I’m working my way through the whole of The Wire on a DVD box set. I know, I know, I’m ten years behind the
times. But better late than never, and I’m loving it.
There is certainly no second act for D’Angelo, who is killed
a few days later. Nor for most of the
characters in The Wire, whether drug
dealers, trade unionists or police. Attempts to make big changes are invariably
doomed to failure, death or disaster.
It’s like a classical Greek drama, where human beings are
playthings at the mercy of capricious, unpredictable gods. We have the illusion of free will, but in
reality our lives are predetermined, chosen for us and directed by forces
beyond our control. So we’d better just accept our lot and make the best of a
bad job.
Hang on a minute....
Well no, actually. No way. Absolutely not.
Great TV, great drama, but I refuse to accept this
pessimistic view of the world.
We are persons with the capacity to lead our own lives. We
are not passive victims of fate or circumstance. We have choices. We can do
things differently. Transformation is
possible. Think Nelson Mandela.
Last week Helen (not her real name) came to see me in my
surgery. It was the first time we’d met for more than ten years, as she’d move
away from our area for a while. Back then she was
dependent on alcohol and heroin, and had problems with hepatitis. She was
heading rapidly downhill. But no longer. Helen’s off all that stuff now. She’s
back in control of her life, caring for her teenage daughter and half way
through a degree in sociology.
For lots of people retirement is a great time to start over. Second
act, third age - it’s the same thing. Once earning our living is no longer
necessary we have a chance to try something we’ve always wanted to do. We can
reinvent ourselves.
I wonder what I’ll do next.
What do you think? Are
we stuck with what we’ve got, or can we change things around? Have you had a
second act? Or are you planning one?
[1]
You can find the scene on http://biblioklept.org/2012/08/13/dangelo-barksdale-breaks-down-the-great-gatsby-the-wire/
I've changed my life so many times it's becoming 'normal' now! But yes, we definitely have a chance to change things around but you must do it sooner rather than later as unfortunately 'time waits for no man' or woman for that matter.
ReplyDeleteI've been watching The Wire as well and really enjoying it (though some parts require a look away from the screen I find), not quite sure why it is so good, think it's probably the quality of the writing and simple way that it's shot. I'm half way through season 5 so don't know what i will watch next - hard act to follow.
ReplyDeleteI was interested in your wellbecoming blog about it and agree with; don't believe in capricious gods or predeterminism that strips us of responsibility either. I have no experience of Baltimore or any drugs scene but the programme did seem very plausible in what happened to it's characters, but that's likely just a reflection of how well it's put together. Did a little googling to see how realistic or otherwise it might be. I was mindful of where I was looking but couldn't find any government websites with easy to find or recent stats; so these numbers may be wrong.
It does seem to be a city with a real crime problem. city-dat.com states Baltimore had a murder rate of 196 per 100 00 population in 2011 which is a huge number and one I was shocked at (US national average 31.3) - UK rate was 1.4 per 100 000 population). Neighbourhoodscout.com gave an annual risk of becoming a victim of violent crime in baltimore as 1 in 69 per annum; they also said there were 428 crimes per sq mile per year which is hard to comprehend.
I did find some info on the Bureau of Justice Statistics (US goverment agency) from 1994 that said 1% of those released from prison after murdering someone, were arrested for another murder within 3 years of release; overall 68% of released prisoners were rearrested within 3 yrs of release - with 47% being convicted. Robbers, burglars, car theves and those with illegal weapons stood a 70% chance of rearrest within the 36 months. A study in maryland (quoted on baltimorerising.org) said that Baltimore had a particularly high rate of youth offenders reoffending at 80%. In the period 2002-7 they were an average of 30 under 17 yr olds murdered each year, with about the same amount being convicted or murder or attempted murder.
Was interesting looking at this and made me think that perhaps the Wire gave a semi realistic feel of what happened to people in the crime/drugs/guns subculture. I think the high levels of crime (esp where any violent crime is a major personal tragedy to numbers of people) and high reoffending rates suggest that many people choose to do truly bad things. Wider Baltimore society may be responsible for not helping the poor and drug addicted, but the numbers suggest to me that many choose to offend. In which case (I guess) they more need saving than being left to turn it around themselves.