Being Regulated

~ patponderslife ~ Leave a comment

Being Regulated

I like driving on a road with yellow lines and clear signs as to where I can drive and where I shouldn’t. I like it that at intersections there are rules that we are encouraged to obey—like who has the right of way. Traffic lights come in handy, too. I bet they even save lives. I bet they even save the lives of folks who don’t trust the government. Me? I’m glad that someone smarter than I worked out how to minimize accidents. Even when, late at night, waiting at a traffic light that refused to change to green while no one else was on the road. Nevertheless, in the daytime, in traffic, I’m grateful that if I wait a bit, I will have a turn to proceed to my destination unafraid that someone who hates to be told what to do will smash into me.

Oh, and air. That basic of all basic needs—to be able to breathe. I like it that there is a government agency in charge of the quality of the air I breathe. They might not be doing a perfect job, but experts at some agency drew up guidelines for acceptable air quality. I wonder what life might become if that agency was dismantled. Maybe nothing for a while but, at some point, corporations who produce air pollution would figure out a way to save money without all those pesky regulations. When enough of them decided to save money, we might all be the worst for it. I can envision a time when we’d all be wearing gas masks just to go outside because we didn’t like being ‘controlled’ by the government. I wonder if folks would prefer gas masks to a few regulations. I think the clean air act included smoking in enclosed areas. I can remember when smokers could smoke wherever they wanted—even inside office buildings, elevators, and airplanes. Now they aren’t allowed to, thanks to some annoying government regulations. I think I prefer breathing air that isn’t filled with someone’s cigarette smoke. Don’t you?

What about water? I prefer mine to be cleaned of harmful chemicals. I think we have to thank the government for that. Maybe we should do so soon, because that agency, too, is on the chopping block.

At 84, I probably won’t be affected too badly, but for my grandchildren—and yours—life might become a bit of a nightmare without the government agencies doing what they do. Many Americans and American businesses will do whatever they want to do as long as there are no consequences for their behavior. That’s what regulating agencies were created for, by the way, for those folks who are bad at self-regulating.  When I consider what the future might look like without those externally imposed rules, I am afraid for future generations.

I also worry about all those agency employees who would lose their jobs. Might that be a crisis? Unemployment would soar. And if the agency that tries to help unemployed people was also dismantled, well, I can foresee a huge problem there.

I wonder if anyone has thought this through?

What do we deserve?

~ patponderslife ~ 2 Comments

I’ve been thinking about the word ‘deserve’ lately. It’s a loaded word, in my mind. To say, they “deserve” that vacation/their promotion/to treat themselves/to have good fortune . . .” means what, exactly? And what does it say about everyone else? That they didn’t deserve?

It reminds me of the people who give God credit for saving one person in a car full of fatalities. Or saving someone they loved when disaster struck. There’s an element of deserving there. But what about everyone else?

I realize I’m splitting hairs again. It all came from a recent purchase I made and was re-thinking the cost. My husband said, “Keep it; you deserve it.” From that innocent exchange, my brain went where it sometimes goes, and I wondered about the word. After that, I heard it several times elsewhere and realized that it’s a pretty common concept.

It says something about us as a species. Sets us apart in that we have this egocentric way of viewing the world and its rewards and punishments. I realize that because some one person “deserves” the reward for effort expended over and above (although the judge of that might be suspect depending on who the evaluation committee was), that doesn’t necessarily mean that the other folks working on the same project don’t deserve recognition.

Which must be why Academy Award recipients work so hard to give credit to every single person, no matter how far down the totem pole, involved in the film. They know that just because they’re the one(s) holding the gold statue, they could not have won that prize without the contributions of all the people, large and small, wealthy and salaried, talented and not, who made it possible.

In a normal person’s life, how do we acknowledge those who contribute to our deserving of good things?

Do I credit the fact that was born to an intact, white, middle-class family who mostly had my best interests in heart? That their place in the unspoken hierarchy put them on top with pale ancestors? That they spoke well and read? That they afforded me an education? That I took off and explored other parts of the country and met all kinds of people? That I absorbed character-building experiences everywhere I went? That I met and married a man with ambition to enjoy some wealth and comfort—and yes, even adventure—for his family? That I gave birth to two generous children who are grown and who also consider my best interests as a top priority?

Do all those circumstances and all those people deserve credit for my deserving?

Surely my husband’s comment took none of those factors into consideration. He meant that I work hard doing things he doesn’t think I should have to do—like take care of him. That’s all he meant. He thinks I deserve good things.

But it got me pondering about the concept of deserving.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.