I think this is in part due to the fact that unless you are actively working on one of the big problems, it's easy to get overwhelmed and experience true existential dread. People probably REQUIRE a fair amount of denial-of-the-evident just to make it through their days. I remember reading about a study a few decades ago purporting to show that the Holocaust survivors who fared best were the ones with the highest capacity to *deny* just how bad it had been. They'd shielded themselves from the unbearable truth.
Also, there's this: “It's difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on not understanding it." -Upton Sinclair
Somewhat strangely, one of my most favorite jobs of all time (initially it was a near tie with the test driver one, but went to shit at blinding speed one fateful morning when I woke to find my head flattened against the proverbial glass ceiling) was when I lived in Tokyo and happened to land a job working for a Japanese engineering consulting firm specialized in international economic development assistance projects. That involved working 'round the clock literally solving the world's problems. I didn't actually solve those problems myself. I just fielded and dealt with the copious administrative shit they threw off. You haven't seen bureaucratic shit till you've dealt with that produced in China and former Soviet republics!
Thanks so much for this reminder that the grass is never greener, lol. After reading some dire climate change news yesterday, I wondered if I shouldn't be ditching my current creative/entrepreneurial ambitions and instead work for some kind of environmental advocacy group or think tank. But those places probably don't need me... It might best to stay in place and keep writing, do my little part in bringing awareness to some critical issues to a few people, as well as some music to lighten all our loads. I mean--this IS what I have previously committed to, but sometimes I waver, feeling as if I'm not doing enough to solve even one world problem... It's like a hifalutin version of codependency/over-responsibility. 🤷🏾♀️😄
We get those boil water advisories pretty regularly in Jersey City. Our water main system is old and we get ruptures a few times a year. But as to “the crises … will begin to affect other regions and other life-supporting public functions as well” I would argue that we passed that dangerous threshold a few years ago, when the TX Power Grid failed.
And people like to tell me I'm "SO negative" whenever I express my prevailing sense that everything is going to shit. 😒
I think this is in part due to the fact that unless you are actively working on one of the big problems, it's easy to get overwhelmed and experience true existential dread. People probably REQUIRE a fair amount of denial-of-the-evident just to make it through their days. I remember reading about a study a few decades ago purporting to show that the Holocaust survivors who fared best were the ones with the highest capacity to *deny* just how bad it had been. They'd shielded themselves from the unbearable truth.
Also, there's this: “It's difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on not understanding it." -Upton Sinclair
Somewhat strangely, one of my most favorite jobs of all time (initially it was a near tie with the test driver one, but went to shit at blinding speed one fateful morning when I woke to find my head flattened against the proverbial glass ceiling) was when I lived in Tokyo and happened to land a job working for a Japanese engineering consulting firm specialized in international economic development assistance projects. That involved working 'round the clock literally solving the world's problems. I didn't actually solve those problems myself. I just fielded and dealt with the copious administrative shit they threw off. You haven't seen bureaucratic shit till you've dealt with that produced in China and former Soviet republics!
Thanks so much for this reminder that the grass is never greener, lol. After reading some dire climate change news yesterday, I wondered if I shouldn't be ditching my current creative/entrepreneurial ambitions and instead work for some kind of environmental advocacy group or think tank. But those places probably don't need me... It might best to stay in place and keep writing, do my little part in bringing awareness to some critical issues to a few people, as well as some music to lighten all our loads. I mean--this IS what I have previously committed to, but sometimes I waver, feeling as if I'm not doing enough to solve even one world problem... It's like a hifalutin version of codependency/over-responsibility. 🤷🏾♀️😄
We get those boil water advisories pretty regularly in Jersey City. Our water main system is old and we get ruptures a few times a year. But as to “the crises … will begin to affect other regions and other life-supporting public functions as well” I would argue that we passed that dangerous threshold a few years ago, when the TX Power Grid failed.
Too true.....