on ownership

i recently went to look at flats here in london. we're going to be renting and, to keep with our budget, many of the places we've seen are flatshares, where we would share the flat with other people. a typical question we would ask the current tenants is how long they intend to stay there. this is so we can gauge the stability of the household and whether significant changes were to be expected in terms of the interpersonal dynamics.

in one case, we asked a guy and he said that if it was possible, he intended to stay in the flat for the rest of his life. that is, he intended to rent his room in the flat and share the other facilities (kitchen, bathroom) for the rest of his life. perhaps it is the small bubble that i lived in when i was in toronto, but i found that to be a very interesting statement.

you see, in toronto, i got the sense that it was almost assumed that the natural progression in your life is to own a property of some sort. a house, an apartment, a condo, a townhouse, a cottage, a cemetary plot - something. perhaps it's because we all studied "the apprenticeship of duddy kravitz" in school, where it was impressed upon us that a man without land is nothing. or perhaps we're a pragmatic group of people who believe owning property and having equity is more financially prudent than paying rent until the end of time (or at least, your time here on earth). but we do seem infatuated with this notion of ownership.

i'm sure there are plenty of people in toronto who will always rent. but i'm equally sure that it's a choice the people i know would publicly tolerate (in fine canadian fashion) and frown upon in private. in london, there are people who own properties, but probably an equal or larger proportion of the population who do not. here, renting forever is something that is quite widely accepted. in fact, it is assumed that you rent the flat in which you live unless you specify otherwise.

but this ownership of land and property also leads to an interesting contrast when it comes to shared spaces, such as the street, a park, or a church. we own our homes and cars and, in some cases, are fanatical about keeping them clean and tidy. but we're also decidedly less picky about how we treat shared spaces. the litter on the streets is testament to that. so is the gum that you accidentally step on. smokers, some of who may have pristine apartments and homes, are remarkably tolerant when it comes to the numerous butts that are scattered around their designated areas.

for a generation that loves to own things, there is a stark contrast when it comes to taking ownership, particularly of shared spaces. preceding generations are known for fighting wars, liberating women and abolishing slavery. ours may very well be remembered for keeping our own homes clean, but little else.