The economy sucks and the middle class is steadily disappearing. Inflation is soaring and it’s enough to make you wonder if anyone actually understands economics at all.
Now, I’m middle class myself. My mother didn’t work when I was little and then went on to teaching. My father does something financial-based that I’ve never really bothered to figure out because, it turns out, when someone starts to mention money my base instinct is to fall asleep.
Recently, I’ve had a chance to look at how the fancier class lives. Through some family relations, my husband and his family near-yearly take a trip to the shores of Lake Michigan, where they have access to a beach cottage on a private beach in a private community. It’s the sort of place where, when people took the summer off (which books and Dirty Dancing have informed me happened all the time up until, oh, the 80s) to relax and do fancy people things, rich people would go.
I’ve been going myself on and off the last eight or so years, and even in that time frame, I’ve seen the changes.
The economy affects everyone, rich or poor. People can’t afford to take summers off to frolic anymore, and families are hard-pressed to keep a cottage that may have been in their family for four or five generations when the property taxes creep ever higher. Older people die, and there’s no one who can afford the cottages, so they sit vacant, or are turned into rental properties or bed and breakfasts.
My husband knew and played with every kid in the community when he was little, but now it’s empty outside of weekends and holidays, and everyone seems to keep to themselves, excepting people who have been there for generations.
And now, the city wants to turn some of the land into high-density condos, threatening to make the beach as crowded as any public beach.
It seems to me that, as time goes on, every stamp of individuality of a place is stamped out, filled with Walmarts and McDonalds and a sense of conformity. It’s sad to see this community that has brought joy and peace to people for over a century die out, and I don’t doubt that it’s happening to communities like it throughout the country.
I think we’re losing something, though I’m not sure what – our individuality, certainly. Perhaps our imaginations, our abilities to see things in a different light. The economy is only part of the problem. The laziness of society is another.
Couldn’t tell you what to do about it, though.