What is ‘the Good Life’?
In our culture all we have to do is turn on the T.V. and what is offered as ‘the Good Life’ screams at us, over and over again. Because we are told, over and over and over and over, that we will experience ‘the Good Life’ if we seek to smell a certain way, if we have enough hair, if the hair we have is colored a certain way, if we take any number of pills (the speaker’s voice becomes softer when the ‘side-effects’ are listed), if we dress a certain way, if we drive a certain car, if we use a certain credit card (don’t worry about the balance on your card for there are any number of folks that can help you reduce your monthly payment ), if we sculpt our body a certain way, if we shave off nature’s ‘hair’ (whether you are a man or a woman, certain body hair, if not removed, will certainly keep you from ‘the Good Life’), if we drink the right alcoholic beverage (in moderation, of course), if we buy the winning lottery ticket, if we make sure that our houses are protected with certain alarm systems, if we join this ‘dating service’ we will – whether we are young, old, black, divorced, single, white, Christian or Jewish – meet the perfect person for us, if we have ‘identity protection,’ [given all of the above it is a wonder we have a sense of our identity anyway], if we buy our energy – we no longer have to take care of ourselves so that we have enough energy. Ah, this list could go on and on.
In our culture ‘the Good Life’ is also defined as having the ‘power,’ the ‘status,’ the ‘money’ and the license [I was going to type ‘freedom’ but freedom is joined at the hip with responsibility and what is held up to us is ‘license’ which means we have the right to do whatever we want – we can be as uncivil, as mean-spirited, as demeaning, as demonizing, as hateful, as marginalizing and as insensitive as we want; we are NOT our brothers keepers – no wonder the ‘stranger’ is having such a tough time, we are not even our brothers keepers…of course there are some who say that ‘the stranger’ is our brother].
This ‘Good Life’ also leads one into fear (especially of the ‘stranger’) and into attempting to ensure ‘protection from’ (again, the ‘stranger,’ or old age, or illness, or hair loss, or wrinkles, or …). The ‘Good Life’ offers us an ‘illusion’ of ‘no worries’ and yet, attempting to live out the ‘Good Life’ as I have described it actually contributes to our anxiety and worry [and there are pills that can help us manage our anxieties and worries – so, again, ‘no worries’].
I am smiling – it is a ‘sad smile.’ On the one hand we are told, over and over, to trust that all of the things I have mentioned above will indeed lead us to the ‘Good Life.’ On the other hand, we are full of distrust and cynicism when it comes to certain people, not products: politicians, people who sell_______[you, gentle reader, can fill in the blank], attorneys, for some the police, for some the clergy, for a growing number, the stranger, for some those who are ‘different’ [again, Gentle Reader, you can fill in the adjective – Jew, Muslim, Catholic, Fundamentalist, Ex-Con].
Should it not be the other way around? Should we not question, doubt, be skeptical about ‘things’ and be more trusting of ‘human beings’?
Of course, I might be wrong about all of this. Perhaps my ‘rant’ is simply my own cynicism manifesting itself. Perhaps I ‘don’t get it’ – it won’t be the first time. Perhaps if I ‘really understood’ then. . . Perhaps, PART II, will help me – and you, Gentle Reader – consider a different response to the question: What is the Good Life?
Searcher-Seeker 