Folks, do you know who really won the Cold War. It was not Ronnie Reagan. It was Senator Nancy Katzenbaum and she never knew that. During the TV – bridges in 1980s between Russia and USA I watched them together with the ladies of the family. Senator Katzenbaum was there, answering questions, telling about her career, etc. I noticed that the ladies of ours did not really listen attentively to what she said but rather examined her appearance. After the show I asked them what they were looking at. They said, ‘If that woman at her age could have such legs, USA is a great country.’ Bingo! It would be useless to tell those ladies that Mrs. Katzenbaum was a woman of privilege and that here in the USA we can have plenty of women who screw their legs before the age of 25. They would not have listened. Nancy Katzenbaum’s legs overthrew the mighty Soviet Empire and I would recommend to put a photo of those into the Smithsonian.
There is no force in the Universe that can withstand the power of Vanity. We do not read our Shakespeare very well. Otherwise we would remember how King Lear replied to his daughter who complained that ‘ he had all what he needed’ but for some reason was not happy:
- Only an animal is satisfied with what it needs only. Human needs extra.
Of course, sustenance, food, water, shelter are basic needs and they take preference. But sometimes even those things give a way to vanity. V. Naipol, the Nobel Laureate in literature describes in his ‘ Middle Passage’ his people of Trinidad who do not want to buy their own local coffee ( good quality and cheap) but prefer the Maxwell House (bad quality and expensive) instead. Vanity? Irrational approach? Maybe yes. But let’s take me. I buy fountain –pens. I buy them all the time. I use ink. They are expensive and tough to use but in my childhood I desperately wanted to have one and never had one. I made them myself from the pieces. Now I have access to them and I satisfy my vanity again and again and again. Go figure.
American history is a Vanity Fair. Our Founding Fathers devised a Revolution out of boredom- there was not much to do for them per the stupid English policy. If only the Solicitor General would not be so obnoxious and mean towards Benjamin Franklin, old Ben would have thought twice before instilling a matinee. If only the guys in London were smart enough to offer a permanent commission to Thomas Jefferson there would be no Declaration of Independence. The boredom was satisfied though and when the grim reality of the French revolution emerged our nice Americans caved immediately.
Civil War was the daughter of Vanity and Boredom sure enough. The gentry in the South got bored with whooping slaves and selling cotton and when the economy changed they were not ready to work hard. War was the only occupation for a gentleman and off to war they went to die with honor as they understood it. Vanity brought them there and Vanity buried them at Gettysburg, Vicksburg and other places.
Our progressives and liberals should not discard Vanity when they make their plans about saving the environment or ‘thriving for the revolution’. You pick up a hot chick on the streets of New York and ask her if she would sacrifice her outfit (Made in China, no doubt) for the decent conditions for the Chinese workers and listen to the answer. Or take war in Iraq. It is not just deplorable, it is horrible, deadly, shameful but what an entertainment! You can have hot sex with your chick and either watch Fox or rent a movie of watch Salute to the Troops by CNN. In all cases you feel that you belong. It is very important to belong. Our ideologs of the religion of the Almighty Dollar know that very well. We may be disgusted with the vampires in power but we envy them because they are certainly not bored.
Corporate noose tightens and less and less men have meaningful occupations, also less and less of them possess a power of decision. Boredom is looming and the valves are to be open. Of course, cleavage and booty are no problem. But there are also surrogates- imaginary decisions: you can buy a house ( and pay mortgage for this bunch of cards) or plan for retirement ( that is if you survive our health industry), open your own business ( if you inherit a fortune) or try to become a movie star ( if you look good undressed). You can get fit or fat or get fat then fit. You can quit smoking. You can do whatever you want: the secret is that most of the people do not need much for their little shallow happiness but they will fight to death to acquire and keep that. Caught my drift? If only the comrades in my former life had allowed cleavage they might have survived. No big deal, right? Too late.
Boredom is the primary drive for the change in the societies. Vanity is the main underlying motive for the everyday behavior of an individual. Everything we see, everything we have, everything we acquire has those two forces at the roots. Greed, lust, power, compassion, altruism, etc- all those things are the derivatives from those two and we, the people better understand that about ourselves. Our whole lives have two goals – to avoid boredom and to satisfy our vanity- take it or leave it.
When the world kicked open the wall we have erected on 9/11 and we saw its ugly face we got scared. That fear prompted us to desperately claim that we are somehow different from all the other people, that we are better, that we value life more, that we would have never done what they did, never ever. That is of course, nonsense. We are the same no matter whether we wear a turban or a top hat. There is huge simularity between Joe, the Sixpack and Mohammed Atta. Both are capable of anything. Vanity and boredom are their common denominator. The primary difference is a chance, pure luck. We better know that and appreciate our connection to all Humanity ‘ in sunshine or in shadow’. It sets us free.
So, are we good people or bad people? We are neither. We are a compendium of both and if we understand what drives us we become better. Of course, not for a long time; just enough to get bored and seek for a deeper cleavage:)
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