Wrightstown Article #01

ERIC CHAET STARTS WRITING A SERIES OF ARTICLES

I start writing this series of occasional articles in 2022, at age 76, in my home in a township called Wrightstown, just north of the more populous village, also called Wrightstown, in Northeast Wisconsin, USA. My wife and I have been living in this house for more than 20 years. (It was built in 1960 by the family that inhabited it before we moved in.) Previously, we rented, next to the Hilly Haven golf course, in Greenleaf.

I had to learn a lot, often the hard way, about sealing leaks, heating, electricity, mechanics, and plumbing; figure out what skills I had to get at least minimally adept at; do a lot of clumsy maintenance and repairing; and find out who to call about what I couldn’t do — and figure out how to pay them. (My wife, fortunately, is a good carpenter.) The house is a little too big for us, but nowhere near as big as the houses that have gone up nearby, along the Fox River. I wouldn’t want to have to heat and keep THEM uncluttered and clean!

I was raised on the South Side of Chicago, a rougher place than many. I worked in factories, warehouses, and offices, taught at several colleges across the country and on the Navajo Reservation, hitchhiked and slept outside for several years. Then, for about 25 years, I performed occasional solo research projects for engineers and entrepreneurs. I had to learn a lot of mathematics, science, and how businesses are run and projects organized. Besides that, I have always studied history and paid attention to politics and economics. I’ve published some books, recorded an album of songs, created a series of posters.

I mean to write about how we are governed. Not especially about the federal government of the USA, or about this or that wing of the Republican or Democratic parties, but more about government at the more local level — and about how we are governed, too, by those who lead large commercial and financial enterprises. For instance, in my life-time, digital technology, sold by various companies in various ways for various amounts of money, has been a blessing and a curse — and we have adapted to it well or poorly, in different ways. That matters at least as much as the budget of the State of Wisconsin, or of Brown County, in 2002, 2012, or 2022.

How do we govern ourselves? — our thoughts, our emotions, our feelings, our bodies? How do we behave toward one another, how do we behave when we are alone? What do we eat, what are our habits, how do we sleep, what are our dreams? How do we occupy ourselves? How do we use money? What do we do when we aren’t earning money? What do we value, what do we hope to avoid, what do we fear? Are we happy or unhappy? Can we rest? Can we focus and improve our situations? What obstacles do we face? Are we well informed? Are we really sane, or are we crazy? Or, are we sane some of the time, and crazy some of the time?

For me, governing myself is sometimes a challenge. Sometimes it’s too much for me. So I won’t be attacking anyone who is doing the best he or she can for him or herself — especially if he or she is trying to serve the community. But I may suggest that this or that policy or usual way of doing things isn’t working out so well, except maybe for a relatively small number of people at the expense of the rest of the people — and that this or that way of doing things differently might work out better.

Of course, there are people slyly doing things for their own advantage at the expense of others, and some of them are in govenment. But I don’t know any more about that than anyone else, who pays attention to the news.

I mean to try to restrict myself to, say, 500 to 750 words per article — though I won’t make that a rule — because I hope editors of local newspapers will publish the articles. I intend to offer this article, at least, for free, to the editor of The Wrightstown “Spirit,” Brian Roebke — then to present the published article to other editors in Wisconsin, across the USA, and wherever English is the predominant language — hoping they will pay me $50 to reprint it. (I’ll learn whether $50 is the right amount to ask.). I don’t expect to get many takers right away, but if I keep up the quality, I suppose that, in time, I can derive a significant revenue from this activity, without spending much money to do it. I have always had to be frugal. If I live as long as I hope, I’ll need the money.

I think I can serve people well this way. I hope so.

If you like this article, I hope you will send it to your grandparents in Florida or Arizona, your sister in New Jersey, your brother in Colorado, or your son or daughter or aunt or uncle in Texas. And I hope they will send it to the editors of their local newspapers. Please.

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Virtue & Prowess