The Right to Joy
This past Sunday, I was able to get in on a Zoom call with several college buddies. We checked in, made fun of each other, talked about the upcoming Bulls doc and argued basketball, and made plans to do it again. We live all over the place so we don’t get to see each other live often at all. But it was good for the soul.
The ability to do that - to have a device like that plus the internet - has far too long been considered a luxury.
In 2020 - and once we are again able to move about freely and safely - we really have to upgrade our thinking surrounding what are necessities in life.
Most of us adults were raised by people who either survived the Depression (or themselves raised by people who survived the Depression), and our frame of reference for getting by is what they needed to do in that time. Or during a world war. Or being “not Jim Crow” or “not slavery.” And there is value in being able to survive those kinds of times. Humanity needs that ability in it’s toolkit, definitely.
But that doesn’t mean that extreme bare minimum needs to be a working standard in “normal” times when we think about the necessities for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in this country.
Many other things should be a human right (or at least an American right), but it’s time that we realize laptops, cell phones, and the internet are no longer fancy luxuries or items used to mock poor people when you want to clown their purchases and remove public services from them.
The ability to access info or be reachable in this time is critical to the success of both adults and students. How many teachers are worrying about students without the means to do their remote learning plans? And the big question - why is it a travesty if they used laptops or phones for entertainment? Why is the standard something to eat and maybe a coat and a blanket or two? We have the ability to ensure much more. Instead, we turn our noses up at people who can’t afford these items and claim they don’t deserve to be able to enjoy surfing the web? Why? Who is this harming?
We really don’t have to remain a society so invested in keeping a class of people unhappy and without any kind of joy. Rather than frown at people getting something you don’t think they deserve, why not see the benefits of a populace with access to information? Or the ability to connect with people all across the country?
Yes, I’m aware it’s not as simple as “free laptops and smartphones whenever you want.” But a free national wi-fi network or school issued laptops and/or smartphones could be a start for the next generation.
Yeah, I know “We didn’t have XYZ as kids.” And we made it. But in this age? Pretending like it’s the same really puts poor and marginalized folks behind an eightball for no real reason. In this day and age, access to the internet, at home and on the go, is generally a necessity.
Adrian Hill
image: “Flor da Jamaica” by Rev. Alex da Silva Souto, Beira, Moçambique.