Friday Unwind 012
Lack of attention for farming and the middle class
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s the weekend —
If you need something to occupy your mind, here are a few things I’ve been thinking about lately:
Why the Kids Won’t Farm (NY Times)
I once grabbed a couple beers at 4 am at an airport. The only person at the bar was a farmer from Iowa who was traveling to Mexico to pick up his new bride. He told me that it was difficult to find a mate in rural farm areas. Loneliness, he said, was a common obstacle in farming these days. But as author and farmer Brooks Lamb writes here, there are other, more costly reasons why younger generations aren’t taking over.
The next time you’re in a grocery store, think about the food you’re buying — and who you want to grow or raise it. When you pass through a rural community, fields and pastures all around, think about that land and who will tend it years from now.
Farming isn’t easy, but some of us want to do it. Here’s hoping we get a chance.
I make good money. Why do I still feel like this? (Your Brain on Money)
Are we all still middle class? Hanna Horvath provides a great analysis of the history and current state of the middle class, along with our feelings about it.
The financial behaviors are downstream of the psychological experience: When the future feels foreclosed, your brain starts optimizing for the present. And when you’ve internalized the idea that effort doesn’t connect to outcomes, you stop making the kinds of financial decisions that require believing in your own future.
How to Feel Whole in a Broken World: An Astronaut’s Antidote to Despair (The Marginalian)
Maria Popova meditates on astronaut Chris Hadfield’s answers in a Reddit AMA. As you can imagine, to see the entire Earth like a round Goodyear blimp outside the window shifts your perspective.
I remind myself that each sunrise is a harbinger of another chance, and to take quiet, unrecognised pride in the accomplishments I get done each day. Each evening my intended list is unfinished, but I celebrate what I’ve done, and resolve to do better tomorrow. Also, nothing is ever as good or as bad as it first seems. Keep at it with optimism — it is your life to tinker with, learn from, live and love.
Two Cents: Simone Weil on Attention
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.
The capacity to give one’s attention to a sufferer is a very rare and difficult thing; it is almost a miracle; it is a miracle.
With gratitude,
J.S.