There's got to be something under this thick, crusty skin... besides chicken. We Texans are a people stewed in contradiction, both reckless and traditional.
My friend calls it "swagger"... and not of the Jay-Z brand. We pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and raise our young'uns right. A true Texan is rowdy, rough, and knows how to rock a porch swing. And pride? You'd never beat it out of us.
Neither friend nor foe will take our state's rights - not without a fight. No, if the two years' minimum state history courses in primary, junior, and senior high schools have taught us anything, it's to say to those who directly challenge our freedom: "Come and take it."
Have we forgotten what we’re made of? In the past, we have learned how to make the land (and, sadly, our fellow man) work for us. Oil has been a doting mistress. She's brought us company and comfort, and even in hard times, she stuck with us.
It was good - real good - while it lasted. But the writing is on the wall, and she's packing her bags. How will we react to life without her? Does the unsinkable Texan turn to the Man solve his problems for him? Or does he grab some self-respect and try to confront a new frontier?
When math and science finally catch up with us, it is possible that we will soon be facing the kinds of obstacles our grandparents did. Though God forbid it, we could see food rationed and home electricity parceled out.
Think it can’t happen here? Step back and think of everything in our lives that is a product of Our Lady Oil. Let's start with plastic: car parts, eyeglasses, and every container imaginable. Milk, shampoo, and hygienic products - like syringes and bandages - all rely on plastics to stay safe and useable. Without petroleum, we're up a creek without a paddle - literally.
This has nothing to do with global warming (unless you want it to, but you'll be reading for a while). The resources on which we depend are finite - unless you plan to wait out a few hundred thousand years to watch oil reappear.
Most of us under the Lone Star flag would agree it seems bass-ackwards to imagine thinking small here. Our roads stretch alongside miles of farm and ranchlands; hour-long commutes trudge past massive sports bars and supercenter shopping. Big dogs, big cars, and big hair are part of our M.O.
Super-sizing be damned; grab some grit and simplify.
Let’s learn where our food, clothing, and products are born and try to shrink the distance between us. If it takes transforming our habit of overbuying underpriced goods into one of buying just the quality products we need, it’s worth trying. Take money out of Wal-Mart’s greasy fingers and give community businesses a shot. Buy what we can actually afford and use as little credit as possible. Waste less, create more.
So why are we, the independent and resourceful people of Texas, so afraid of change?
Either we muster the cajones to work this out for ourselves or we will look up one day into that expanse of blue sky and see a foreign flag flying.
In this Texan’s eyes, the change we need is not anything completely foreign to us – we only need to look down at our bootstraps.
My friend calls it "swagger"... and not of the Jay-Z brand. We pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and raise our young'uns right. A true Texan is rowdy, rough, and knows how to rock a porch swing. And pride? You'd never beat it out of us.
Neither friend nor foe will take our state's rights - not without a fight. No, if the two years' minimum state history courses in primary, junior, and senior high schools have taught us anything, it's to say to those who directly challenge our freedom: "Come and take it."
Have we forgotten what we’re made of? In the past, we have learned how to make the land (and, sadly, our fellow man) work for us. Oil has been a doting mistress. She's brought us company and comfort, and even in hard times, she stuck with us.
It was good - real good - while it lasted. But the writing is on the wall, and she's packing her bags. How will we react to life without her? Does the unsinkable Texan turn to the Man solve his problems for him? Or does he grab some self-respect and try to confront a new frontier?
When math and science finally catch up with us, it is possible that we will soon be facing the kinds of obstacles our grandparents did. Though God forbid it, we could see food rationed and home electricity parceled out.
Think it can’t happen here? Step back and think of everything in our lives that is a product of Our Lady Oil. Let's start with plastic: car parts, eyeglasses, and every container imaginable. Milk, shampoo, and hygienic products - like syringes and bandages - all rely on plastics to stay safe and useable. Without petroleum, we're up a creek without a paddle - literally.
This has nothing to do with global warming (unless you want it to, but you'll be reading for a while). The resources on which we depend are finite - unless you plan to wait out a few hundred thousand years to watch oil reappear.
Most of us under the Lone Star flag would agree it seems bass-ackwards to imagine thinking small here. Our roads stretch alongside miles of farm and ranchlands; hour-long commutes trudge past massive sports bars and supercenter shopping. Big dogs, big cars, and big hair are part of our M.O.
Super-sizing be damned; grab some grit and simplify.
Let’s learn where our food, clothing, and products are born and try to shrink the distance between us. If it takes transforming our habit of overbuying underpriced goods into one of buying just the quality products we need, it’s worth trying. Take money out of Wal-Mart’s greasy fingers and give community businesses a shot. Buy what we can actually afford and use as little credit as possible. Waste less, create more.
So why are we, the independent and resourceful people of Texas, so afraid of change?
Either we muster the cajones to work this out for ourselves or we will look up one day into that expanse of blue sky and see a foreign flag flying.
In this Texan’s eyes, the change we need is not anything completely foreign to us – we only need to look down at our bootstraps.
It seems to me that a tank of swagger can take a Texan to Oklahoma. At that point the tank is empty and the Texan becomes a bitter Sooner and develops an undeserved sense of entitlement. In fact, the state of Oklahoma was founded by Texans whose wagons ran out of swagger on their way to the promised land of the northwest, and they were forced to live the rest of their lives in rural boredom jealously looking for ways to make themselves think they are better than Texans. Their only idea was to recruit Texas kids to play football for them in hopes of beating Texas. This is now the dominating ideology of all Oklahomananians, and at some point will be their demise. For instance, Oklahoma's perspective has strayed so far that simple modern technology has escaped them all together. The gas stations still accept personal checks, they watch game film on their VHS recorder, and women smoke and drink during pregnancy. It's all good though because being #1 in football gets you into heaven. However, when the day comes that Oklahomanians finally realize nobody gives that much of a shit but them, we could see a dire state of affairs not seen outside of Africa. The US government will then be forced to send all Okies to Australia, and rename the state "Artexas", a sign that Oklahoma really is nothing more than the space between Texas and the West.
ReplyDelete"Either we muster the cajones to work this out for ourselves or we will look up one day into that expanse of blue sky and see a foreign flag flying."
ReplyDeleteITYM "cojones". We don't need to muster drawers. :)
And in my not at all humble opinion, we already see a foreign flag flying over our government buildings. The Texan spirit of independence demands a government that respects the rights of the states as well as that of the federal government, yet the United States has not done so since the late 19th century.
Lone Star Independence.
Michael - Your passionate description of Okie folk makes me wonder whether they may be most apt to weather the storm ahead.
ReplyDeleteShunning luxuries like technology and secure business practices has kept them grounded in the basics. And really, is it worth suffering the pangs of withdrawal just to shelter a fragile human life for a few months? Does not what does not kill us make us stronger?
The picture you paint of these resilient Oklahomanianites bears less resemblance to a disposable colony of failed adventurers than to another unsinkable tribe: the noble cockroaches.
Maybe we have a lesson to learn here. When swagger-driven dreams of a better world lead you to fight for your very survival - lower your standards.
Greyson - Ah, so you caught me. I feared my call to muster drawers would be rejected. I guess I am still ahead of my time.
ReplyDeletePersonally, imagining what could have been a loosely knitted collective of states intrigues me. My simplistic instinct tells me we made an error in spreading a single governing body across an area so diverse (in most every way). I can envision many scenarios in which allowing cities and communities - not just states - to balance their own goals with their resources could better succeed.
I also know that a change on that scale would cause upheaval that would not subside for generations. It's worth imagining, I think, because we have to have ideals, right? Even if we don't reach them, they can help guide us to compromise.
I am even more interested right now in the practical things we can do to better our situation now and into the future. Every facet of life in this moment deserves reflection.
**Anyone have thoughts out there on how we can best provide energy for ourselves long-term?**
**Also, what can we do to conserve food, funds, and sanity?**
**Posting this for gmail-less friend Mikael**
ReplyDeleteSorry it took so long to write kiddo, very good blog. Here's the problem with putting alternative energy on fasttrack. Economic feasibility. If gas prices go back to 4.50, of course everyone will be screaming for alternative, but until then, I think alot of folks will put it on the backburner.
Not only do we as Texans have alot of oil, but we have tons of natural gas, which is alot cleaner than oil. I would like to see us use natural gas soon, but I don't know how quick it will come. I also like wind power, I hope we get to it soon, but there are problems with it as well. Take T. Boone Pickens plan: Now it would create energy and is a decent plan on paper, but as alot of folks know, his plan also incorporates taking water from west Texas folks and sending it to the Dallas area. Many of our west Texas natives are not fond of the plan.
As far as food, hell, even buying from smaller grocery stores, such as kroger right now, would help out not letting Wal-Mart corner the market, as well as the mom and pop joints.
We as Texans have the 5th to 8th largest economy in the world. We could survive without the United States, the question is could the U.S. survive without us? It's doubtful. I in no way want us to break away from the U.S., but maybe we should sling our economy power around a bit more to force legislation that would benefit Texas as a whole. I would like to see us push the way with alternative energy, mostly nat. gas, and to a slower extent wind and solar, I just think it will take longer to get wind and solar set up.
This just in: Obama's a federalist?
ReplyDeleteRead this article from the Times. Seems that our nuevo presidente may be leaning toward returning at least some decision-making to the states.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/us/politics/30federal.html?nl=pol&emc=pola1
The thinking is, states can more quickly sense a need for regulation within their own reach than can the massive U.S. Government. And any experimental problem-solving the states do can serve as examples of what to do (or not to do) nationwide - with less risk to the Fed.
Sound promising? Yes? Or yes....?