The Century
THE CENTURY
A series of 100 word epics by Kevin Barber
I think people are a lot like leaves. When the summer is high, and the sun and the rain are plentiful, all leaves are green. It is only when the short days and cold nights of autumn have arrived that their true nature is revealed. In the last moments, the brilliant reds and yellows mingle with the mottled browns on the earth’s canvass. Some leaves remain bright green, as if they never believed that they too would break from the only home they have ever known and experience a short, beautiful freedom as remarkable individuals.
I saw myself yesterday. Well, I actually saw a 14 year old kid with long, unkempt hair, jeans and sneakers - wearing a pretty cool RUSH T-shirt. It was a bit of an epiphany, as I was struck by the fact that a generation has passed on my watch – the 30 year period in modern humans where the torch is passed, and what was old is somehow new again. If only we could all benefit from the same rediscovery, the same rebirth – the affirmation that the more things change the more they stay the same.
It bugs me when parents ignore the obvious and trespass onto jungle gyms – or whatever the hell they call them these days – at the park. Adults sully the pure spirit that exists when all of earth’s citizens under the age of eight get together without the burdens of class, sex and race that the rest of us have to slug through every day. I also notice that the benches are well back where all of us “grownups” sit with the same stupid looks on our faces, like finding a picture from a long time ago.
In the 50’s and 60’s, the repressive restrictions placed on many authors saw an explosive rise in the popularity of science fiction books. While the suits and bureaucrats only saw spacemen and aliens, the storylines in fact reflected the very core socio-political issues consuming the world and its peoples. Censors, ignorant to this connection, took years and years to realize this phenomenon. Today, the acerbic, sarcastic blue comedy of the adult cartoon genre has replaced sci-fi as the torchbearer, using parody and crude drawings to outwit those who would rather you not be bothered with such filthy, immature clap trap.
Once upon a time, great leaders led. Today, nothing is done before it is studied with a phalanx of pricks, pokes and grabs that we call polling, surveying, gauging or probing by an army of folk dedicated to applying hard numbers to things like opinion, habit and belief. Now - the first rule of market research is market, or money. It is safe to say that nothing gets researched unless someone pays for it. So if your wife asks you if she looks like she’s getting fat, ask yourself if you want to get more work.
A good adage is like a homemade jam, boiled down to a sweet, palatable package, created over generations of experience. When you hear someone say “The more things change, the more they stay the same” or “A penny saved is a penny earned” what you are in fact hearing is an entire textbook, delivered in a clear, concise fashion by anyone who can connect the dots on a basic level. An adage is comforting in that it shows each generation that whatever situation arises in their lives, the same thing has happened to many, many people over many, many years.
They used to be called lifestyle ads. Feel-good, pre-packaged illusions connect you the consumer with their products. Bud men were joiners; Coors men were a group who saw themselves as non-joiners. Today, it is called branding, and there is no alternative- in today’s world of advertising you are what you buy. Market researchers in their never-ending quest to justify their jobs continually endeavor to pigeonhole an entire population starting at birth. Likewise, political parties also want to help you to avoid having to make decisions yourself based on anything other than their word. After all darling, they brand cattle – right?
There is little argument that we are in deep shit. The chickens have come home to roost so to speak, and the frivolous, conspicuous consumption that has been driving this society for the past quarter century is shifting like the landfill it was built on. Life’s simple pleasures have become scripted images in fabric softener commercials, and family time is the image used by fast foot restaurants in their advertising. Hair colour is the second most profitable sector at Shoppers Drug Mart after Pharmaceuticals. Take time to survey the magazines at the check out – to see what’s really important today.
