idolizing the rich

this morning there was a bus break-down or some such thing and so instead of taking the express bus from the ferry to work which travels mainly along the highway, i ended up on the 250 Horseshoe Bay bus which winds through the streets of West Vancouver. this route wends through the wealthiest municipalities in bc, block after block of waterfront mansions – testaments to consumption well beyond the limits of any perceived need rising out of the side of rock and perching on tiny islands in sheltered bays. i can’t help but stare at them, fascinated by the monstrousness of them, both in size and implication (for wealth this grossly displayed implies an assumed privilege over the needs of the majority of the world’s population). these are the people who honestly believe it is their birthright to own while others starve and thus destroy resources at a rate that should be considered criminal.

the rapt attention with which i watched these houses move by the bus windows reminded me of times during my upbringing when my parents would bundle us into the car to go for a drive which too often ended up on the streets of the uplands outside of victoria ogling the homes of the rich. the uplands, like west vancouver is full of old money mansions in all their colonial pomposity – and i was taught from a very young age, this was what all people aspired to – bombastic wealth without regard for others.

on these journeys my mother would sigh and make some general wish for unearned riches through either birth or marriage – sometimes expressed as a desire not to have to work anymore. other times she would take us to the ill-fated craigdarroch castle (built by robber barron robert dunsmuir) for a tour at christmas time, always saying at the end “see, it’s true – money doesn’t buy happiness,” as if to convince herself that even money wouldn’t necessarily make her life better.

i don’t remember my father ever having such wishes – to him, work was a burden that one carried and a responsibility accepted – i think on some core level he doesn’t trust the rich (nor does he trust anyone who professes to be a christian – but i’ll leave that for another blog post). at the end of the day, my family was not poor and everything that came to the table was part of the fact that we continued under that burden of work.

the continuing focus on the lives of the wealthy, the famous, and the glamorous as a model for living is surely one of the most destructive aspects of our culture. not only does it destroy our own self-worth as working people, but gives the real impetus to the consumerism eroding all planetary “resources”. in part, this is the reason i profess a lack of real concern over who won yesterday’s election, for although there is some marginal difference in “tone” between kerry and bush, both of these men (and their parties) are clearly on the side of civilization and capitalism – neither of which can be sustained at the current rate we are going.

as long as our cultural memes reinforce the selfishness and moral bankruptcy of the rich and our right to consume as we please in our desire to be like them – and our “leaders” don’t challenge that – we continue in our purgatory of destruction, never tasting good food, drinking potable water or breathing clean air – never connecting with other peoples, animals or the environment which we have mostly paved over. although those houses in west vancouver and uplands and shaugnessy are things i was taught to aspire to, all i see is what they represent, which is not a world i want to live in …..