The American Scream

At one time, in the height of the golden age, the Oregon economy boomed with the cultivation and management of timber. The families came, lulled by the suburban communities and job security. Proud Fathers worked hard and made good money and contented mothers stayed home and baked cookies while the Children ran barefoot across summer lawns late into the night. They came home to hot chocololate and warm bath's and then slept soundly behind unlocked doors. And life was good in the wake of this american dream...in the yawning and stretching of strong golden limbs through the span of many generations.

The lived spoiled and fat on the plentifuls of land, those timbering gardens seemed endless and they never thought too far beyond themselves...They called it the honing and gleaning of unlimited natural resources...but in hard truth it was the rape of a limited and un-replenished land. for when they had stripped sweet mother earth of every last stalk and limb the timber age fell to the barren ground taking with her the last of the surburban family dream. Now jobs were scarce and fathers could no longer support their families in this trade handed down through generations...the only trade that they had ever known. Guilt ridden and depressed they turned to the bottle. Mothers were forced to vacate cookie laden kitchens to put on short skirts and high heels and wait tables for next to nothing,her children  left home alone in the hands of resentful fathers angry and drunk. Those children once so vibrant and alive were now frightened and confused...and quite often abused. they found their solace in the silver spoon of another kind, courting chemically induced contentments  or in the throngs of meaningless passions that often resulted in baby's giving birth to  baby's. As resources dwindled people began to take what they could not earn and houses once left unlocked through the night now sported deadbolted doors...and guns. Tragedy and hysteria were the by-product of street corners laced with mischeif and restlessness in the heart of the american scream.

So now the laws of supply and demand cried out for reprieve in the mis management of the communities...reprieve that required rehab centers and prisons, foster homes and juvenile centers,welfare and family services and of course schools where degree's to manage these services were obtained. The Social services industry began to boom and the majestic economy of a land once known for the cultivation and management of timber is now  known for the cultivation and management of sorrows...sorrows caste in every shade and subject rooted in the genesis of tattered families weeping inside the hard bitter lie of the american dream....

inside the harsh bitter cry of the american scream.

Reviews

[slappy white]

I loved how the boom and bust, supply and demand economic cycles kept turning in on themselves, cycles upon cycles, from the macro level of the Oregon economy to the more micro with people's lives, and then back up again with the created needs of social services. You convey a lot in a short space. You could really expand this into a great novel, the idea of cycles upon cycles is great.

[roarke]

well put, well said, well told.