It's the Little Things

It's not much of a stretch to point to the larger problems facing our country and worry that we may be a nation in irreversible decline but what troubles me at an even deeper and more personal level are the little things. Ordinary, everyday things that we take for granted if we notice them at all, things barely even interesting enough to be mentioned in casual conversation much less in the media, these are the things that I at least believe will be the death of us.

Some of these things aren't all that small and are similar to problems faced by many western nations like the fact that we have no skilled workers. That's right, I said no skilled workers. Try to find a carpenter, a diesel mechanic, a mason or bricklayer or even a plumber. Good luck finding one both competent and born in the US, it's pretty slim pickings. I'm beyond tired of hearing about the plight of the American worker, the typical American worker wouldn't know a job well done from a well done steak and please, don't expect them to know how to produce a steak in the first place.

The problem didn't begin yesterday. Twenty years ago there was a bus factory in a small town in the southwest but today our buses are built mainly in Mexico. Naturally things like this make for great talking points for politicians and labor organizers and Lou Dobbs can squeal about the "exporting of American jobs"and everyone can be angry at the big, bad corporations that moved for cheaper labor. Except it isn't entirely true. See, I was there and I remember what happened and it had very little to do with labor cost and everything to do with shoddy management and stoned employees. It's tough to build a quality product when more than half of your production line is under the influence. So yeah, Mexico was cheaper to operate in but even more importantly, it had an ample supply of competent workers who didn't have the munchies. Fewer Greyhounds falling apart on the highways due to poor manufacture was a bonus. Now if only we could import some people to drive them.

Then there are the really little things one of which is exactly what set me off on this tangent, the United States postal service. One more time I find my mailbox stuffed with.......someone elses' mail. The correct address clearly typed and my address clearly posted and they do not match, not even close. Not the first time, not the second or even the third, I've lost count of how often this has happened because in case you are thinking this is a purely local phenomena, it isn't, it happened even more often in southern California. Never mind that in many places a locked mailbox is now a necessity because our fellow citizens would otherwise steal our mail, I'm inclined to let them steal it as it probably isn't mine anyway.

Okay, it's a small thing, no big deal and one more time I'll see that the mail makes it to its rightful recipient. On the other hand I have to wonder where we're headed when something as simple and basic to our entire infrastructure as physical delivery of mail and packages has become a coin toss. Come to think of it, of all the many, many times that I've personally seen this mail to its rightful owner not one time has my missing mail ever been returned. Not once. I don't think I need to expand upon that point.

There are plenty of larger issues, from Iraq to health care that say a lot about us and where we're headed but I think it all starts with the little things and that my friends has not been looking good for a very long time.