The world is wrong about …

Today’s prompt from the writer’s bootcamp is “The world is wrong about…”.  Whew where do we start?

greed?

pollution?

over population?

materialism?

broken value systems?

instant gratification?

power

ego

Or enigmas like the fact that it’s ok for children to be addicted to violent computer games but Enid Blyton is politically incorrect.

My husband Cliff is right, almost every problem in the world boils down to selfishness.  What I perceive as the biggest problem is rooted in selfishness, it’s MY perception.  I am not directly affected by hunger or poverty.  I have not lost someone dear to drugs or a drunken driver.  If I had my view would shift.

In MY view the world is wrong about credit (amongst countless failings).  Credit makes a fantasy world possible (make no mistake I love fantasy, but we need solid ground, we need a safe place when fantasy gives way to reality).  Credit enables people to project success, very little is out of reach.  Parents seldom say to children “no, we can’t afford that” (what lessons are they teaching).  Credit enables poor self-discipline, it creates the impression that if I don’t own that car, or live that lifestyle (I loathe that word), I am inferior.

Credit is not free money, it is a dazzling illusion.  The world is stage-struck.  Behind the scenes there is burden and anxiety for those in debt, but the show goes on.  What will happen when the curtain falls?  When harsh lights expose the illusionists, when the smoke clears and the mirrors crack?  What will happen when the house of cards flutters to the ground?  What will people and nations possess to pin their identity to?

Cliff and I are wary of credit and debt.  The only money which we owe is on our home (and SANRAL seem to think that we owe them).  We drive 2nd hand cars, we don’t have DSTV, our couch is tatty (when we have the cash it will be replaced) but we are clothed, never lack a meal and even go on some lovely holidays.  The dark cloud of debt around me is unsettling.   I feel that the fabric of illusion is perishing.  Is a world-wide recession looming?  Is this the calm before a catastrophic storm?  Perhaps I should not be afraid, perhaps it will be a time when the world gets a little more real.  Perhaps we need to see one another without the trimmings of stuff.