It is raining here on Chatuge Lake. I’m sitting under the canopy of our 96C210P – that’s Roadtrek language for our 1996 Chevy 21 foot Poplar model Roadrek which is our nomadic home. Sipping my favorite drink, we’re watching storms come up from Georgia, which is just over the ridge across the lake. We have had beautiful brief storms each day that not only bring life but brings relief by reducing the discomfort of the heat and humidity that starts early in the morning.
I couldn’t help but think of the child’s “Rain. Rain. Go away. Come again some other day.”
I guess it is symptomatic of our society’s myopic mentality that rain, a major source of life, is seen as inconvenient. It isn’t that I don’t feel sorry for folks who have waited for an entire year for their capitalistic masters to allow them time off and then not be able to recreate. I feel very sorry for them. I feel extremely sorry for them on two counts: firstly, that they are suffering the serfdom which limits their freedom and, secondly, that recreation, which is so vital to human health, comfort and survival, has been relegated to a once-a-year activity when it’s convenient for the capitalist masters. Of course it is very good capitalism to join a club that is designed to provide exercise and recreation when off work but which is, in reality, seldom used or used regularly while accepting the stress of trying to work club attendance into one’s work schedule. Americans spend $1.8 billion on unused gym memberships. The gym industry is a $28.6 billion industry. (i)
Oh, I’m not being sacrosanct. Until I retired and learned the truth, I was as bad, if not worse, than anyone else. And I was my own capitalistic master. I had bought into the system and worked almost constantly to buy the many things which we did not need, do things we didn’t need to do, and spend a month’s income for a seven to ten day vacation. To make an income I had to see patients, so I started seeing patients in healthcare facilities at 6:30 am and would often still be seeing patients twelve or thirteen hours later. I did that five days a week and then worked my second job on the weekends. Looking back it is hard to believe that I would actually wonder why my wife would complain about my never being around. I obviously knew and practiced capitalism well.
Probably the best capitalist story is about my own children. My wife, who died in 2011, was a top sales person for a big national insurance company. The company rewarded their top producers with “conferences” at resorts and special places. My wife had always qualified for one of their conferences. One year, when our youngest was still not walking, the top conference was being held in Hawaii. Our children were telling their Mother that she just had to win that conference. She said, “to make the sales points to earn that trip I’d have to work so much I’d never see you!” To which the children replied, “we’d see you there.” That’s capitalism!
I didn’t really know any better until I retired and was able to stand back and look at the world in which I had participated. I was shocked. I was appalled. I was devastated that I had wasted so much of my life in what we used to call “the rat race.”
By the time Pamela and I met, fell in love and headed off to the wilderness of Montana, I was just beginning to learn how to live. Here’s where one sees the big difference between living and being a serf to capitalism. We spent the next seven years working as camp hosts for the National Park Service. My average “work day” was around nine hours but you’d never know it. I did my job, took care of our campers, and still had plenty of time to do those things which we wanted to do. We were living what many called a dream life. What struck me so often was how that life could be almost everyone’s experience if we weren’t serfs to capitalism.
How did I get from “rain. rain. Go away” to being serfs of capitalism? It really wasn’t a hard step or even a big one. “Rain.Rain” is symptomatic of a fundamental and universal tendency of the capitalistic world to reject and push away nature. For the common person, nature is not a priority. In fact, they’ve been taught that it is incidental to those activities for which they pay to be entertained and amused. Disney is a master of creating artificial trees and natural settings so that the visitor, who pays quit well, has the sensation of being in nature. My children and their families love Disney, but I’m sure they’ll even admit to this reality.
For corporations nature is seen as something which gets in the way of progress. Environmentalism is something that many big corporations want to appear to support while they really find it a major barrier to their profit potential. A big corporation giving the appearance of being environmental to improve sales while really having no regard whatsoever for the environment is now called “woke capitalism” (ii)
Nature, however, isn’t the only victim of capitalism. People are probably the most routinely abused. Their lives are dictated and managed by capitalism even if they, like me, are anti-capitalism. Even spending as much of my life as possible off the grid, I have no choice but to participate in capitalism when I’m forced to visit civilization. Just to be able to exist in this country I must participate in capitalism and invest what money I have in the capitalist system. There is no other choice.
An interesting observation, and the topic of a future essay, is that, by the strictest definition, when you combine the power of capitalism with the power of government you have fascism.
For now enjoy watching the rain. To the extent to which you can, reject your serfdom and find ways to live and enjoy life despite the capitalistic bondage. I’m not advocating revolution . . . . yet. At this point we are still learning to survive and turn the tables. I believe you would be surprised the extent to which you are able to reject capitalism’s excessive consumerism. You actually do have some power which the capitalist don’t want you to recognize. In reality, capitalism needs you. It has just convinced you that it is the other way round. If you reduce your consumerism the system has less control of your time and therefore of your life. Get back to nature. Not everyone is meant to be a nomad, but finding an enjoyable activity in nature – camping, hiking, running, fishing, hunting, skiing, etc. – you will soon discover your freedom and be empowered. Even if the capitalistic lords own your body, they’ll never own your soul.
FOOTNOTES.
(i) https://www.finder.com/unused-gym-memberships
(ii) https://oldconservationist.blogspot.com/2020/03/what-constitutes-social-system.html?m=1
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