The Maholian Way - Part Two: The Maholian Way in the lives of two

Robert Salter

George and Tracey’s personal and family consumption was just as environmentally unfriendly. They had two four-wheel-drives, which were the only transport they ever used. Their house design, appliances and daily habits reflected little attention to any need to save energy or water, and they would buy the usual quota of over-processed and over-packaged goods, giving little thought to this consumption because everyone they knew consumed the same. They weren’t especially interested in politics, but George favoured lower taxes, given that he and Tracey worked long hours and still struggled to make their after-tax incomes match their expenses. He also believed social programs should be cut back; he didn’t want to support misfits and shirkers, whom he didn’t know personally but knew about through the media. Tracey was inclined to be more liberal, but felt she needed to learn more about the issues and had little time to do so.

Tracey’s job as a hospital receptionist gave her glimpses into the often troubled lives that people led, but she wanted to do more for them than just refer them down the corridor. As she put it:

I remember thinking that things could be done a lot better. I’m sure a lot of people got good treatment in hospital, but for others it was like a revolving door. You saw the same drunks, crazies, spaced-out young people, lonely old men with little English, all coming back time and time again. I thought: can’t somebody do something to improve their lives, so that they don’t have to keep coming back?

She had done a receptionist course after leaving school, but would have dearly liked to do further training in one of the helping professions so that she could get more satisfying work. However that would have meant leaving her job (which the family couldn’t afford for her to do) or studying on top of all her existing commitments (for which she didn’t have time).

Added to this, she worried about Samantha’s future as an intellectually disabled adult. Samantha was a happy, sociable teenager, and quite capable of doing many things around the house. But what would happen when she turned eighteen in a few years? Tracey thought it would be good if Samantha could find work, but there seemed to be few openings, because the competitive job market was intolerant of ‘imperfections’.

George had the trappings of success, but in odd moments when he allowed himself to reflect he felt uneasy and dissatisfied. For one thing, he didn’t enjoy his job:

It seemed like I was just squeezing people all the time. Squeezing my sales staff to work even harder to get the results – they were already overworked and resentful. And squeezing more sales out of people who didn’t really need new carpets and couldn’t afford them anyway. But I had to do all this to save my own neck, so Tracey and I could keep paying our bills.

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