was preventable
but in some ways was also
inevitable

The story I read, Down to Earth: The Arizona teen whose death in extreme heat is a warning of tragic things to come, by Nina Lakhani in the Guardian, is an article about the heat in Phoenix and the death in 2022 of a young man named Caleb Blair.

Caleb Blair, Ms. Lakhani writes, was a sweet talented kid with mental health struggles ended up naked and handcuffed, high and overheated, on the forecourt of a Circle K gas station.

It is an article filled with awfulness on many many levels.

Ms. Lakhani writes: His tragic death was preventable, but in some ways it was also inevitable given the US’s social, health and economic inequalities. And it signals that the climate crisis is a risk multiplier – it exposes, intersects with and amplifies existing problems such as housing shortages, inadequate mental health and addiction services, racist policing, and the lack of shade in cities, to name just a few.

His tragic death was preventable, but in some ways it was also inevitable given the US’s social, health and economic inequalities.

A terrible statement to read or say out loud.

A statement made more terrible maybe as that it mentions the US’s social, health and economic inequalities.

Social, health and economic inequalities in the United States.

The greatest country on the face of the earth.

One month after Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt gave a speech that explained why America was in World War 2.

America was fighting for Democracy which, according to FDR, included economic opportunity, employment, social security, and the promise of “adequate health care”.

America, FDR said, was fighting for the four freedoms.

And just the four freedoms for the America but for the whole world.

The Four Freedoms?

 Freedom of speech.

Freedom of worship.

Freedom from want.

Freedom from fear.

Joe Stalin saw the flaw here right away.

When Stalin met FDR and the Four Freedoms came up, Stalin asked if Want meant Desire.

FDR was quit to point out that he meant, WANTS or NEEDS not desires.

As an aside though, FDR was once asked what book he would have people in the Soviet Union read to help understand the differences between the USSR and the USA. The Sears Roebuck Catalog, said FDR.

Freedom from want.

Social, health and economic inequalities in the United States.

Preventable, but in some ways it was also inevitable.

Maybe as George Bailey said, “… is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath?

Preventable, but in some ways it was also inevitable.

Maybe I need to include the first part of that line of George Bailey’s from It’s a Wonderful Life.

The line starts, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this town.

The living and dying in this town.

Social, health and economic inequalities in the United States.

Preventable, but in some ways it was also inevitable.

Boy Howdy, but if that isn’t the caption on the feelings of just about everything today.

Preventable, but in some ways it was also inevitable.

What happened to the promise?

our era is rage
equal opportunity
rage … not have enough

Based on the article, When Did Hospitality Get So Hostile? by Ligaya Mishan (NYT – 2/10/2023).

Ms. Mishan writes:

Ours is an era of rage.

Equal-opportunity rage: Even people with power and capital (social, cultural, financial) perceive themselves as not having enough.

And while this has been exacerbated by our past few years in thrall to a virus — something tiny, invisible, insidious and still incompletely understood — it started earlier, with the society-wide turn to consumerism, the mimetic pursuit of status through acquisition, the elevation of wealth to a gospel, the patronizing and dehumanizing of the have-nots and the growing rift between rich and poor, which is now close to an abyss.

The brilliance of the system is that it pits us against each other rather than those above us; it encourages us to worship and seek to imitate our overlords, not depose them.

I have long thought that the first real sign of the end times would be when people began to ignore that engine of common courtesy known as the 4-way stop.

When drivers no longer obeyed the laws, both written and unwritten, about how to handle a 4-way stop, then the end could not be far off.

It seems that the powers that be had the same concern about the end times so they invented the traffic circle.

Here in the low country, the powers that be love the traffic circle and they bring out statistics to show how effective they are.

T Bone crashes or crashes where cars meet at a 90 degree angle dropped 90% on the intersections that went from a traditional 4 way stop to a traffic circle.

That cars no longer approached other cars at a 90 degree angle was not cited as a reason for the drop in T-Bone accidents.

As Mr. Mencken kind of said, no one ever went broke under estimating the American intellect.

(Notice the State of Georgia removing the Confederate Battle Flag from their state flag due to public clamor. Notice the State of George replacing the Confederate Battle Flag with the Confederate National Colors and no one noticing.)

So I need a new sign of the coming end times to replace the 4-way stop.

Behavior in restaurants may be my next sign of end times as hospitality gets redefined.

Ms. Mishan writes:

Hospitality, as it has been understood for thousands of years, is a gift, unconditional, outside politics, giving food, shelter and aid — whatever you have, however little it is — to a stranger who may not speak your language or know your ways, and asking nothing in return.

The transaction upends the relationship. The diner who slaps down a Platinum Amex expects something spectacular in exchange. Dance for me. Make it worth my while.

Ms. Mishan closes with:

HOSTILITY AND HOSPITALITY: how faint the line between them.

The Latin hostis once meant “guest,” then became, through some shadowy slippage of language, the word for “enemy” 

I certainly see this.

I certainly feel this.

The brilliance of the system is that it pits us against each other rather than those above us.

It encourages us to worship and seek to imitate our overlords, not depose them.

Brilliant indeed.

Ours is an era of rage.

What can be next but the end times.