I told young people before the last Presidential Election that it was possible that Obama would have a chance against Clinton in the Primary. I also told them that if he won, against Hillary, he would also have a chance in the General Election. I told every hopeful young face that they had better vote for the guy to make sure that it would happen. I would then tell them that the fight would not be over then. I warned them to be prepared to fight for the man when he did inherit the nation's burdens. Young people have no concept how close we were to utter collapse when the Republicans left Barack holding the bag. It seems that we have all forgotten to follow through on our civic duty to reign in power and exert control over our ship of state from a local level. Democracy will not thrive, unless we right the bloated and capsizing hulk of our economy. What better way to effect change than to demand the rest of the sacred , (extra civic) duties conferred to the individual by our great documents?
Educate yourself on any topic and within a short time you will find government intrusion that is corporate welfare. Stamp it out. Like brush fires, government spending frequently consume more than just financial resources, but tax money spent creates artificial markets for all that it touches. In addition, there are layers of front groups, trade associations and shadow firms that offer ways to launder profits through churches, advocacy groups, educational organizations or non-profits that allow profits to escape government taxation. Take a stand against subsidies, tax-breaks and incentives that only affect the wealthiest amongst us. Obama is only as strong as we make him. In America today, what is needed most is a groundswell of support for the ideas of our leader. We have settled for far too few concessions from the old dogs who need to be taught new tricks, or we may all find ourselves on harder times. It is up to us to see this one through. Ask not...
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Bless Us Every One
Now, I'm not the only one who has noticed the utter break down of society. We have had two major news "events this last week or so that point out the utter failure of the media to mediate our experience of events that take place daily in our world. Initially, I had hoped that it was just an isolated incident, but it has proven to be systemic. First, we heard of the "Tucson Tragedy", the senseless shooting of innocent people in a parking lot in Arizona. One frustrating thing about the coverage was that the rarity of the event was ignored completely. Over three hundred million of us were not threatened in any way that day. Our chance of getting shot was less than one in fifty million. The salient point was not that hundreds of newscasters/cameramen/producers and their equipment were employed to bring us photos of blood stained concrete, but that half a dozen people died that day. We barely remembered to mention that one of the dead was a vibrant nine year old. In the coverage since, we have focused on the "target" of the attack, the woman who still doesn't know what went on that day. This is not like the "Four dead in Ohio" that reflected the government's war on it's own people, but a fluke caused by an insane person having access to a gun with a clip that allowed him to keep firing without reloading. My heart goes out to those whose lives have been changed forever. I'm glad that Gabby will recover, but I'm sick at the ignorance that is reflected in the coverage of her plight at the expense of the families of the dead.
Similarly, the raid at the Philly clinic that was the site of so many tragic incidents, and apparently many more deaths, ignored the real story in favor of what they wanted us to hear. Instead of telling us that this type of facility can only exist when there are so many without access to health care, says to me that the people covering the news don't have a clue. Worse, they have an agenda that they want to push down our throats. The a-word (abortion) was in the headline and once people had been stirred into vehement hatred, the facts mattered little. There were hundreds, if not thousands of people who obviously needed care enough to seek out this clinic that was dangerous because it was poorly staffed and un-funded. There was an opportunity to tell the story from a different perspective, but the powers that be dictated the rhetoric. I agree that vile and reprehensible things take place every day in our country, but the coverage of events that we see every day rank up there with the events themselves.
Like a magician producing a rabbit from his hat, the news producers tell us where to look, when and for how long. Too often, it is away from what really matters in our lives. The "Tragedy in Tucson", boiled down to three words cannot possibly convey the dramatic outcome of failed gun laws, nor can the "Clinic of Death" story explain the tragic state of health care in our nation. I am one of the millions of Americans who has to choose between being homeless and having health care. Having been homeless in the past, I don't want to devolve into that state again. Having seen insane people wielding guns as well, I recognize the threat that they pose to the rest of us. Neither of these stories had much bearing on reality. Instead, they have soft pedaled fiction over substance, presented us the happy face while finger pointing at paper tigers rather than the real challenges that we are facing in these troubled times. Millions of us face challenges daily that are never mentioned by the media. When they are covered, the distorting light of the media comes and goes so quickly that nothing substantial can be seen.
In my work as a spotlight operator, my living is made by showing people what to look at. The myopic lens of the news camera is thousands of times more effective than my light. God help us if we cannot learn how to use it's awesome power for good. now, more than ever, we need to look critically at our world and figure out how to improve the lives of us all. Our humanity depends on recognizing that old maxim, a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic. Each of us is a reflection of God/ess, perhaps it is expecting too much to want our media to reflect reality. Is it too much to expect these "entertainment" sources to at least try to reflect reality?
Similarly, the raid at the Philly clinic that was the site of so many tragic incidents, and apparently many more deaths, ignored the real story in favor of what they wanted us to hear. Instead of telling us that this type of facility can only exist when there are so many without access to health care, says to me that the people covering the news don't have a clue. Worse, they have an agenda that they want to push down our throats. The a-word (abortion) was in the headline and once people had been stirred into vehement hatred, the facts mattered little. There were hundreds, if not thousands of people who obviously needed care enough to seek out this clinic that was dangerous because it was poorly staffed and un-funded. There was an opportunity to tell the story from a different perspective, but the powers that be dictated the rhetoric. I agree that vile and reprehensible things take place every day in our country, but the coverage of events that we see every day rank up there with the events themselves.
Like a magician producing a rabbit from his hat, the news producers tell us where to look, when and for how long. Too often, it is away from what really matters in our lives. The "Tragedy in Tucson", boiled down to three words cannot possibly convey the dramatic outcome of failed gun laws, nor can the "Clinic of Death" story explain the tragic state of health care in our nation. I am one of the millions of Americans who has to choose between being homeless and having health care. Having been homeless in the past, I don't want to devolve into that state again. Having seen insane people wielding guns as well, I recognize the threat that they pose to the rest of us. Neither of these stories had much bearing on reality. Instead, they have soft pedaled fiction over substance, presented us the happy face while finger pointing at paper tigers rather than the real challenges that we are facing in these troubled times. Millions of us face challenges daily that are never mentioned by the media. When they are covered, the distorting light of the media comes and goes so quickly that nothing substantial can be seen.
In my work as a spotlight operator, my living is made by showing people what to look at. The myopic lens of the news camera is thousands of times more effective than my light. God help us if we cannot learn how to use it's awesome power for good. now, more than ever, we need to look critically at our world and figure out how to improve the lives of us all. Our humanity depends on recognizing that old maxim, a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic. Each of us is a reflection of God/ess, perhaps it is expecting too much to want our media to reflect reality. Is it too much to expect these "entertainment" sources to at least try to reflect reality?
Monday, January 17, 2011
Can't we All Just Sit Together?
When I first heard this idea I thought, "Have we lost our minds?" Have we gone back to kindergarten? Okay all you elected officials, hold onto one each other's hands as we cross the street. The idea of having an integrated seating plan makes more sense than one might think upon first hearing the idea. Many votes break down along party lines because folks are frequently like sheep, going along with their neighbors, even when they are wrong.
Remember the paper that we got handed in elementary school? The one that the teacher told us to "Read all the instructions first." If I remember correctly, the first few things it said were, "Write your name in the upper left hand corner, put today's date under it, draw a triangle in the upper right hand corner", etc. and it went on to instruct us to poke three holes in the top of the page, fold the page in half and then unfold it, and various other things. Near the end it said, "Get up and walk around your desk" The very last instruction was to disregard all of the instructions except the last one, sit quietly and fold your hands on the desk.
Virtually everyone went along with the crowd, overlooking the teacher's word, in favor of deeds. When everyone around you is screwing up, it becomes hard to think for yourself and make good decisions. Perhaps by not allowing parties to sit together, we could encourage them to think for themselves and follow the rules. Instead of letting our representatives sit in cliques, mixing them may lead to change that the public could not inspire. By mixing parties up and spreading them out around a more divers group of elected officials, perhaps they can learn to listen a bit more and consider their ideas as valid.
Perhaps if we allow adults to act like spoiled brats, treating them like spoiled brats is the best course of action. Teachers learn to design seating charts that help all of their students to be heard and to excel. They often split up the cliques and separate the bullies from one another. As our representatives become more and more insular, speaking only to those who agree with them, we need to find better ways to get them to see the whole picture. We all need to work together and find ways to see that there is more that unites us than tears us apart.
Remember the paper that we got handed in elementary school? The one that the teacher told us to "Read all the instructions first." If I remember correctly, the first few things it said were, "Write your name in the upper left hand corner, put today's date under it, draw a triangle in the upper right hand corner", etc. and it went on to instruct us to poke three holes in the top of the page, fold the page in half and then unfold it, and various other things. Near the end it said, "Get up and walk around your desk" The very last instruction was to disregard all of the instructions except the last one, sit quietly and fold your hands on the desk.
Virtually everyone went along with the crowd, overlooking the teacher's word, in favor of deeds. When everyone around you is screwing up, it becomes hard to think for yourself and make good decisions. Perhaps by not allowing parties to sit together, we could encourage them to think for themselves and follow the rules. Instead of letting our representatives sit in cliques, mixing them may lead to change that the public could not inspire. By mixing parties up and spreading them out around a more divers group of elected officials, perhaps they can learn to listen a bit more and consider their ideas as valid.
Perhaps if we allow adults to act like spoiled brats, treating them like spoiled brats is the best course of action. Teachers learn to design seating charts that help all of their students to be heard and to excel. They often split up the cliques and separate the bullies from one another. As our representatives become more and more insular, speaking only to those who agree with them, we need to find better ways to get them to see the whole picture. We all need to work together and find ways to see that there is more that unites us than tears us apart.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Beyond Moral Certainty
We seem to have fallen into a rut. Our nation has become so afraid that someone might shirk their responsibility that we have come to the point of micromanaging every aspect of life. The work places of respected professionals have become havens for bureaucrats and mid-level managers. Teachers for instance are not allowed to do their jobs without detailed lesson plans and co-curricular guides, reminding them of salient points that must be made when covering their material. This may help unqualified people keep from being discovered, but it unduly restricts good teachers from staying in the zone and exploiting teachable moments. I once saw a flow chart designed for lawyers to follow that would have allowed the most uneducated person to defend a client. Like training wheels, it might help in the short run, but over time intelligent practitioners might be retarded in their growth by such aids. Even our judges have sentencing guidelines and are overruled if their decisions reach a just outcome without following the absolute letter of the law. Frequently we are assuaged by those who hold sway within our government, our schools and corporations who claim to know what is best for us. I, for one, seriously question the lengths to which we will go trying to make the world "safe" for democracy. We are paralyzed by a fear that someone would make a mistake, so teachers can no longer hug their students, we need to be on guard against offending anyone and slowly but surely overseers are beginning to outnumber actual workers.
We do still respect those who stick their necks out to "do the right thing", but we certainly don't expect anyone to stand up in the face of public opinion. In fact, we often penalize those who come down on the side of right as opposed to the majority opinion.It has been a disorienting trip into the new century, but it seems that we are clinging to all the wrong traditions. In addition, we are heaping urban legend on top of fictional accounts of imaginary threats. The tiny percentage of teachers who wanted to sexually abuse children certainly did not warrant an end to the supportive hug. Fear of offending people certainly isn't worth all the time and effort expended changing to his/her language or nomenclature that hermetically seals in our prejudices. The lack of trust that we have in our fellow humans is exacerbated by the way we cover the news. We all recognize the lengths that newscasters will go to in finding the most heinous news of the day. Within each and every city across the nation there are wonderful things going on all the time, but that news is rarely covered and so, seems novel when we do hear about it. When folks that we deem heroes are recognized they often say the same few words, "I didn't have a choice." or "I acted without thinking." which I contend is the best way to make a positive difference in the world around us. As we shrink the world with our technologies, and reduce further the window of opportunity for action, we must learn to act without filtering our behavior through filters not of our making. As with any art, making the right decisions requires practice and due diligence, learning from our mistakes and trusting in our own abilities.
Treating the whole herd because one animal gets sick is not a good idea for livestock and it is not a good idea for humans either. Mandating behavior only reduces our reliance on our own skills of decision-making. We are currently experiencing the fallout from these bizarre restrictions on the teaching profession, the military and politics. The best and brightest, when confronted with a system that disallows individual differences, lose interest and the motivation to find a better way. When we lose the ability to grow and change, we can no longer serve humanity and the wisest among us know this better than the back of their hands. The way we treat one another is more about what we think of ourselves than what we think about the other. Without trusting one another to make good decisions, there seem to be no other options than to spell out in painful detail what is expected. Not knowing whether we can operate without this sort of oversight disgusts the people of good will and interferes not with those who have nefarious intent. Capable people worldwide seem to be victimized by these restrictions, but the greedy or deceitful seem to go on without being restricted in the least.
We all make mistakes. Learning from them and problem solving itself is a skill that we need to teach. Falling back on regulations is fine for those who cannot think for themselves, but for the vast majority of us that remain sentient, they both hem in our adaptive responses to difficult situations and undermine the trust we may have developed in our ability to make decisions that reflect the common good and our own unique solutions to evolving problems in every field. The perfect person remains an illusion, if we learn to accept that, it will help to bring out the best in everyone. The hardest thing for us to deal with might just be the illusion that we can write flow charts and regulations that have the power to guide us through times that we have never experienced before.
We do still respect those who stick their necks out to "do the right thing", but we certainly don't expect anyone to stand up in the face of public opinion. In fact, we often penalize those who come down on the side of right as opposed to the majority opinion.It has been a disorienting trip into the new century, but it seems that we are clinging to all the wrong traditions. In addition, we are heaping urban legend on top of fictional accounts of imaginary threats. The tiny percentage of teachers who wanted to sexually abuse children certainly did not warrant an end to the supportive hug. Fear of offending people certainly isn't worth all the time and effort expended changing to his/her language or nomenclature that hermetically seals in our prejudices. The lack of trust that we have in our fellow humans is exacerbated by the way we cover the news. We all recognize the lengths that newscasters will go to in finding the most heinous news of the day. Within each and every city across the nation there are wonderful things going on all the time, but that news is rarely covered and so, seems novel when we do hear about it. When folks that we deem heroes are recognized they often say the same few words, "I didn't have a choice." or "I acted without thinking." which I contend is the best way to make a positive difference in the world around us. As we shrink the world with our technologies, and reduce further the window of opportunity for action, we must learn to act without filtering our behavior through filters not of our making. As with any art, making the right decisions requires practice and due diligence, learning from our mistakes and trusting in our own abilities.
Treating the whole herd because one animal gets sick is not a good idea for livestock and it is not a good idea for humans either. Mandating behavior only reduces our reliance on our own skills of decision-making. We are currently experiencing the fallout from these bizarre restrictions on the teaching profession, the military and politics. The best and brightest, when confronted with a system that disallows individual differences, lose interest and the motivation to find a better way. When we lose the ability to grow and change, we can no longer serve humanity and the wisest among us know this better than the back of their hands. The way we treat one another is more about what we think of ourselves than what we think about the other. Without trusting one another to make good decisions, there seem to be no other options than to spell out in painful detail what is expected. Not knowing whether we can operate without this sort of oversight disgusts the people of good will and interferes not with those who have nefarious intent. Capable people worldwide seem to be victimized by these restrictions, but the greedy or deceitful seem to go on without being restricted in the least.
We all make mistakes. Learning from them and problem solving itself is a skill that we need to teach. Falling back on regulations is fine for those who cannot think for themselves, but for the vast majority of us that remain sentient, they both hem in our adaptive responses to difficult situations and undermine the trust we may have developed in our ability to make decisions that reflect the common good and our own unique solutions to evolving problems in every field. The perfect person remains an illusion, if we learn to accept that, it will help to bring out the best in everyone. The hardest thing for us to deal with might just be the illusion that we can write flow charts and regulations that have the power to guide us through times that we have never experienced before.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Manufactured Or Forgotten Heroes?
In my grade school training, we spent time learning flag etiquette. It seemed to me at the time that if patriots were willing to die for our country, then the symbol of our country should be honored, or at least respected. I have discovered in the intervening years that many feel a sense of adoration for this symbol, but have not yet begun to understand the implications of failing to treat it with respect. There is good reason that the flag may not be used as an awning, or tied to advertising, made into clothes, or used as a tarp. The symbol of our country needs to be treated with a special solemnity that honors both fallen heroes and ideals to which we aspire.
We take great pains in displaying the symbol of our country with due respect, especially in public forums and during media events. Sadly, there is a trend that has undermined our understanding of what this symbol means and threatens to strip this patriotic emblem of it's meaning. We saw this problem exacerbated after the events of 9/11/2001. Patriots immediately took up as many disposable flags as there were hands, sending millions of US dollars to China, for symbols that were to be displayed improperly and let to turn to garbage on our streets. Even today we can find the American flag printed on boxes, napkins, clothes, and advertisements which are explicitly outlawed by statute.
A separate but equally disturbing trend has been the use of flying the flag at half-mast. It seems that our flags these days are perpetually flying at half mast which eclipses the meaning behind this tradition. There are explicitly stated reasons to fly Old Glory at half staff. They are limited to: The death of a President, or former President (for 30 days); Death of Vice President, Chief Justice or former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or the Speaker of the House of Representatives (for 10 days); from the day of death to internment for Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an Executive or Military Department, former Vice President or the Governor of any state, territory or possession; also, on the day of death and the following day for members of Congress. The only other time the flag is to be lowered to half staff is on Peace Officer's Memorial Day, unless it is also Armed Forces Day. Even on days that the flag flies at half-mast, it is to be run up briskly and then lowered slowly and solemnly to mid-staff. At the end of the day, it is supposed to be run up and down again before sunset, unless the flag is permanently lit.
The flying of flags at half-staff has lost nearly all meaning. We can hardly keep up with all the reasons for the lowering of the flag now-days. It seems that there are plenty of folks who wish to manufacture heroes and who misunderstand the intent behind lowering the symbol of our nation. Not only have we injected others into this stipulated list of those who deserve this certain respect, but we have undermined the sacrifice of military personnel by ignoring the message that our flag stands for. Our whole country may be in a state of mourning but to infuse each and every "offense" to our sensibilities with the weight of losing a President makes no sense. On the one hand, it is just a collection of red, white and blue fibers, but on a deeper level, this symbol of our country needs the respect that it deserves, especially since we use it as the emblem of our great experiment we call Democracy. If the Red, White and Blue become co-opted by corporate outlaws or the expediency of commercial interests, it has the power to undermine our country in subtle ways we have not yet come to realize. This amazing sleight of hand has reinterpreted the Bill of Rights, changed the way we see ourselves on the world stage and obscured the sacrifice of all those who died under the Stars and Stripes.
We take great pains in displaying the symbol of our country with due respect, especially in public forums and during media events. Sadly, there is a trend that has undermined our understanding of what this symbol means and threatens to strip this patriotic emblem of it's meaning. We saw this problem exacerbated after the events of 9/11/2001. Patriots immediately took up as many disposable flags as there were hands, sending millions of US dollars to China, for symbols that were to be displayed improperly and let to turn to garbage on our streets. Even today we can find the American flag printed on boxes, napkins, clothes, and advertisements which are explicitly outlawed by statute.
A separate but equally disturbing trend has been the use of flying the flag at half-mast. It seems that our flags these days are perpetually flying at half mast which eclipses the meaning behind this tradition. There are explicitly stated reasons to fly Old Glory at half staff. They are limited to: The death of a President, or former President (for 30 days); Death of Vice President, Chief Justice or former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or the Speaker of the House of Representatives (for 10 days); from the day of death to internment for Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an Executive or Military Department, former Vice President or the Governor of any state, territory or possession; also, on the day of death and the following day for members of Congress. The only other time the flag is to be lowered to half staff is on Peace Officer's Memorial Day, unless it is also Armed Forces Day. Even on days that the flag flies at half-mast, it is to be run up briskly and then lowered slowly and solemnly to mid-staff. At the end of the day, it is supposed to be run up and down again before sunset, unless the flag is permanently lit.
The flying of flags at half-staff has lost nearly all meaning. We can hardly keep up with all the reasons for the lowering of the flag now-days. It seems that there are plenty of folks who wish to manufacture heroes and who misunderstand the intent behind lowering the symbol of our nation. Not only have we injected others into this stipulated list of those who deserve this certain respect, but we have undermined the sacrifice of military personnel by ignoring the message that our flag stands for. Our whole country may be in a state of mourning but to infuse each and every "offense" to our sensibilities with the weight of losing a President makes no sense. On the one hand, it is just a collection of red, white and blue fibers, but on a deeper level, this symbol of our country needs the respect that it deserves, especially since we use it as the emblem of our great experiment we call Democracy. If the Red, White and Blue become co-opted by corporate outlaws or the expediency of commercial interests, it has the power to undermine our country in subtle ways we have not yet come to realize. This amazing sleight of hand has reinterpreted the Bill of Rights, changed the way we see ourselves on the world stage and obscured the sacrifice of all those who died under the Stars and Stripes.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Slow Start to the New Year
2011 has brought tremendous change to my world. As busy as I have been, it has been hard to spend any time writing and I'm missing this form of expression more than I thought I might. I thought I had come away from 2010 without having to sit through all those This Is The Year That Was shows. You know, the ones that rehash all the major stories and deaths of the past twelve months. Strangely, I guess they just moved some of them to the New Year. I guess someone must have decided that something major might take place between Christmas and New Years.
Our family has come together to celebrate the life of our patriarch and pay our final respects to my father-in-law, Donald L. Burns of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Between his funeral, the family visits and several days of work out-of-town, the time has just flown by. There have been several newsworthy topics that I could have written about but being away from my computer has made it hard to keep up this blog. I'm sorry if there are folks who read it regularly that have been disappointed.
I have been reading a bit more lately and having great conversations with family and friends, but remarkably, the pace of life seems to have slowed for once. I hope everyone has a chance to take a deep breath and relax a bit in the new year. Blessed Be, Tony C. Saladino
Our family has come together to celebrate the life of our patriarch and pay our final respects to my father-in-law, Donald L. Burns of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Between his funeral, the family visits and several days of work out-of-town, the time has just flown by. There have been several newsworthy topics that I could have written about but being away from my computer has made it hard to keep up this blog. I'm sorry if there are folks who read it regularly that have been disappointed.
I have been reading a bit more lately and having great conversations with family and friends, but remarkably, the pace of life seems to have slowed for once. I hope everyone has a chance to take a deep breath and relax a bit in the new year. Blessed Be, Tony C. Saladino
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Make Every Dollar Count
For anyone looking for a new leaf to turn over this New Year's Day, start at the most basic level. We live in a world of dollars. They often determine where we will work, for how long and ultimately how they will be spent. The local currency that we use is just a reflection of our efforts. Therefore how we spend them can reflect much about what we do and believe in. I recently went to a website that offered to calculate my lifetime carbon footprint with the ultimate goal of "offsetting" it through reforestation. This can be done at several sites, and it gives us a way to look at our energy use in a whole new light. Since I started paying for energy, budgetary concerns led me to be conservative. My first apartment became a workshop for efficiency techniques and innovative systems that mimicked nature. Because my compost was working out on a second floor balcony, I had relatively close contact with it. If insects colonized it, they provided food for my fish tanks. The rich liquid that I harvested from the under-gravel filter was used for fertilizing the trees that grew along the street. Occasionally I walk through that neighborhood and marvel at the difference between the trees that I watered with fish emulsion compared to those that did not get "the juice". Closing systems allow wealth as well as nutrients to cycle, creating generations of beneficial results for organisms enjoying the rich environment. As I found ways to live better on less, I realized many eternal truths that have shaped my understanding of sustainability, diversity, the give away and permaculture.
Some cities have developed local currencies that allow large groups to integrate and formalize barter systems. We have all felt the warm glow of outright giving, but in some transactions we need to be enriched in a more tangible or lasting way. Understanding that any form of currency is just an iconic representation of time, of human effort, of skills, or sometimes of less tangible "goods". Recently, I have had the opportunity to fall in with a group of junk-pickers who meet regularly. They often find things that are valuable, but not for them. We try to disburse them to appropriate locations where the recipients can get use out of them, without cost. a recent dumpster score was several hundred dollars worth of specialty clamps. The proprietor of a local string instrument repair workshop was flabbergasted that he was being presented with these tools of his trade. Throwing such wonderful tools away should be a crime, but in our capitalistic society, our perception of value has become quite arbitrary.
I would like to make the case for taking a critical look at how every dollar, that after all, just represents how we have spent our life force, is spent. Do we want to spill our nickels into the purses of those who receive huge government subsidies? Would we rather give our money to those who handcraft items that will be around for generations? Do we spend our time rewarding folks who walk their talk, or those who are greedily lusting after money, power and prestige? These sound like huge complicated questions, but really they are quite simple. As one begins to research and understand what the marketplace has to offer, and how dollars flow in our current system, deeper understanding and insight make their way into our consciousness. Certain choices become second nature and when less time is spent finding out about what each purchase means for our neighbors, our local environment and our community, we can truly sat that we are on our way to sustainability.
When I first started down this road, I discovered that mankind's history in the Northern Hemisphere has been fraught with examples of raping The North, carting off it's "resources", and creating boom and bust economies based on this extraction.The process continues to this day, but knowing that, I can try to work my magic to charm the lives of those northern communities by taking low impact vacations there and trying to wrest as many dollars from the south as possible to redistribute to folks who live sustainably in these northern climes. Don't misunderstand, when there are products that reflect a sustainable ethic, or truly "green" technologies, I will reward them wherever they are, but when faced with a choice of two sources, I always choose the northern producer over those closer to the equator. Similarly, if a business owner treats their employees like "human resources", to be exploited, I have no problem taking from them without giving back, or taking my business elsewhere. No product is so essential that we couldn't make due without it and people who only know how to take are jeopardizing their right to survival in my book.
It is time for us to embrace a new culture. One of cooperatively working with nature, natural systems and one another to eliminate waste, fraud and corruption. Living is giving. Understanding this important fact has the power to unleash vast reserves of human potential that lies dormant because of the commodification of nearly everything under the current capitalistic system. By reviewing our personal budget and understanding how it fits within a larger economic system, we can allocate our funds with much more precision and make decisions for where to spend our dollars that can transform our lives, our planet and the lives of those around us. In the New Year, let us all try to live a little more and spend a little less, making sure to reward those we care most about and make a friend in the local economy who will then be empowered to do the same for another, on and on to the betterment of our respective communities.
Some cities have developed local currencies that allow large groups to integrate and formalize barter systems. We have all felt the warm glow of outright giving, but in some transactions we need to be enriched in a more tangible or lasting way. Understanding that any form of currency is just an iconic representation of time, of human effort, of skills, or sometimes of less tangible "goods". Recently, I have had the opportunity to fall in with a group of junk-pickers who meet regularly. They often find things that are valuable, but not for them. We try to disburse them to appropriate locations where the recipients can get use out of them, without cost. a recent dumpster score was several hundred dollars worth of specialty clamps. The proprietor of a local string instrument repair workshop was flabbergasted that he was being presented with these tools of his trade. Throwing such wonderful tools away should be a crime, but in our capitalistic society, our perception of value has become quite arbitrary.
I would like to make the case for taking a critical look at how every dollar, that after all, just represents how we have spent our life force, is spent. Do we want to spill our nickels into the purses of those who receive huge government subsidies? Would we rather give our money to those who handcraft items that will be around for generations? Do we spend our time rewarding folks who walk their talk, or those who are greedily lusting after money, power and prestige? These sound like huge complicated questions, but really they are quite simple. As one begins to research and understand what the marketplace has to offer, and how dollars flow in our current system, deeper understanding and insight make their way into our consciousness. Certain choices become second nature and when less time is spent finding out about what each purchase means for our neighbors, our local environment and our community, we can truly sat that we are on our way to sustainability.
When I first started down this road, I discovered that mankind's history in the Northern Hemisphere has been fraught with examples of raping The North, carting off it's "resources", and creating boom and bust economies based on this extraction.The process continues to this day, but knowing that, I can try to work my magic to charm the lives of those northern communities by taking low impact vacations there and trying to wrest as many dollars from the south as possible to redistribute to folks who live sustainably in these northern climes. Don't misunderstand, when there are products that reflect a sustainable ethic, or truly "green" technologies, I will reward them wherever they are, but when faced with a choice of two sources, I always choose the northern producer over those closer to the equator. Similarly, if a business owner treats their employees like "human resources", to be exploited, I have no problem taking from them without giving back, or taking my business elsewhere. No product is so essential that we couldn't make due without it and people who only know how to take are jeopardizing their right to survival in my book.
It is time for us to embrace a new culture. One of cooperatively working with nature, natural systems and one another to eliminate waste, fraud and corruption. Living is giving. Understanding this important fact has the power to unleash vast reserves of human potential that lies dormant because of the commodification of nearly everything under the current capitalistic system. By reviewing our personal budget and understanding how it fits within a larger economic system, we can allocate our funds with much more precision and make decisions for where to spend our dollars that can transform our lives, our planet and the lives of those around us. In the New Year, let us all try to live a little more and spend a little less, making sure to reward those we care most about and make a friend in the local economy who will then be empowered to do the same for another, on and on to the betterment of our respective communities.
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