Burdened by Bags of Sand

I created a first version of this dialog as part of a longer item posted to the Open Manufacturing list.

It also connects to this essay I wrote: "Recognizing irony is key to transcending militarism".

This ironic story is about trying to talk the USA out of collective suicide stemming from scarcity fears and misunderstandings when the USA and the world otherwise has so much potential for abundance. Of course, there is also always cause for optimism in any case.

Here is a famous jumping off a bridge scene, btw: :-)
"It's a Wonderful Life *HD* - Part 11 of 14"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfPn1kDQxuI

Burdened by Bags of Sand

"You there, on the bridge, with the USA T-shirt and the bags tied to yourself, stay where you are."

"I'm going to jump!"

"Don't do it. Have some hope and optimism. Things could get better."

"No they can't! I'm so poor and burdened! I've cut back on everything, but I'm still poor! And I'm forced to carry these darn heavy sand bags around everywhere! Life's just too hard!"

"Those heavy looking bags you have tied to yourself -- they are labeled sand but they look a little pointy for sand?"

"Oh, they are bags of Intel Core i7s and bags of solar cells -- basically just congealed sand, so disgusting."

"But how can you be poor when you have bags of expensive refined silicon ingots!"

"Don't you get it? I'm poor! The world is poor! In fact, just carrying these sand bags around all the time for years has made my life a living hell and made it hard for me to get and keep a job as a clerk or an oil well roustabout. These sand bags are so heavy I can't do anything I want to do anymore. You don't know what it's like with a burden like this to carry around these heavy sand bags all the time everywhere I go. I am so cursed!"

"But why don't you sell the bags or give them away?"

"Don't you get it, I'm POOR! We're all POOR! What would be the point? Who would want sand? We're all going to die from Peak Information and Peak Oil soon, anyway, so everyone is buying guns and Spam, and so no one is going to buy sand!"

"I'm going to come up to give you a hand getting down safely. Hang on to hope."

"Don't come any closer or I'll throw this bunch of old congealed sand I found in my attic at you!"

And so on...

By the way:
"Chinese Vase, Found in Attic, Fetches $83M"
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/12/world/main7046950.shtml
And:
"The unit cost for one Lockheed Trident is 30.9 million dollars..."
http://novakeo.com/?p=4353

See also:
"A Survivor Talks About His Leap [from the Golden Gate Bridge]"
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1197707,00.html

And, here is a page with links I put together about stuff like curing vitamin D deficiency and curing malnutrition and building healthier communities that might help that specific human jump survivor that Time Magazine profiled have healthier roots and reduce bipolar disorder issues or other mental and physical health difficulties:
"Vitamin D, whole foods, fasting, walkability..."
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1692444&cid=32644166

And, of general interest on the topic:
"From Sand to Chips"
http://throughthesandglass.typepad.com/through_the_sandglass/2009/08/sand-to-chips---whats-the-real-story.html

Or, see James P. Hogan's 1982 sci-fi novel "Voyage from Yesteryear" that contains some similar themes.

For at outline of four economic alternatives that together may help prevent the USA from self-destruction, see this knol I put together:
"Beyond a Jobless Recovery: A heterodox perspective on 21st century economics -- Four long-term heterodox alternatives"
http://knol.google.com/k/paul-d-fernhout/beyond-a-jobless-recovery#Four_long(2D)term_heterodox_alternatives

License

Created: November 15, 2010

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/