When I first started this project way back in January of this year I thought I could simply scour through my boxes of books looking for potential candidates to set free into the world. What I didn't realize was how attached I had become to most of my books. Selecting books for the project became a culling process fraught with guilt and awakened memories of days gone by as I would pick up a book and some memory would jump out a me while I was gently fanning through the pages. Some books were marked up by notes made for some long forgotten reason by a pencil lead now faded into an obscure meandering barely readable in the margin of the discoloured page. It has been enlightening to reacquaint myself with who I was as I unpacked boxes or pulled volumes from dusty shelves resurrecting long forgotten memories from when those books were read and why I purchased them in the first place. If the books one reads is a partial indicator of who one is or was, an analysis of one's library would certainly give that person pause to reflect on who he was in a historical context. So it has been with me as I continue through the various aspects of my personal history by giving up my past for adoption. Some of these books I just simply can't give up, while others I have left out on their own were duplicates of some of my favourites and then there are some I felt that I needed to read again. I have a core group of books that I am constantly rereading as a matter of course. I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about picking up a book, looking at it and thinking that this book needs to be re-read to see if it's still relevant to my personal history. One such book is "The Greening of America" by Charles A. Reich. This book literally fell into my hands as I was rummaging around in my basement. I was looking to orphan some more books when I nudged a precariously leaning stack of books from which the top one slid off its dusty perch and landed into my awaiting hands. Instantly recognizing the title and remembering its popularity when it was published in 1970 I decided that I had to read it again. For those of you unfamiliar with the book lets just say that it is not about the environment. As I see it he uses the title as a metaphor to describe the process by which America would shed itself of its plastic and drab concrete shell it had created and blossom into a vibrant utopia through a new generation that was emerging during the cultural revolution taking place in the 60's and 70's. I'll let Reich explain:" I was thinking of the blossoming of many different kinds of people, and many kinds of cultural pursuits,.... I wasn't really thinking of the way it's now thought of: everything becoming uniformly green in the ecological sense." You see I was a member of that generation. Full of idealism but hopelessly naive we saw the world as getting better but the dream faded quickly. What seems to be missing today Reich said in an interview in 2010 is "that people are not in any way experimenting with a different way to live, a different way to feel, a different way to be." What I found interesting when re-reading "The Greening of America" is Reich's description of what ails America. He writes in Chapter III " The presumed causes of Americas troubles can be summed up simply: the evils of unlimited competition, and abuses by those with economic power."(p.43) His critique of American culture is no different than what the protesters of the Occupy Wall Street movement are saying today as they rage against the economic disparities middle class America is currently experiencing. What troubled us 40 years ago were feelings of alienation and loss of self as the Corporate State gained more power , dominating, exploiting nature and man and ultimately destroying both. Although what troubles the youth of today may seem quite different, in the sense that they are mostly focused on the material. "I can't find a job, I can't support a family". Whether you're concerned with a lack of attachment to society in the 60's or the material emptiness of today, you're ultimately exasperated with the same system that has created both sets of negative feelings. Where as "The Greening of America" provided a hopeful message for the future Reich's vision faded as it was seen as a fantasy that could not be attained. Still one may argue that we have the freedom to pursue all kinds of different things, music, art, styles of living, what ever we choose. The problem is is that these choices have become commodified, bought and sold in an open market where personal attachment is valued by how much it costs or whether or not it is affordable, not by the intrinsic well being needed for a fulfilling life. Which further serves to separate us from others, society, and our selves.
So here I am re-reading a text that had so much to say about the culture of the 60' and 70's but yet is so relevant to todays cultural critique. We continue to conform to the myth of consumerism until drowning in debt. We today now bow to the tyranny of the digital cyber space as we ignore those around us for temporary gigabyte pleasures. Will we see a cultural movement although fleeting as it was rise again
supported by books like Reich's and others or have we become too fragmented a society unable to bring itself together to create meaningful long term positive change. Perhaps 40 years hence we will re-read the texts of today to find those answers.
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