The headline caught my attention: “Mike Rowe says there is a lack of hunger in America.” I am sure I was not the only person who thought he was writing about a lack of food and physical hunger. He was not. Rather, the article was about a hunger to work, to achieve, and to build for the future.
Mike Rowe is perhaps best known for his television series Dirty Jobs where he visits places around the country, and if only during the time the cameras are rolling, works alongside men and women who do jobs most of us would probably prefer to avoid. I suspect he does a lot of similar work off camera, too. Gunging out just about anything is a good example. Working at a poultry packing plant might be another. He is also the author of several books, many articles, and lecturer.
His belief is that too many people have lost the desire to work at jobs they consider to be beneath them, and then work their way up the ladder. To a certain extent, he attributes this to laziness and a nationwide low morale. I do not know about laziness, but the low morale part I understand. Many of our fellow Americans are not very optimistic about their future or the future of our country. In short, they are giving up on their own version of achieving the American Dream. We have lost our way, and it is similar to what Gertrude Stein called the “Lost Generation” about a century ago.
There are perhaps as many reasons to feel that way as there are people. To a certain extent, it is understandable.
-Wages, in many places, are stagnant while the cost of living has increased. People know they are falling behind, and there does not seem to be many reasons to believe it will change. Worse, there is a divide between the “haves and have nots” and a diminishing middle class that has not been this bad since the Gilded Age and Robber Barons of the late 1800s. If there is a difference, it is the Robber Barons of old controlled heavy industry and banking; today’s version control information systems and commodities.
It is understandable when employees feel a lack of support and loyalty to the company. It seems futile.
-Politics. No one seems overly cheerful about what is happening in Washington, and even some of my once-devout Maga friends have starting saying, “Meh,” when the subject arises. Too many unfulfilled promises, too much greed, and clueless statements about inflation, human services, health care, and more. It saps us all.
-The great uncertainty of the full implications of Artificial Intelligence or AI is worrisome. Will AI lead us into a golden age, or will it be our destruction? Will machines work for us, replace us, or force us to serve and work for them? Will all of the information gathering completely destroy our privacy?
Those are just a few of the conditions which can drag down the best of us. When have little faith that things will improve, people tend to remain stuck in place. Apathy triumphs over optimism. Right now, I think that is evident in our lack of enthusiasm for an important milestone year in our country’s history. In turn, according to Mike Rowe, we begin losing our appetite to work harder and smarter.
If we look closely at American history, there has always been a wide chasm between the American Myth and reality. There were never any truly ‘good old days’ because most of it was pure hard work and luck in just surviving. We have been through all of this, and a lot more before, and we survived.
We look at the courage of those involved with the American Revolution, and we admire their leadership. We sometimes forget about individuals, like an ancestor six generations back, who joined the Virginia Militia and fought in what is now West Virginia. The promised salary never came; nor did the pension he was guaranteed. Rather than crying into his tankard of beer, he moved west to Kentucky and established himself and his family.
The next generation moved further west, established themselves, and devoted to making a better life for the children and grandchildren.
There was nothing special or unique about any of them; millions of others did the same thing. They risked their lives because they believed in this country and wanted something better for their children and the grands. If it was not for the genealogical work of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution, even their names would be lost.
Bad politicians? Corruption in government? We have had plenty of them. President Grant’s Vice President was a first-rate scoundrel when it came to selling favors to the railroads in return for money. Harding’s cabinet members did the same thing, knowing they could get away with it because the President was being entertained by a woman of dubious character in a house on K Street. Nixon’s foibles are well known. Add to them, the many Senators and Representatives who were just as bad – profiting from their office, profiting for granting favors to others.
The big difference is now it appears is that the current administration is being open and blatant about shaking down friends and enemies alike. The big difference is that now there are individuals and groups who admire and approve of this behavior and wish they could get on the act. That’s a new one for our country, and it speaks in full volume to the standards of morality. Plus, before the early 1972 or 1973, there were very few investigative journalists. That changed with the Nixon Administration and the Watergate Scandals. Suddenly, the flood gates of exposing everything became the new format for much of our news.
Rule One for investigative journalists is that good news does not sell; news of horrible people and events can earn awards. Every day it seems we have been generous doses of bad news. That means demoralizing news.
Taken together, all of these challenges, and probably others makes it a challenge to have what Mike Rowe described as a hunger for achieving the American Dream.
Somewhere in the midst of that dream is the idea that at the last minute, when things look their worst, and the end of civilization as we knew it is coming to an end, the hero suddenly appears, just like in the movies. It doesn’t matter if it is the Lone Ranger, the Cartwrights, the bugle call for “CHARGE!” or Lassie. The rule is that the hero turns up and saves the day.
The harsh reality is there is no one coming to your rescue, nor mine. It is up to each of us to pursue our own happiness and make our way three our allotted three score and ten years.
As Billy Shakespeare wrote in scene one of act three in Henry V, “Once more into the breach.” Or, as the Greatest Generation sang during the truly spooky days of World War Two, “We’ve done it before and we can do it again, and we’ll lay the ax to the Axis.”
As a nation, we have been through many rough patches in the past, rose up to the challenges, and always came out stronger. I believe that is because Americans have traditionally been hungry. If it meant hard and dirty work, long hours studying, or any other sacrifice, the belief was that it was worth it because of our faith in this country and our hope for the generations to come.
As individuals, every one of us has been through some very dark hours, as have our ancestors before us, and we are still here. Time to build for the future.
