The Skin Of Our Teeth

I love this play by Thornton Wilder, though I question its optimism more than ever. We may not get by an impending, major environmental crisis "by the skin of our teeth" or any other way. But I like Wilder's belief in the human capacity for decency. 

Yet it's as if the culture has conspired against it, rewarding greed, cheating, selfishness over decency, caring, fellowship. I'll always remember my parents' discussion of new friends, wondering if they were Democrats or Republicans. It was rude to ask! And it was nobody's business. Like religious affiliation, political affiliation was a private matter. If the person wanted you to know, they would tell you.

It's difficult to become polarized when politics is personal and hidden. Why else have a secret ballot? That was my dad's comment to the rare person who came by with a political petition. He would refuse to sign with the words, "I support a secret ballot." And he'd just shake his head at the neighbor, the only one, who always put a political sign on his lawn come election time. Nor would he show a flag at home. He'd say he spent over 20 years in the Navy, he didn't have to prove his patriotism to anyone. He was a live and let live kind of guy, and there appear to be fewer of them around than in the past. It's a cultural loss.

What I really like about this country is its environment for late changes in life. It's no big deal to return to college at 70, start a business at 50, and so on, though financial requirements and obstacles are far greater than they used to be, maybe making this all meaningless today. When I went to Berkeley in 1959, tuition was less than a week's wages at most jobs. A state-supported university, it actually was subsidized and very inexpensive. No longer. I am shocked, absolutely shocked, at what my students pay for tuition, especially graduate students.

I think we have to become more nationally selfish about our wealth and resources. I'm not an isolationist and not a pacifist, but our military adventures abroad have done a lot to ruin the country. I'd like us to lead, if we must, by passive example and not by bull-headed and arrogant leadership.

As Voltaire advised, let's tend our own garden.