Alfredisms
The Polk Progress was a Nebraska treasure that ceased publication in late 1989 after 82 years as a weekly newspaper. From 1955 until its last issue, the editor and publisher was the late Norris Alfred. In its last few months, the Progress had 900 subscribers in 45 states. Alfred was a remarkable Nebraskan with an uncanny eye for connecting the present with the future. Prairie Fire has collaborated with the Alfred family, the University of Nebraska School of Journalism and the Nebraska State Historical Society to locate and archive many of Norris's writings. We are capitalizing on our good fortune to present many of the Norris Alfred writings to our readership. We believe that his observations are as fresh and relevant to today's world as they were when originally written.
“Wants and Necessities”
March 2, 1989
Make do or do without” was pounded into our head during our growing-up years (the 1920s) and now, in the late 1980s, at age 75, our concept of value hasn’t changed. Reflecting on the debt-ridden, throw-away lifestyle of contemporary living has us questioning our sense of value, wondering if we have it wrong. Our rationale for a “make do or do without” personal lifestyle first came under attack during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration, when the decision was made that the United States was rich enough to fight a war in Vietnam without asking the governed to do without…
The idea took hold we could have whatever we wanted or do whatever we wanted because, rich, we could afford it. That the U.S. treasury lacked ready cash for the expansion of wanton consumption on a grand scale wasn’t considered a deterrent. The Vietnam War defeat wasn’t considered catastrophic—that there was anything wrong with the political system or the politicians or the citizens—but happened because we lacked the will to win. Why there was a lack of will was never deeply probed by those stating it.
Those wanting the U.S. to fight that war claimed that it was necessary. The difference between wants and necessities has become blurred until whatever is wanted has become a necessity. We were struck with this concept of needs while reading in the San Francisco Sunday Examiner-Chronicle the story of a couple with two children, a dependent parent and a dog. They don’t think of themselves as well-to-do, though their combined incomes (both work) totals $115,000. (We are writing this during our second week in Palo, Alto, Calif. The affluence of life in the state is an astonishment)…
There are necessities. The basic ones are food, clothing and shelter. Until those are available for everyone, arguments are moot about what other wants are necessities. This rationale exposes the ridiculousness of an AK-47 rifle as needed for hunting and the lack of common sense in promoting it. There are limits.
Decency demands limits. Decency demands we consider others. Decency demands a selflessness in our relations with others. This is true—maybe a Great Truth. Our late friend, Rev. Jacob Balzer, preached on “The Fewness of Things One Must Believe.” We have just written an editorial essay on “The Fewness of Things One Needs.”
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