NYTimes "conservative" columnist David Brooks painted a pitch-perfect portrait this week of a character he calls "Patio Man."
"He is the quintessential suburban American, the service economy worker,
the guy who wears khakis to work each day, with the security badge on
the belt clip around his waist," Brooks writes. "He has a house — worth less and less — in a relatively new development.
He’s holding off on the new car. He’s trying not to look at his
retirement account balance. But he’s happy with the new street-scape
shopping area where he and his family can stroll before a movie."
Basically, Patio Man is the guy snoring in bed next to you every night.
Patio Man was written in the context of defining our country's current political landscape. "He doesn’t expect much of government. He believes that he is
responsible for his own economic destiny. But he does expect government
to provide him with a background level of order," Brooks explains.
But in the midst of the current economic meltdown, including Patio Man's shrinking 401K, Brooks says Patio Man is seeking change..."not from right to left, or from anti-government to pro-government, it’s from risk to caution, from disorder to consolidation."
However, Brooks - a brilliant writer and a clear thinker - forgot one major thing about Patio Man: his better half, Yoga Woman.
While Patio Man may has been out on the back porch with his buddies bemoaning the state of their nation --- Yoga Woman has been in the house contorting her body, brains, schedule and checkbook in an effort to minimize the impact of the economic tsunami on her family and maintain a semblance of balance in her household.
SHE is the quintessential suburban American: an educated woman who either returned to or remains in the workforce after having children. If she's opted to "stay at home," she continues using her college degree by serving on the PTA, the local YMCA board or on church committees -- all of which are struggling to help out the less fortunate in her community, fill in the gaps for families who've fallen on hard times, or enrich children whose public educations are lacking.
In fact, Yoga Woman is at ground zero of the public school crises - and spends an extraordinary amount of time fundraising in order to fill in the financial gaps at her local public school, just so her kids can have P.E., music, art, and even classroom supplies.
She knew this financial meltdown was coming more than a year ago. That's when she stopped going to Starbucks, started shopping at thrift stores, and began clipping coupons. But unlike Patio Man, Yoga Woman can't afford NOT to look at her family's 401K. She's the one banking online, and balancing her family's finances every month on Quicken. She's horrified by the amount of credit card debt she's been racking up. And although she and Patio Man have good jobs, their salaries have not kept pace with inflation. She shivers every time she reaches the check-out counter at the grocery store and puts the week's food once again on the Visa card.
Yoga Woman, Patio Man and their kids are indeed, much worse off than they were 10 years ago.
Yoga Woman doesn't expect government to swoop down and come to her rescue. But she does expect it to have sound judgment and make some solid, educated decisions that will right the country and get it moving forward. And unlike her parents, who come from the "do as I say, not as I do" generation, Yoga woman expects the people in charge to model the kind of morals she's trying to raised her kids with. Things like "if you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing at all." Or "do unto others...."
She knows the coming years will be challenging. Nothing really worthwhile comes easy, as she always tells her children. But Yoga Woman is nothing if not formidable. She is the sheer marketing force behind the healthy eating movement and the greener household movement.
And she is the suburban force behind the change that's taking place this election cycle, which is more than just words or a campaign slogan. It's what is needed for her family, and others like it, to survive and thrive in the 21st Century.
