Saturday, September 24, 2011

Grandbaby turns 1!

 


 Today Grandson turned 1!  It's a milestone!  We had a big party with family:



Played outside:


Had cake:



And opened presents:



And now everyone is gone, and Nana's tired!  Think I'm going to read and enjoy the quiet for awhile...



Remember, it's just a ride.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

I'm having too many deep thoughts these days...

But they might be good for FMBT this week!

Or, they might scare people, who knows?


Mostly they have to do with government, and our constitution, and the state of our country in general.

I was going to title this "Why we vote for the worst for our grandchildren", but I realize that if you don't have grandchildren, this might not mean much to you.  Or, if you do, you might be pissed that someone thinks you don't care about them.  (which really isn't the case)

But I've been thinking.  We really don't vote in best interests, let alone some as yet unknown person in the futures' best interests.  And that, to me, hits closer to home.

Let's start with this simple premise:

There are things in the world that everyone needs to survive, air, water, food.  There are things in this world that we all use together, and we can all take care of together for the good and benefit of everyone.  These things are called the "commons".



Or, at least they used to be called the "commons".  Now they're privately owned by conglomerates of people through corporations to make money.  They don't care if your water is clean, not really, they just need to make a profit.  They don't care if your food can't reproduce itself so it can last more than one growing season, just hand over the profits.  They don't care if the news is now a facade and entertainment is now "news", just make that profit, and bias everyone with lies.  (and I'm talking about right and left wing "news")

These things used to be part of the commons.  Things we all take care of for generations to come so we don't destroy our resources.

Water, airwaves, parks, highways, energy companies, these things used to be taboo for companies to have anything to do with.  Why?  Because who cares about water quality when you absolutely have to make a profit, and cutting corners will help your "bottom line"?  Who cares if the roads are so potholey and awful in most cities and you have to get a new suspension on your car every 3 years when fixing them with cheap crap will mean money for your investors?


Psh.

Even when I was a kid in the 70's the roads were better taken care of than now.  And there weren't "don't drink your water for 6 months" warnings all the time.  In the 70's we would have scoffed at buying bottled water when perfectly good water came out of your tap so much more cheaply!  (geez, buy a water filter for your tap for cryin out loud)

As a people, we haven't seemed to quite get the fact that we are on a planet with finite resources and space.  Like a body, it can only take so much abuse before each system starts to fail, and like the body, after a couple systems start going, the rest follow like dominoes.

We don't have to be the self centered, egoistic, who/what's going to service me next people if we don't want to.

It's a hard thing to do, but the result will be more beautiful than we can imagine.



Remember, it's just a ride.