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Growth is as natural as we are,
it's everywhere. It is the goal of everything, and anything.
Or is it?
What has perplexed me the past
decade is my own fascination with growth.
What has distressed me lately is my
own fascination with growth.
Growth is An answer, not THE
answer.
QUESTIONING growth is blasphemy in
an economic system whose very nature depends on it.
It reminds me of this interchange
in a FEW GOOD MEN, the stage is set in the courtroom and the
character of Col. Jessep played by Jack Nicholson and Kaffee
played by Tom Cruise:
Col Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I think I'm entitled to.
Col Jessep: You want answers?*
Kaffee: I want the truth!*
Col Jessep: *You can't handle the truth!*
[pauses]
Col Jessep: Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those
walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it?
You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility
than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and
you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the
luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago's death,
while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while
grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't
want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk
about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on
that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use
these words as the backbone of a life spent defending
something. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the
time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises
and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I
provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it.
I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way.
Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post.
Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are
entitled to.
Questioning growth strikes me in
the same way...who am I to question growth?
Our entire system is built on
growth, the very thing that each of us does everyday, in some
way, yet, I'm asking you in FLOS, to set growth aside, to
consider it's effects on the world, to question it as a
strategy, as a set of tactics and as a philosophy of life.
Is growth really the answer?
In FLOS, no.
There have to be other ways to:
"limit growth"; spur the right kind of growth; to de-grow some
things; to reach an equilibrium that is not defined by growth
in every movement of time....
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