Monday, December 27, 2010

A Place and State that I NEVER Want to Find Myself In

Embedded in Roger Cohen's entertaining and often funny rant about Europe's inability to deal with the snowy weather that has come their way were these bon mots:
What we are witnessing on either side of the Channel is the double whammy of a debt-ridden public sector making cuts wherever it can and a bonus-addicted private sector making cuts wherever it’s profitable — with the resultant disaster foisted on a general public now so cowed and coddled and fearful and risk-averse in the age of terror and technology that an inch or two of snow sends everyone into a blind panic.
And then there was this, at the end of the piece that frequently made me LOL.
It’s the age of pass-the-buck, blame-anybody-but-yourself technology-induced, pasty-faced, initiative-starved helplessness in a Europe that’s forgotten what a shovel looks like.
I must admit, that made me stop laughing.

Now that is just a place I do not want to go, a place in which I do not want to live, and a mindset that I want nothing to do with. I want to live in a country where there are always people ready to take initiative and pick up the shovel.

I think I live in that kind of country. I think. I pray.

3 comments:

Ann T. said...

Dear the Observer,
Yes!!!! I worry about this too. Now going to read the article--and I may be back!!

Ann T.

Bob G. said...

T.O.:
ANd I think we're very close to being on the SAME page today.

Stay safe out there.

The Observer said...

Ann and Bob:
Many times I was laughing and enjoying Cohen's word play but his conclusion was a frightening thing. I believe we are a different place than Europe, but it still is a scary scary thought of where we could end up.

A wake up call for those with ears to hear!

The Observer