In retrospect, it seems obvious why grandma was a bit of a hoarder, never throwing away the wrapping paper and saving every Cool Whip tub and plastic cup that came in the house. From her lived experience, you saved everything because the whole economy could collapse into a ten-year depression.
Pavlov’s famous dogs used to salivate at the sound of a bell. But the lesser-known end to the story is that his dogs were in his lab when a massive flood wiped out the town. Some of the dogs died. A few survived by swimming against furious tides to safety. After recovering the dogs, Pavlov noticed anytime he dinged the dinner bell the dogs did nothing. They had completely lost their interest in, or response to, the bell. Instead, they stared stone-faced at the door, as if always ready to escape. The whole world could come crashing in any moment.
The truth is the world likely is going to come crashing in, or down, or bubble up. It always has, and it always will.
But I’m optimistic, insofar as great turmoil has generally led to some pretty great advancements. People are generally pretty conservative by and large, and America is a pretty conservative country. So it takes a pretty big kick in the teeth, but you sometimes get good things on the other side. Like the end of slavery, busting up trusts, and the New Deal.
Thing is, you have to remember that everyone’s lived experience informs everything about them and the world at large. Grandma saving Cool Whip tubs is weird, unless you lived through the Depression and two world wars with scars to last a lifetime. Bells can signal a good meal until you’ve lived through trauma to last a lifetime.
You have to ask: “What has this person lived through that informs their experience, their opinion, their mood, and their vote?”
