I had hoped to stop writing for a while but I should not have picked up today’s (Sunday) NY Times and found a rich source of topics that make my blood move swiftly and my mind race mightily and, thence, to the keyboard. It was pointed out that the Missouri Bridge that collapsed was “deficient”. It was also pointed out that an ancient steam pipe exploded in NY City as well as other well highlighted problems with American building practices. But this is less insightful than pointing to the tragedies and that it is too bad all this is happening while our soldiers are dying overseas and Mr. Bush won’t allow pictures of their coffins returning home. What is missing is the larger picture of an aging infrastructure of bridges, underground tunnels and heavily underpowered networks of electricity that shows no “deficiency” but a dysfunction built into the growth of cities and suburbs that give our country its evanescent shimmering image of power and invincibility. Our country is, like many of its citizens, dysfunctional
What should be pointed out is that most of us settle for less than the best whether it is what we wear, eat and the structure of the homes we have built. The levees built to hold back the sea were good at the beginning but lost their strength with Katrina that pushed right through what had not been MAINTAINED throughout the years. Money at the start could have been collected and used wisely to maintain those levees, those bridges and those structures that we falsely believe are not dysfunctional but, maybe, “deficient” a little. Wasn’t there some trouble with the Alaska oil pipeline? Against all reason, that pipeline was built.
When Carol and I drove her up to her camp at the beginning of each summer we crossed a bridge over the Hudson that always seemed to being repaired. We finally realized that this was that bridge’s normal upgrading and checking to see what the winter’s damage had caused. That attention to this kind of detail is missing in most of America. We have the urge to build but forget the aftercare necessary to prevent what happened in Missouri, New York and New Orleans. We actually buy nothing but the cheapest and expect the most from this. This is also a commentary on Public Education where the mantra is: “Nothing that will cost the Taxpayer too much.” Why we agreeably pay taxes for war but not for maintaining our shining “City on the Hill” is beyond me.
We went to war at Mr. Bush’s behest without much questioning how much it would cost and how long it would take. It was once more an example of not questioning fully and preparing adequately for venturing into unknown waters. Taking a rowboat out to sea is the kind of planning put into Mr. Bush’s war. Nobody thinks they are going to grow old and plan for someone to be their caretaker. Deficiencies occur but dysfunction is built in.