Happy, Untroubled And Caged

I drove a car by myself for the first time this evening. Shameful, I know. Twenty years old and only just got my Restricted . . .  Anyway, it was a bit of an odd feeling; I had this persistent sensation of space beside me, as if someone was actually unsitting in the passengers seat. It made me more vigilant, not less, because I realised that I was totally in control of my own butts safety and there was no one else to take up any slack. Responsibility often has this effect; people get lumped with having to fend for themselves or others and they rise to the challenge, stepping up several notches from what they previously believed they were capable of. In this country however, the powers that be have decided that responsibility is far too weighty and burdensome for any but a select few to shoulder - and have thoughtfully gone about taking it away from everyone else. Not up to finding a job? Get on the dole. Rather not look after the kids? Send them to government funded daycare. Don't want to commit to marriage? A de facto relationship has all the same benefits. It's a case of smothering mother syndrome on steroids. We are not too far from sliding right into Huxleys Brave New World - a society where no one is unhappy, no one is troubled and no one is free. Intelligence and maturity is being sucked from us by the spider of unresponsibility, leaving a dead, hollow husk. It's not that we don't do what we're supposed to. We're not supposed to do anything - or nothing of worth anyway. Being handed a task, a mandate and something to protect has never hurt anyone. On the contrary, it's given generations of people the impetus to grow, to conquer and to teach. Surely it can't be that bad.