Date: Tue, 25 Feb 1997
Sender: •••@••.••• (Joe Ferguson)
Subject: Re: cj#633> re: Is there a paradise plan?
Hi Susan,
I'm sorry to hear of your mistreatment at the hands of insensitive,
greedy corporate jerks. Reading your email, I am moved by your power
as a writer and by your fire. Two things in great demand and short
supply in businesses today are people who care enough to be there for
their customers when needed and people who can communicate effectively.
So I deduce the hacks that fired you have lousy judgement. What we
want of course, is for them to not have such arbitrary power over our
lives in the first place.
Over the weekend I was away from internet connect points and was wishing
I had emailed you to encourage you before I left on Friday. I was
thinking of practical advice I would give you like "definitely dump
the car" but upon reflection things just aren't that simple.
I think Richard is right when he cautions us against "surrendering." I
know about this, because from 1969 when I dropped out of college until
1977 I was waiting for civilization-as-we-know-it to collapse so I could
put my backpacking skills to work carving a life out of the wilderness. I
had landed in San Francisco because that's where my girlfriend had
wanted to live, but then she became my ex-girlfriend and I took a tiny
rooftop studio in the Mission district that had a large view of downtown
San Francisco. As I stared out at the CITY one day, smoking a joint,
the reality hit me like a ton of bricks: Civilization is here to stay.
It was time for me, since I couldn't beat 'em, to join 'em. (I wish I
could say I was out of cliches at this point, but that would probably
be famous last words!-)
Yeah, even if you are going to get another corporate job, if you can
sell the Honda without losing a bunch of money, then DO THAT!
These pricey cars are definitely one of the biggest traps going. I look
around "Silly Valley" and see all of these young kids driving these
$20,000.00 cars and I know they have enslaved themselves to pay for them
and it's (as Perot would say) just SAD!
But, the most important thing for you now is to not panic. Don't take
a huge loss on the car. Get another corporate job, and this time resolve
to not get as carried away. I'm sure you won't forget how fragile it all
is. In fact I would recommend you get that job and eat tuna fish (make
that peanut butter) until you've paid for the car. Do you really think
you should be paying all of that non-deductible interest?
The closest thing I have had to a brilliant idea about this is car co-ops.
If you have friends that need a reliable car, how about sharing it?
Definitely difficult to arrange, but maybe not impossible. This is
definitely an idea the TransNationals will not like, because besides
selling less cars, people will be cooperating with each other more.
Regarding The Alliance For Democracy, I think we do all need to pitch in
and fix things, but you are right not to let yourself get consumed by
rage. That is unhealthy. You need to survive and you need to build
security. We all need to keep our heads as we try to navigate through
this Madison Avenue induced fog. Keep your sense of humor at all costs.
Read "Downsize This" by Michael Moore.
Hang in there!
- Joe Ferguson
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Posted by Richard K. Moore - •••@••.••• - Wexford, Ireland
Cyberlib: ftp://ftp.iol.ie/users/rkmoore/cyberlib
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