Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023 | 2 a.m.
The plan to house migrants at a former Chicago school brings up an idea mentioned in Utah from time to time. Why don’t we temporarily free up ill-occupied or unoccupied downtown buildings or floors to serve as winter homeless shelters for the mentally ill?
The problem with Americans today is that we have lost our ambition for low-tech innovation. And we have lost the thing that comes before and after ambition. We have lost a lot.
Our ancestors were tremendously ambitious. Think about it: They arrived on a continent with nothing before them but wide-open geography stocked with nature, but virtually nothing else. No towns, no technology, no trading posts, no friends, no enemies, nothing but themselves.
What always comes before ambition is survival. The need to survive gave our ancestors plenty of ambition. But what comes after ambition is just as important — a social support system, people to help them survive.
Today, almost nobody worries about survival, except maybe the homeless and new immigrants to this country. For most Americans, things are pretty much handed to them from the moment they are born. Food, toys, friends, homes, clothing. They must work for none of it. Their parents don’t ask them to work either, just to play.
Without ambition to survive, young people no longer need a support system.
That pretty much explains boomers down to Gen Z’ers. The homeless are just the most visible manifestation of our lack of ambition. Something needs to change.
