You Will Own Nothing…And You Will Be Happy…Um…Well…Fucked Really

I saw a skinny, rusty, old, barefoot man wearing shorts and a ripped Nike t-shirt, bouncing ahead of me on a rusty, beat up, Chinese made, Genesis 150cc motorcycle of indeterminable age. He had a rusty, vintage but well oiled 16″ adjustable wrench securely tied to the seat of the bike. I saw a lot of this in Nicaragua, a lot of rust and decay. People in flip flops, riding beat up motorcycles with various rusty tools – shovels, brooms, rakes or machetes either strapped to the bike or being held by one or two passengers.

I followed the guy with the wrench. He was on a job. The job was to lend or rent his precious wrench to a guy working on a beat up vintage Mack dump truck that was blocked up on the side of the street. One of the truck’s rear wheels had fallen off. The wrench owner seemed to have a lot to say to the dump truck driver slash mechanic about the proper care and use of the wrench. I surmise, because I do not understand rapid fire Spanish, except for the words ‘ten cuidado’ and ‘usa tu mano izquierde’, which mean respectively, ‘be careful’ and ‘use your left hand’. The wrench owner seemed to offer up helpful advice on how to quickly and effectively use the wrench. Apparently he had other customers waiting.

This is the thing.

When resources are limited and ownership of anything is dearly expensive, and you own next to nothing, what you may be lucky enough to have something that may be of use to somebody else. The situation may not be efficient but the practice ensures that consumption is kept to a minimum. That a large percentage, say around 46% of a population live in abject poverty goes a long way to keep things ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’. There is no middle class to accumulate stuff in storage lockers and garages. There is no middle class and no way to get there…even with a serviceable motorcycle.

The well to do have more things, many of which they rarely use. They hire the working poor to organize and service their property and things. They have the virtue to lecture the poor on how noble it is to do with less and live in deprivation. The ‘elite’ pontificate on the need to save the planet and the natural world that only they can afford to enjoy. They use slogans to encourage the poor to accept their reality or any further downward mobility that might occur during the grand shuffle to a ‘zero carbon’ economy and society.

“You will own nothing and you will be happy” – said The World Economic Forum and it’s foreign operative, appointed world leaders, partners and stakeholders.

Owning nothing and being happy are mutually exclusive situations. Whereas happiness was largely believed to be conditional upon the getting and owning of things beyond the bare necessities of life and being suitably employed to afford said things, the ‘elite’ now demand that the poor ‘suck it up’ – harder. What they must suck up more of is the grim reality of their slavery…to be grateful for what their beneficent leaders have provided.

“Now to work, you lot, to prove your worth. Four dollars a day is plenty enough for you.”

Happiness may just be the absence of constant pain and suffering. It may involve actually enjoying the boot stamping on one’s face forever.

Spiritual beliefs sometimes ease the pain and suffering of the poor and oppressed.

Thank-you Lord.

Thank-you dear leader.

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.” – George Orwell

You might say that humanity has been living the future for some time now.

Maybe we’ve been too happy with diversions, easy credit, bread and circuses and trinkets and gadgets to notice.