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In Monica Hughes s story, The Price of Land, the government saw human life in dollar symbols. The story tells of a farming family who had not experienced the best of luck making money off of the farm. Money was short but there was a solution offered by the government; not too with farming or anything like that. Jim, the father figure, received a letter, with an offer that would prove hard to refuse. Jim s seventy year-old mother in-law was living with him and his family.
She was collecting a small pension and was a contributing member to the household. Although the penny-pinching government saw that it would be cheaper in the long run to just buy this woman s life and give a cut of the money they would have spent to support her in her last years to her family. The offer sounded good to Jim, though he did feel bad, and Gran thought it would be best for the struggling young family. They went through with the deal and Gran was euthanized. Does this sound like nonsense, or could this type of thing really happen?
I think it would take a severe moral breakdown in society to bring about those types of changes. But, what would it take? Here s a scenario I have thought about that is somewhat similar to the situation presented by Monica Hughes. Approximately one hundred or fewer years from now the world could see a revolution fueled by the rise of technology.
Technology meaning, communications, robotics and automated computer controlled systems. Like the industrial revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, we could see a population growth that might disturb the distribution of wealth. Another possible development in the future is the robotic workforce. This in itself is quite a concept when you consider the number of jobs that could be taken away from people and given to robots. The unemployment rates could seriously damage our economy. To a certain degree we see this happening today with software development and new exploration in robotics.
Computer automated systems have also taken the places of many employable positions in many industries, all to save money in the long run. Although, there have been many new jobs and opportunities supplied by the computer industry, but mostly for people in the urban centers. It has also inspired new schools and training facilities to better educate people for the coming technological advances in our future. India, in the time of the revolution; people had jobs, and living conditions were thought suitable for family life. Therefore India experienced a population boom that affected the distribution of wealth in the state so badly that the economy collapsed. Too many people, not enough jobs.
Many were forced to beg, become slaves, or lead a life of crime. The main reason, and one of the biggest differences between India and North America, is the family unit. Here in North America the family unit refers to the nuclear family, based on marriage there is one, or sometimes two providers in a household. In India the newly-weds become part of a larger family unit with several providers in the house. This extended family may have several generations of family members living under one roof. This kind of family unit encourages reproduction, because the responsibility of supporting the family is up to a collective of family members and not just one.
The North American family unit does not encourage this rapid population growth because it would be thought unusual to start having children before becoming financially solvent. That doesn t mean that it couldn t happen. History does have the tendency to repeat itself and we could see a change in the family unit. A shortage of jobs caused by a rapid growth in population an the rising cost of living could force families to depend on their children to bring some money into the house.
Also, in today s society, kids are staying in their parents homes longer, and marrying later than that of the past generations. In many cases these young adults are paying their parents rent, maybe just on principle, but regardless it goes to show that people are having to rely on one another when it comes to paying the bills. Another factor to consider is the rising rate of teen pregnancy, where in many cases the child becomes the responsibility of the teens parents. This shows a general lack of morals and responsibility. While we re on the subject of morals, I think it is fair to say that greed has taken up a certain part of many people s lives. Will the value of money in the future be put on par with human life?
Monica Hughes story, The Price of Land suggests that it will. Money says a lot these days and as the gap between rich and poor increases there are more and more individuals ruled by greed, hoarding money. It s the name of the game. This ever-growing gap puts strain on our country s social programs. Capitalism in modern day is a vehicle for greed and individualism, both of which are dangerous weaknesses of human nature. We see proof of this in the popular media with television shows such as Survivor and Who Want s to be a Millionaire?
These shows boast self-centered ness and greed. By individualism I mean the kind of self-centered ness people are forced to embody because of the capitalist regime we are under. Humanity has been forced to become a culture centered on money making. Our society has become so brainwashed by this idea that it has caused the breakdown of society; learn only what you need in order to get a job. This way of operating only helps us to ignore our greatest strengths, our morals, our heritage and history. Bibliography Thompson, Allan- The Dynamics of the Industrial Revolution.
Edward Arnold publishers, London, 1973. Taras, David- Power and Betrayal in the Canadian Media. Broadview Press, Toronto, 1999.
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