Well, we probably should. Government is going bankrupt, our military and financial institutions have bankrupt the economy, and today Senator Bernie Sanders posted a diary here saying the true unemployment rate is 13.7%.
Pre-9/11 was a time when a phone call or a casual parting was noted with a simple "Goodbye", or "Catch you later". "Take care" as a sign-off is relatively new in our lexicon.
But these are different times, aren't they?
More................
I have posted here on the "Take care" phenomena briefly with no response, hence this diary. That's because I think "Take care" is indicative of a general malaise that permeates our society at present.
"Take care", to me, is a post-9/11 warning from a society that has grown wary of government and its impact on society. Further, we have learned that our banks and financial institutions are filled with those who would exploit us by manipulating markets and waging war for profit. Along with the financial sector, many elements of the private sector are looking to profit from crime, war and education.
On the education front, today's New York Times tells of the Murdoch-owned News Corporation company, Amplify, and its drive to have every schoolchild have a special tablet as an educational tool. The prospect of tailoring content to individual student needs sounds initially appealing. But consider the potential for less teacher-to-pupil and pupil-to-pupil interaction and the idea of tableting every student requires some serious consideration.
Amplify is a corporation that stands to profit greatly if schools accept the tableting idea. Many charter schools are for-profit entities. State after state is turning over their prisons to for-profit corporations. Our military is fleshed out by for-profit contractors. There is much to concern ourselves about the privatization of formerly public services.
As a consequence, we have become a society which continually reminds itself to "Take care". I grit my teeth whenever I hear that parting throughout the day, and I hear it many, many times a day both on the phone and in person. Even internet notes are frequently ended with "Take care".
Well, I'm bloody well sick of fear, sick of "Taking care", and hoping that more people will consider what has been done to our society to make it continually want to "Take care", accompanied by encouragement for others to do so. The words, "Take care", have never left my lips or been typed by my fingers, except to comment on my reasons for not using the term.
The one positive response I have gotten to pointing out the term is from the mother of three young boys who is a customer in my retail store. She said our conversation really made her think. Now she takes time each day to review some of the day's positives with her family. I think she is "Taking care" in a very responsible, unfearful way.
And that is my goal in writing about "Take care". When that small tinge of fear injects itself into our partings, the perpetual maism of fear hovers over our lives. What I think we need to "Take care" of is the source of that fear, the uncertainty that has been generated by the actions of our government and our private sector.
My hope is that more of us become aware of the underpinnings of fear attached to the "Take care" admonition, and think a bit on why we use the term. It might help to clarify what needs to be done to "Take care" of the causes of societal doubt and fear.