Creatures of Impermanence

At the heart of it, renting is about economy. We rent because we can't afford to buy. At some point, practical reality starts to sway us psychologically. If and when the option to buy comes, is it somehow more meaningful than a number in a bank account? What does it say about us if we choose to continue to rent when we have the means to buy?

Very few people who buy actually manage to purchase outright. We live in a culture of mortgage, broken as that culture turned out to be. Just looking at that word, it inspires us to run. Mort gage, from the Latin-informed Old French meaning literally, "Dead Pledge". It is a contract with an end in mind. Either the mortgage defaults for non-payment, or the contract is fulfilled and it ends in full ownership. In essence, a mortgage is rent with the intention to stay, whereas a lease agreement is rent with the intention to leave.

It may not be a very sunny mindset, entering every new apartment thinking, "I'm going to leave here soon," but that's exactly what you're saying with a lease. It's like starting a relationship with a pre-determined breakup date. This isn't home, it's just another room.

My parents bought their first house in 1978. They weren't wealthy, not by any stretch of the imagination, but they didn't need to be. It was a different time when it was possible for two kids in their mid-20's to buy a house, however modest. It was also a time when two kids in their mid-20's were in a state of mind to buy a house.

For those of us born in the 1980's, economists have projected we will experience an average of five career changes over the course of our lives. Not five jobs. Five careers. The reason for this, at least ostensibly, is that employers typically no longer invest so much time and resource into an individual so as to raise him or her from the mail room to the executive suite. That's because the mail room is smaller and it's easier to buy an experienced employee from the outside. These days, a growing number of us live in US Tax Form 1099. We are independent contractors on temporary assignments. It's not much of a stretch to say that my grandfather's employer had a mortgage on him, while today my employers only rent.

Our earliest ancestors were nomads. In order to survive, they had to travel where the resources were. Staying in one place too long meant death, plain and simple. Our generation faces the social equivalent of nomadism. We can't stay, no matter where we are. Not in this job, not in this apartment, not in this city. So, if any of us ever enter a period of such stability and prosperity that we have the option to intend to stay, will we even know what to do with it?

From my room, in which I will not live this time next year, on my computer which I can and must carry with me easily, for today's contract that may dissolve tomorrow- Hello, goodbye, have a nice day.