careless people, they
let other people clean up
the mess they have made
Adapted from the passage:
I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused.
They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. . . .
From the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925).
In the realm of life imitating art, the line; I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused., sends shivers down my spine.
As it goes on, the more I believe it has to be a hot house phenomena.
Like the Roading 20’s, the USA rose up and passed Prohibition.
I look for and feel a growing wave of resentment that will wash away the carelessness of this current era.
But for now, it’s all careless and confused.
They will smash up things and creatures and then retreat back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that keeps them together.
And let us clean up the mess they have made.
*Thanks to good friend Bryan whose post reminded me of the passage.
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