My Word's Worth: a weekly column by Marylaine Block

vol. 1, #15, November, 1995

STAYING ON THE MAP

We are building a new library, and as I have watched it go from a hole in the ground to an impressive nearly finished building, I have come to understand why so many architects seem to think they are God. It takes a powerful ego to think in terms so large, and to compel executives to share that vision and spend millions of dollars making it reality. And when their buildings are finished, they have changed the map, changed the landscape, changed the world. It is, in fact, a godlike achievement.

But keeping it on the map is a day-to-day, unheroic, necessary chore that is underappreciated. We hear a lot about what humans do to nature, and yes, it is pretty appalling that we wipe out species, alter ecologies, and destroy the ozone layer without much thinking about it.

On the other hand, nature hasn't much respect for the works of man, either. Nature is always trying to destroy what we have built. Nature dumps water on our roofs and walls and streets. Plants keep forcing their way right through the little tiny cracks that have opened in the streets and sidewalks. Tree roots push their way under our basements. Termites eat our wooden houses. Birds leave their calling cards---not an insignificant item: the dome of the Illinois state capitol nearly collapsed under the accumulated weight of 10,000 pounds of pigeon droppings. Temperatures that range from 30 below zero to 110 above stretch our asphalt and leave gaping potholes.

It's the maintenance men, the caretakers, who keep the world going, with their daily, unglamorous, cleaning and repairs. They fix those small leaks before the whole roof goes; they tear down the ivy before it eats away the brick walls; they clean up the pigeon droppings before the roof collapses.

And they protect our homes and public works against the vandals. They clean away the graffiti and repair the broken windows. As long as they do this on a routine basis, they are telling the barbarians that this block, this town, this society, cares about its citizens, its property, and its public spaces; that it will not tolerate disorder.

Vandals are a lot like little kids. They always need to know exactly how far they can go before someone will stop them. Make a rule, and they'll test it to see if you really mean it. And if you don't enforce it, they'll keep on breaking it. Until they get bored and try doing something worse, to see whether you care enough to say no to that.

You see, if somebody doesn't fix the first window that gets broken, pretty soon you'll have a dozen broken windows. One wall of graffiti that is not cleaned away leads to entire neighborhoods covered with graffiti. One drug dealer not reported to police, one streetwalker left to ply her trade, one punk not stopped from stealing social security checks from little old ladies, and you've lost your neighborhood. You gave it to the barbarians, because you didn't do your caretaking.

Police are there to supplement the power of public disapproval; if there IS no public disapproval, the police are powerless. (My neighborhood was quiet in part because anyone on the street could tell any kid on the street to turn the music down or off--and their parents would make them do it.)

Buildings and neighborhoods are not the only works of man that have to be maintained. Setting up a government is a comparatively simple task next to the daily tasks required to keep it going. It takes a lot of dedicated government employees, and a lot of citizens paying attention.

It's easy to get the money for the big stuff. When you build dams and bridges and highways, you've got something big to show for your money, and the politicians have ribbons to cut at big public ceremonies.

And it's easy to create public health services and emergency medical services and air traffic control systems and food inspection systems, because the public has learned the hard way what happens without those systems.

But once the concrete is laid, and the systems are established, they have to be maintained. We have to pay scientists and nurses and inspectors and contractors. We have to pay for laboratories and computers and radar systems and hospitals and concrete. We have to plug the holes in the dam, paint the bridges, mend the potholes.

All of this costs day-to-day spending money, which people who are convinced they are over-taxed are unwilling to spend. They're willing to spend their money for the nifty new stuff, but they keep cutting the budget that keeps the old stuff running.

We Americans actually have a government that is BETTER than we deserve. Because we don't pay attention. We don't make sure the systems keep working. We don't pay the maintenance bill. Nonetheless, the social security checks keep getting sent, the weather information keeps being delivered from our satellites, the student loans keep being paid for, people keep on getting rescued from their wrecked cars, business keeps on getting economic and demographic data they need.

But it gets harder all the time. A government that is underfunded starts cutting corners. We will get SOME public health, SOME public safety, SOME dam repairs, SOME newly paved roads, SOME food inspection (we have a guarantee, for instance, that anything actually green or crawling will get removed from our meat).

We can't assume government can keep on doing everything when we cut the funding. Nor can we assume that our politicians will do the right thing if we don't keep on paying attention. We Americans suffer from a short attention span. We enact Civil Rights laws, and walk away and say, "Oh, we fixed it." We create Medicare, and walk away and say, "Oh, we fixed it." But things don't stay fixed unless we keep on paying attention.

The builders, the dreamers, the architects, may be the gods who do the creating. But if their works are to survive, they need ordinary men and women to do the harder stuff.

So, let's hear it for the maintenance men and the caretakers-- the people who do the day-to-day unthanked labor of keeping things working; let's hear it for the good citizens and journalists, who pay attention to what our governments are doing; and let's hear it for the neighbors who say to the barbarians "We won't let you do that in MY neighborhood (MY city/MY country)."

Gods are all very well in their place. But these people are unacknowledged, unassuming, day-to-day heroes. We need them just as much. Probably more.

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