think that, as Amber pointed out in her response, the corporation does not care what problems exist. As long as it can survive and grow, it is happy. Ignorance is bliss, right? It sees the cliff, and as long as it can benefit from anything, it will drive us and itself off of it. We need to make its stock holders care differently. This is the only true change.

    I'm not saying to go cold turkey or that a corporation has no use. What I am saying is that it should work for us, it came from our ideals. Let have the Jabberwocky plow our fields and play second fiddle. Like any one else that is a "person" it must earn its place through respect to others and hard work.


Part Two:

        I have the hobby of woodworking. It is something that has been around for a while, but beyond wood crafting magazines, it is seldom talked about locally. I think that wood craft stands in the center of all imagination. Without at least a form of it, we would not have frame works for canvases or paper for watercolor. Its presence can be seen from toys like Lincoln logs, to fine furniture, to our houses within Marion, Ohio.
     Like any craft it has its technicalities as well as its flairs. When combined, we make a craftsmanship piece, the perfect balance between logistics and art appears. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it is not simply enough to work, but to touch that work with our personality gearing it toward being a betterment to the world. Why tear something up when you can offer a launching pad to the next invention or next wave of knowledge? We would be far worse off if we did not have the "builders" of society's betterment like Marie Curry or Leonardo Da Vinci.
      I am a nontraditional student with "real life" experience, you may over look my opinion if you wish. Just remember that when this ideal starts to creep up on you as you age, you are not the first one to think this way as I am not either, nor will you and I be the only ones not listened to. With grace and dignity, reach to those who do listen and don't chose not to reach out when once bitten, twice shy becomes a reality. Build, don't destroy.