Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, June 24, 2023

12

OPINION

Mountain View News Saturday, June 24, 2023 

So, how’s things? 

Which things exactly are you asking about? A sure thing? The real thing? The thing 
in your pocket? The right thing? Are you talking about any of those things? 

Queen sang to us about that “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”. George Harrison told us “All Things 
Must Pass”. Julie Andrews sang to us “These are a few of my favorite things?” 

Want to be really confused? The word for thing in French is pronounced “chose”. In Italian the word is 
“cosa”. In Chinese “Shiwu”. “Who-wu”? Shiwu lol!

As of here and now, I’m calling for a worldwide boycott (at least in the San Gabriel Valley) of the rank 
overuse of the word thing. You may be asking yourself, why should we stop using words like things and 
stuff? Why? Frankly, in my case, I’m not very smart. (I peaked at age 12). I’m not even sure how I could 
get smarter However, I’m convinced with a little effort, I could look and sound smarter…someday! 

I can live with that! You good with that?

So, those of us in the San Gabriel Valley should lead the way to look smarter. By reducing the use of the 
word “thing” at least we will sound smarter.

If per chance this weekend, you see me carrying around a “thing” don’t walk up and ask me, “Hey Rich, 
what’s that thing you’re carrying around?” Come up and say, “Hey, what’s that apparatus you’re carrying 
around?” 

Instead of me asking my editor what things I should write about, I should ask, Susan, what range of 
topics should I address…my good woman!

Not what new things does your iPhone offer, go ahead and ask me what new features does my iPhone 
offer?

What things will I need to bring on our Arctic Expedition? I should ask what gear should I bring?

Don’t say…one thing was certain: Rich was a moron. Instead, say…one truth was inescapable: Rich was 
a moron. 

By the way, what was Rich doing on this Arctic Expedition? Things!

If I don’t stop now my column may turn into a palaver. None of us would want that.

STUART TOLCHIN

RICH JOHNSON

NOW THAT’S RICH

MOUNTAIN 
VIEWS

NEWS

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR

Dean Lee 

PRODUCTION

SALES

Patricia Colonello

626-355-2737

626-818-2698

WEBMASTER

John Aveny 

DISTRIBUTION

Peter Lamendola

CONTRIBUTORS

Stuart Tolchin 

Audrey Swanson

Meghan Malooley

Mary Lou Caldwell

Kevin McGuire

Chris Leclerc

Dinah Chong Watkins

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Rich Johnson

Lori Ann Harris

Rev. James Snyder

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Jeff Brown

Marc Garlett

Keely Toten

Dan Golden

Rebecca Wright

Hail Hamilton

Joan Schmidt

LaQuetta Shamblee

PUT THE LIGHTS ON


AFFLUENZ

THINGS AND STUFF

 “Affluenza” I discovered 
the word this morning 
as I searched around 
looking for material for 
the article which was already 
bouncing around in 
my head. Originally I was going to title this 
article “The Curse of Wealth” but “affluenza” 
caught my attention. It is described as a psychological 
malaise symptoms of which include 
a lack of motivation, feelings of guilt, 
and a sense of isolation. In 2007 British psychologist 
Oliver James related the stimulation 
of artificial needs to an increase in material 
inequality.

 James theorized that the more unequal 
a society the greater the unhappiness of its 
citizens. He later wrote that “placing a high 
value on money possessions, appearances 
(physical and social) and fame” was the actual 
rationale behind mental illness. Other authors 
assert that overconsumption, “luxury fever”, 
consumer debt, overwork, waste, and harm to 
the environment have consequences. These 
consequences lead to “psychological disorders, 
alienation and distress” causing people 
to self- medicate with mood altering drugs 
and excessive alcohol consumption. This is a 
description that, at least for me, seems to describe 
most everyone I know. 

 What is going on? Why does everyone 
seem to be so unhappy? A couple of months 
ago I saw an episode of the TV Series “The 
Reluctant Traveler” in which the creator of 
the series, Eugene Levy, speaks to a young 
Navajo man. Levy, like me is a Jewish man in 
his seventies. Unlike me he is pretty rich and 
famous but is uncomfortable and dissatisfied. 
He speaks to an indigenous young Navajo 
man and we get the feeling that this young 
man’s life is very satisfying. That satisfying 
life is a by-product of the way he lives. He always 
knows where he is just by looking up at 
the North Star. He lives in the very same area 
as his parents, children, grandparents and 
previous generations have lived. His major 
concern is to keep his traditions and ancestral 
language alive. Very few of us have lived that 
way.

 Why have people moved around so 
much? I think it is because this culture is so 
involved in pursuing false goals. Even if we 
get rich or famous it is never enough. Today 
I think of the billionaires trapped beneath the 
sea in their lost Titanic submersible. What 
were they really looking for? I speculate that 
the billionaires and the rest of us are desperately 
searching for a kind of inner peace and 
freedom and all of us are looking in the wrong 
places. Maybe the fault lies with the capitalistic 
system in which wealth accumulates but 
is never enough? How can we be satisfied, 
pleased, happy, with our own lives.

 As the world around us seems to be 
destroying itself how can we feel safe? Maybe 
we can create a semblance of control of our 
emotions by realizing that we have choices. 
I have been reading Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s 
Search for Meaning” which begins with a 
first-person account of surviving within the 
death camp of Auschwitz. I think what I have 
gained so far is that it is not necessary to be 
run by the negative voice inside. There are always 
choices to be made at every moment and 
a feeling of connectedness and satisfaction is 
a by-product of a direct experience of oneself 
at every moment. Shakespeare has said, “This 
above all: to thine own self be true.” But what 
self is he talking about? The one constantly 
comparing itself to others pursuing goals of 
more money or more fame or more weapons, 
or even more youth. For me the answer right 
now is to look within myself and notice who 
I am and what I want to do. My whole life I 
have wanted to be a writer and I know that 
writer’s write. Right now I have a choice and I 
am writing. For the moment, that’s pretty satisfying 
and after all life is but a series of moments 
and this moment I have stayed within 
my word limit. Maybe I’ll feel different after 
I read my piece but, after all, that just will 
be another moment and I will have another 
choice to make then. Another point Frankl 
emphasized was the importance of not giving 
up. 

TOM PURCELL 


AMERICANS REDISCOVER THE SUMMER PICNIC

It’s a positive trend that I 
hope continues: the resurgence 
of summer picnics.

According to Mental Floss, 
the Covid pandemic caused 
a picnic boom beginning 
in 2020 that is showing no 
signs of letting up.

In 2020, with restaurants shuttered and experts 
telling us the bug didn’t spread so easily in outdoor 
air, many people, in particular younger people, began 
picnicking.

I was lucky to grow up only a few miles from 
a county park that offers 3,000 acres of rolling 
green hills, walking and biking trails and 63 picnic 
groves — groves packed with picnickers every 
summer weekend.

There were lots of reasons to picnic then. Family 
reunions, church gatherings or neighbors getting 
together. Schools, companies, unions and other organizations 
often staged annual picnic events.

The park was so popular that people routinely waited 
in line for hours one year prior to their event to 
secure their favorite grove.

On weekends the park was jammed and jumping:

Kids running around, footballs, Frisbees and water 
balloons flying through the air. While the kids 
played, the adults talked and laughed and sipped 
ice-cold beer.

We ate hot dogs and juicy hamburgers and my 
mom’s sweet potato salad — I can still taste these 
incredible picnic delicacies and crave them still.

The picnics were tremendous social events that 
connected people to each other in a million different 
ways. We laughed and talked all day long and 
when dusk arrived, nobody was ready to go home.

In a modern world that has separated and isolated 
us, we need to experience picnic connectedness 
now more than ever before.

Robert Putnam, author of the acclaimed 1995 book 
“Bowling Alone,” identified several trends that 
have been causing a breakdown in social-connectedness 
over many years.

The rise of the dual-income family, for example, 
resulted in both parents being exhausted after long 
days of work, making them less prone to join and 
support civic groups.

Television and the Internet are also breaking down 
our connectedness. Putnam said that “time-budget 
studies in the 1960s showed that the growth in 
time spent watching television dwarfed all other 
changes in the way Americans passed their days 
and nights.”

Social media has made this challenge considerably 
worse with many people, in particular younger 
people, spending hours online or chatting with 
their “friends” while in a room in their home alone.

Before there were 300 TV channels — before 
smartphones turned us into zombies and air conditioning 
caused us to shut our windows and doors 
— people sat out on their porches at night, sipping 
lemonade and talking with each other.

I enjoyed countless summer nights enjoying the 
company of my neighborhood friends that way.

Now we spend far too many hours sitting in our 
cooled homes isolated from our fellow human beings 
— which is why we are in desperate need of 
more summer picnics.

But there is hope for us.

Smithsonian reports that interest in picnics has exploded 
on social media. On Pinterest alone, searches 
for picnic date ideas have grown by 385 percent 
since last year.

I just Googled “summer picnic” and was delighted 
to see picnic activities taking place all over the nation 
— and lots of ideas to make your picnic fun 
and your picnic food delicious.

Hey, Covid, you caused us a lot of grief, but I thank 
you for the summer picnic resurgence. It couldn’t 
have come at a better time!

Purcell, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. 
Email him at Tom@TomPurcell.com.

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