The Empire of Make-Believe

Thanksgiving: AKA "Christmas Practice"

2008-11-26T22:17:00.004-05:00

Of all the holidays, Thanksgiving is the least popular. For most people, it is simply an excuse to be off work and practice for the Christmas dinner. Then of course, when the practice dinner is over they can't wait to go shopping the next day for all the sales. Its all rather dark and depressing really. They don't call it "Black Friday" for nothing.

I don't think it is any accident that Thanksgiving falls almost exactly one month before Christmas, giving everyone ample time to figure out all the glitches in their family arrangements and dinner preparations well in advance so they can perfect their entertainment in time for the most holy day of greed and compulsive displays of imitation generosity. I would guess most of what people think and talk about at Thanksgiving is Christmas-related. I would also guess that almost nobody even thinks about the manufactured reason the day is supposedly celebrated to begin with, or how it might make indigenous people feel. Note to self; never sign a treaty with people you have thanksgiving dinner with. I wish I could send back a message to those tribes; "If you feed them, they will come! And they will keep coming and eventually you will all die. Then they will create a fake holiday celebrating your generosity towards them as a gift from their god who told them as Christians they were obligated to rid the world of you and take all the land you possessed." Something like that, anyway. I wonder if they would even believe me.

I myself don't celebrate thanksgiving. I am off of work like most everyone else, and I do go eat with my family if they cook dinner, but I think of it as free food and getting to see my family not a day of celebration. I wouldn't do anything out of the ordinary on that day if my family didn't get together. In fact, this year they aren't. Instead, we are going out to eat together on the Sunday after at our favorite restaurant. I don't concern myself with wondering if my parents fail to see the twisted blackness of the holiday. I just enjoy their company.

If you do choose to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, please keep in mind that it is purely a modern invention, not something the pilgrims and their "happy hosts" created. Also remember the many tribes who now only exist as names in books because they were completely obliterated through their contact and conflicts with the early settlers, including the pilgrims. You could still choose to see it as a day to be thankful for all that you have, but you could also do that every other day and keep this one for remembering how you came to have it.

Keep your eyes open. Truth is all around you. Sometimes its just too hard to see behind all those gigantic deceptions.

President Elected

2008-11-19T21:49:00.003-05:00

I have been quite absorbed in thought since election night, 2008. I was lucky enough to be off work that day so I was able to go in the morning to the polls and cast my vote after standing in two lines for around an hour. I know that many waited much longer, and I congratulate them on their determination. Had I needed to wait longer, I would have, but I'm glad I had it so easy.

The voting machines were different this year, and some people were having problems understanding how to use them. Luckily, I caught on quickly and was in and out of the booth in record time once I got through the line. Other than the occasional person who didn't read the directions for how to re-register to vote when you move to another district that were clearly written on the back of their registration card, things appeared to be going smoothly. There were of course the typical fakers who got to skip ahead due to some imperceptible health problem while the old and truly infirm waited patiently with the rest of us. Oh well, at least they voted.

But more than the election day doldrums have been on my mind of late. I have been listening to NPR and watching CNN with some regularity and I have been curious about the amount of optimism the country seems to have about Obama. I have also been surprised at the amount of attention he has gotten as a man of African decent who has risen to the highest office in the land. I don't know why, but I never really thought that would be such an issue. Perhaps its because I don't see Obama as an African-American so much as a person of mixed race.

In that regard I suppose he is like other African-Americans, for they are predominantly a people of mixed race. The term African-American (in my mind, at least) implies a shared cultural and historical identity more so than an actual shared racial makeup. But the fact that the "One-Drop" rule is strongly enforced in the U.S. makes this idea a challenge, for there are many people deemed African-American on this basis who look white and therefore do not always share the same experiences as other African-Americans who are more obviously "Black". Obama is kind of the opposite of this in my mind, a man who looks "Black" but who was raised by his white mother in absence of his African father except for one brief visit when he was 10 years old. Besides his race, he has very little in common with most people of African-American descent. It is therefore curious to me why they find his rise to power so inspiring. I guess I see him more on individual terms as the person he actually is rather than the racial icon they want him to be.

Take myself for example; I too have African ancestry, but few people ever look at me and think that I do. Therefore, I have virtually no idea what a typical African-American's experiences may be. I do have the experience of being a tri-racial individual who has been mistaken for just about every ethnicity there is at one point or another. Most people I am around think I'm whatever they are. In a way, I'm a racial chameleon. In a similar way, Obama's background is very different from many people of African descent, therefore I see him more like myself and I don't see myself as an African-American even though the One-Drop rule would say I am exactly that. This has nothing to do with lack of pride in my ancestry, but rather with honesty. I don't care who knows my racial makeup, but I see myself as tri-racial because that is truly and exactly what I am. I prefer to be all three at once rather than choose one over the others.

I do not feel in the least sorry that I did not vote for Obama, and yet as a tri-racial American, I do see why he represents so much to so many. I do see his victory as a positive thing in that respect, even though I do not think he will be the president everyone wants him to be. To be fair, it would be impossible for anyone to be the president everyone wants them to be. Maybe he will at least do his best. I keep hoping that he will.

Today is the Day

2008-11-04T07:56:00.002-05:00

This is it; no more beating around the bush. (no pun intended :) Today the people of the united states get to vote for the next president. I know not very many people read this blog, but I still would like to give those who do stumble upon it a little bit of food for thought.

There are over 200 presidential candidates running in this race. You have more than two choices. A wasted vote is one cast for someone you don't think will do a great job because you have been told they are more likely to get elected than the one you think would do a great job. Keep in mind that the electoral college really decides who will be president, so vote with your brain not your conditioning.

Lets make this election truly historical.

What's in a Name?

2008-10-26T22:36:00.004-05:00

Any regular readers out there will no doubt notice that I have changed the name of this blog. This was in response to a suggestion put forth by my husband that perhaps many of the people I hoped to reach with my writings would be turned off by a blog title like "Anarchy Now!", which was intended mostly to be amusing. The possibility that my blog was attracting primarily punk rockers had occurred to me (not that there is anything wrong with punk rockers). Upon long reflection I realized the wisdom of his suggestion and that my title was perhaps limiting my audience to a select minority. "The Empire of Make-Believe" (referring to the United States, of course and also inspired by one of my favorite books, The Culture of Make Believe by Derrick Jensen) is a somewhat vague yet intriguing title I hope will invite a large audience of curious minds. I guess time will show the true success or failure of this attempt.

Why I'm Voting for Ralph Nader

2008-10-26T16:01:00.002-05:00

I believe in voting. I also believe that the people of this country have never elected any president we have ever had thanks in part to the founding fathers' decision to protect wealthy people (i.e.,them) from the ignorant/poor citizens (i.e.,us) by use of the electoral college. Besides this glaring undemocratic glitch in our election process, we also have to contend with the ever-present and increasingly blatant use of fraud and rigging to decide who votes, who's votes get counted, and which candidate gets those votes. Despite all this, I have never missed the chance to cast my vote in any election I was old enough to participate in. Why, you ask? Allow me to explain...

Though I am an Anarchist, I am fully aware that I live in a country that claims to be democratic (though this could easily be contested). I do not believe that government is necessary or healthy for humanity, but I recognize the fact that evolution towards a purely anarchistic society takes a long time. Most people are not mentally prepared to take on the responsibilities that Anarchy entails due to their upbringing, the influences of the larger society etc. I'm not stupid or crazy. Anarchy is not an easy thing. It cannot be dropped in place of an existing government and expected to be viable or healthy. It requires the slow progression and changes in perspective of an entire society in order to succeed. Until that day comes, I believe I should do all that is in my power to make things better now.

Every day we hear all sorts of negative ads aimed at one of the major party candidates by the other. They both do it and both are equally unfit for the position they are applying for. They both lie, deceive, manipulate facts, have questionable associations or events in their past and in general are willing to say anything about the other that might win them a vote. They are, however, surprisingly unwilling to tell us very much about their ideas except how much better they are than the other guy's ideas. The media and the major parties themselves have long championed the notion that any vote for anyone but one of the two major party candidates is a wasted vote and essentially a vote for the republican candidate (why this is believed seems strange, but you know what I'm talking about). We hear repeatedly about voting for "the lesser evil", with the assumption that only one of the two evil candidates could possibly win.

I admit I have fallen for this ridiculous concept and I am ashamed that I ever voted for evil in any form. This election will be different. I refuse to waste my vote ever again. I will be voting for the candidate whom I feel is the best person for the job. I'm going to vote for the only candidate who has devoted his entire adult life to good work and fighting for the rights of U.S. citizens. The candidate who is responsible for so many consumer protections that we see every day but take for granted. I'm voting for the candidate with a clean record and honest intentions. I'm going to vote for Ralph Nader, and this is the first time I will smile when I cast my vote.

Before you vote in this election, remember that you have more than two choices and consider the idea that perhaps if everyone ignored the media and voted for the best candidate, we might actually end up with a great president. It could happen. Its all up to you. Expose the electoral process for the sham that it is. If nobody voted for either major party candidate, what would the electoral college do? How many machines that flip votes for Obama to McCain would simply go haywire and shut down? Wouldn't you like to see what would happen if a good candidate won instead of an evil one? I would. I sincerely hope that someday I will.

Voluntary Simplicity, AKA "The Wealthy Poor"

2008-08-24T09:51:00.003-05:00

Being a person of "limited means", I have never lived extravagantly. I have long been fascinated by the Voluntary Simplicity movement, even though my simple lifestyle wasn't exactly voluntary. My impression of it was good, but I couldn't help thinking of it as a bunch of rich people who decided to live like poor people in order to work less so they could spend more time with their families. Unfortunately, poor people don't have the option of working less, they just have to make due. Perhaps the rich people believe that we choose to be poor. Its true that our personal choices often determine our lot in life. For example, I choose not to take advantage of other people in order to have more for myself. This pretty much eliminates quite a few higher paying job opportunities. I also chose to get an education in Philosophy instead of a more career-opening field. Does this mean my poverty is a chosen way of life? I guess that makes me a volunteer after all!

There isn't anything wrong with voluntarily simplifying your life. In fact, modern life is often made much more complicated than it needs to be. Everyone, including poor people often accumulate a lot of "stuff". This often is never or rarely used, and compulsively purchased. Eliminating these things from your life can be very liberating, but preventing their future re-accumulation is a much harder task. This can be accomplished by changing your personal habits of consumption. Have you ever purchased something you already had because you liked a new model better? Have you ever stockpiled something because it seemed like a good deal, even though you couldn't foresee a true use for it? Do you often shop without a plan or a list? Do you have so many things that its hard to find something when you need it? Do you often buy things you already have because you can't find them? These are all behaviors that can easily be corrected to both save you money and the environment.

Here are a few things anyone can do to make their life cheaper, greener and less stressful:

1. Shop at second-hand stores for all your clothing and household needs.
2. Stay home on the weekend and do things that need to be done and things you want to do all week but don't have time to do.
3. Read more and watch less TV.
4. Learn to knit your own socks, underwear, sweaters, gloves, etc. Use yarn from thrift stores or purchase sustainable, earth-friendly yarns whenever possible.
5. Drive less, stay longer.
6. Recycle plastic, aluminum, paper and cardboard. You might find you no longer need trash pickup.
7. Buy used.
8. Organize things so you know what you have and what you really need.
9. Ask yourself before any unplanned purchase, "Is this item something I can live without?" if the answer is "yes" don't buy it.
10. Learn to repair your stuff when it breaks.
11. Wear things out. Then use their parts for something else or recycle them.
12. Lock your credit cards up in a vault so you have to call your spouse and have them bring them to you in case of a true emergency.
13. Pay more than the minimum on your credit cards every month. Don't use them.
14. Get your spending money out of the bank in cash each payday so you don't accidentally overspend.
15. Pack your lunch. Make your own meals at home.
16. Wash dishes instead of using paper plates, plastic table wear, or cups.
17. Wash towels and re-usable napkins instead of paper towels & napkins.
18. Use washable cloth menstrual pads instead of disposable.
19. Use washable cloth handkerchiefs instead of tissues.
20. Don't worry about things you can't do anything about. Change the ones you can.

Vote Me For President in 2012!

2008-02-10T19:51:00.000-05:00

I have tried to avoid watching the primary debates. I'm not sure if my apathy is symptomatic of a greater problem than my own or merely the result of a tired mind. To be honest, I've had other things on my mind, including my own plans to run for President when I'm old enough (Personally, I think they should make an exception for women since we mature faster :) LOL!)

I guess you might find it strange that I have such a goal, being an Anarchist and all. Its really not so strange. I seriously doubt if I'll win, but anything is possible. My goal is to awaken people to possibilities they may not have previously considered. If I do become the first independent candidate to win the presidency, I will do my utmost to protect individual liberties and provide the least fortunate with the necessities of life. The most fortunate don't need my help, but I will try and impress upon them the benefits of having a content and healthy populace. I don't have any money, so I will have to come up with clever ways to raise funds. I will not accept corporate support. Only individual donations will be accepted. I plan to write a short book outlining my ideas which I will provide free to download and print from my website. Travel will be my greatest cost, but I'll play it by ear. My one hope is that my candidacy will be so strange and my ideas so radical that I will get lots of free media coverage. I love America!

I figure it will take me a number of years to prepare, given my budget of $0 to start with, but I am absolutely serious about it. I've planned to run since I was a kid. I've always tried to spread the word my whole life. Hopefully all those people will remember me.

Strange House

2007-11-14T08:15:00.000-05:00

I was listening to NPR the other day and they were talking about a style of house which was catching on in the U.S. (It originated in Japan) where the floors were uneven, the doorways small and the house was on the whole difficult to navigate. The people who developed the idea believe that it may lead to immortality, because with the perception and physical challenges ever-present, we will be in a constant state of attention. They feel this will keep us alive. I wonder what no-stress world they live in to come up with such a ridiculous idea! Stress is not generally a contibutor to longevity. Oh well, I guess they will eventually figure it out. Time always tells in such matters!

The Measure of all Things

2007-10-08T09:05:00.001-05:00

Have you ever seen a book at the bookstore that drew you somehow, and for no explicable reason you just had to buy it even though you weren't interested in reading it at that moment. You take it home and put it on the shelf with all the other such books, and then months or even years later, you again feel drawn to it. You take it off the shelf, dust it a bit, and open it for perhaps the first time. What you find there is astounding. A truth only you can see, a vision of something coming full circle and at last resting in your mind as a complete thing. You wonder for an instant why you never read the book before, and yet as soon as you think it you know the answer. It wasn't time yet. You somehow would have completely missed it before. This moment was the only one for you and the truth you have now seen. Before, it was just another book.

Moments like that happen in other contexts too. I used to wonder why they happened, but I don't worry much about it anymore. All we can really know is our own mind, and it is the measure of all things. We can only understand as much as our mind can understand. We can only experience as much as our minds can take in. As Shakespeare wrote, "Nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so." I would say the same about all other value judgments.

I remember when I was a kid I used to pray for things and then they would happen. Then one day I decided instead of praying to God for something, I would just concentrate on what I wanted really hard, clearing my mind of all else. It worked. The thinking made it so just as often as the praying did. That was when I stopped believing in God and started believing in the power of my own mind. It was a profound experience.

It seems we know much more than we think we do or could ever explain. Our dreams give us messages from another side of ourselves that wants so desperately to be heard and understood. Our minds take in and retain so much, then it tries to warn our consciousness by giving us bad dreams, funny "feelings" about things, or the shivers. Perhaps if we could slide back the curtain of what we call our consciousness we could see the marvelous mechanisms that have lead people through the centuries to believe in the most bizarre things, when it was just them all along.

This Day...

2007-09-11T19:55:00.000-05:00

It was this day last year that I had my faithful dog Lady put to sleep after a horrible seizure which left her completely incapable of having any kind of meaningful existence. I had received her as a gift from my father when I was 13 years old. She had been with me for 15 years and 5 months when she died. I didn't think about it at the time, but it was also the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

I remember when I first heard about what happened on this day 6 years ago. My first thought was "Wow, they've finally done it..." thinking that some country we had long abused had finally gotten up the nerve to fight back. My next thought was, "Maybe I won't have to go to work this morning." I didn't have a television set at the time, so I didn't see the news coverage. One of my husband's friends called us on the phone to tell us what had happened and then I turned on NPR on my old cabinet radio.

At the time I was working at a local elementary school as an after-school program worker. The kids in the program belonged to parents who wouldn't be home when the bus dropped them off, so they stayed at school till 7pm (not all but many). We were supposed to entertain them and help them with their homework. I remember that day because when I got to school I found out that none of the children had been told what was going on. Their imaginations had been running wild all day. They were scared and thought the world was coming to and end or were excited because they thought perhaps there would be no more school.

I told those who asked me what really happened. They seemed disappointed. What they had imagined was much more terrible and therefore more interesting to them. One boy brought me a picture he had drawn of the towers in flames and people falling out of them. It was the first picture I saw of what happened. He asked me if I would put it up and I did. The next day some of the teachers saw it and wanted to know who drew it. I told them and the director of the after-school program talked with him about it. They wanted to take it down because they thought the other kids would be frightened by it. I argued that it was wrong to hide things like that from them and would only make them more afraid. They let it stay up for a while before giving it to his mother one day when she picked him up. I think they were more afraid of it than any of the students.

Unfortunately, little good has come of the attacks. We've lost rights, we've killed thousands more people, and we are still for the most part completely in denial about the true origins of the attacks. I would elaborate further, but my mind is tired. I'll finish this another day.

The Loss of Virtue

2007-09-11T19:32:00.000-05:00

The longer I live the more I have begun to believe that virtually nobody is virtuous anymore. Nearly everyone I encounter is willing to compromise their moral beliefs when it appears to be advantageous to them. There also seems to be a deep disparity between standards of behavior they expect from others and those they themselves exhibit. They want you to be kind, patient, to go all out for them and yet they wouldn't dream of doing the same for you. It wouldn't even occur to them. I think greed is purely the result of deprivation. Deprived of examples of generosity, of self-sacrifice, people become greedy. They fear giving because they think the favor will never be returned to them, and so it never is. They give up and give in, and that is all they give.

It is refreshing to find people who have a sense of honor. It is quite a rare thing nowadays. If you know someone honorable, cherish them and learn from them. They are the last knights in a dying country.

A RED HERRING!

2007-08-13T18:51:00.000-05:00

If you have ever studied debate, politics, philosophy, or proper forms of argument in college, you know that a side issue used to detract attention away from the real issue is termed a "red herring". My husband and I were recently discussing the new legislation regarding illegal immigrants and he said I should blog about how it appears to be an attempt to protect jobs for American citizens, but really it is just a distraction from job outsourcing by corporations, which is essentially the same thing as giving jobs to illegal aliens. The only difference is, the aliens the corporations are hiring at a bargain rate are overseas and therefore not contributing to our economy at all. In this regard, outsourcing is the single biggest threat to working class America, yet they aren't going to fine the corporations $11,000 for every outsourced job. Instead, they are raising a fuss about illegal aliens in this country, which is not the huge problem they make it out to be. Its a red herring if I ever saw one and its starting to stink really bad.

Wireless Minds: The Cell Phone Phenomena

2007-08-10T14:51:00.000-05:00

I was sitting at a stoplight the other day and casually watching the drivers who were crossing in the opposite direction. Of the ten cars who crossed, 8 drivers were on their cell phones. This made me think about how random this little intersection was and how this small number might be reflective of a much larger whole. I started paying more attention and looking around while driving. What I discovered was frightening. Around 70% of the drivers I saw while driving were talking on their cell phones. My state just passed a silly law saying that drivers under 18 could not talk on their cell phones while driving, but the majority of the driving population is free to talk all they want. Stay with me people, it gets worse...

Not only are these people talking on their phones while driving, but also while ordering food at a take-out window, shopping, or waiting to check out at any place of business. Thankfully, I have not yet observed heavy cell phone use in the library. Some places are still sacred, or so I can only hope. As I watched these people with mild disgust, I found myself wondering about a number of things. Who were they talking to? What were they talking about that was so important they had to do it while engaged in other tasks? Were they using their phones as a social barrier so they didn't have to talk to the random people they met while in town? Did they realize how rude they were being when real people around them required their attention? Was there really someone on the other line or were they just pretending they had friends and associates? Were they trying to look wealthy (lets face it, those things aren't cheap!) or occupied, or important or all three? The more I saw the more disgusted I became.

I began to realize how radically portable long-distance communication had changed our society. There is no etiquette for these new devices, no rules of conduct to guide their use. Our technology has surpassed our sensibilities. The skeletons of phone booths dot the landscape, their guts long ago eaten by the great wireless beast among us. I doubt if many young people today even notice these sad ruins of a bygone era.

It is true, cell phones have their good points. Since there are no phone booths anymore, and hardly any business will let you use their phone nowadays, they are nice to have in an emergency. There is also the cost of long distance to consider. If you have family that doesn't live in your neck of the woods, its nice to be able to call them when you want instead of when you get your yearly Christmas bonus. But there are many times I would rather be unreachable. I recall an incident while I was on vacation this year, on a deserted island on the Atlantic coast, when my phone rang. I had brought it with me in case my sister called, but instead of my sister it was my boss calling to tell me my co-worker had quit. I didn't really mind her calling (she had no way of knowing what I was doing), but it was a rather disturbing call to get while walking on a beautiful beach in the middle of a clear blue sky.

I got a cell phone to replace my regular phone nearly two years ago. Unfortunately, I've got almost 4,000 minutes saved up that I paid for but never used. I've had hardly any emergency use for it, and in each case I could have done without it altogether if I had to. My husband has decided to switch from Cable modem to DSL to save money, so we will be getting a regular phone again and I have decided to cancel my wireless service. I am looking forward to it. I miss being unreachable and I had many an adventure before it was so easy to call for help when my car broke down. I guess I'm just not the wireless type.

Who is the wireless type? Everyone, it seems, except for me. Everyone at work has one, it seems the whole populace has one, and I would venture to guess that about every other person you think is crazy because they are standing in the frozen foods isle talking to themselves has one of those little ear devices that you can't even see. Its strange how they gaze into some fixed point of nothing as they idly chat away. They are almost like zombies. My husband works at the university I graduated from only 6 years ago. In that time, the students have gone from talking to one another as they walk in the halls or between buildings to talking on their phones constantly while not in class. This he sees everyday.

And the Wireless mind wants to do much more than merely talk to people from a comfortable distance; they want to text them too. This boggles my mind. Why pay more to be able to send text messages to someone when it is so easy to talk to them? I just don't get it, unless they are communicating incognito while they are supposed to be working or listening to their teacher in class. Shame on them!

There are side effects other than mere isolation involved in cell phone use. The wireless mind eventually looses the ability remember simple instructions or to make decisions about the simplest things and must contact one of their "favorite five" in order to purchase exactly the right cheese dip, dog food, trash bags etc. I remember not so long ago that sometimes people bought the wrong thing but learned to make due or discovered something they liked even better than what they usually got. Unbelievable!

One of the most disturbing aspects of the cell phone phenomena is the targeting of children. Ads more and more serve to make children and parents think their child needs a cell phone in order to fit in, stay safe, or feel loved. My husband and I observed a boy of approx 10 years old riding his bicycle while talking on his cell phone. Phone use in my area's schools has gotten so disruptive that they have been completely banned from school grounds. What possible use does a 9 year old have for a cell phone? If it is truly a necessity, then how did all the previous generations ever manage without one? I must have been living in the dark ages! It makes me cringe to think that some families spend so little time together that they have to communicate with each other in this way, or not at all.

The term wireless itself gives us the illusion of freedom, when in fact it really represents social isolation of a most insidious kind. The opposite is often pointed to as a positive result of cell phones, but this is illusory. Far from making us more connected, they make it easier to avoid others and allow communications only among a small circle of friends and family. Everyone may have a phone, but they aren't all in on some great party line. Not so many years ago I can recall having the most pleasant and spontaneous conversations with total strangers in grocery stores, department stores and other areas of commerce. Far from being undesirable, these interactions were socialization in its most basic form, bringing us together as members of a shared culture. Now I feel cut off from my fellow man. I approach someone only to find they are talking on their phone, oblivious to my existence. They are separate, connected only audibly to the person at the other end of their meaningless conversation (I say meaningless because, lets face it, what other sorts of conversations are you going to be able to participate in while driving, shopping, etc.?)

More and more advertisers cater to our desire to be free because they sense rightly that we are not, but this illusion of freedom they sell comes at a dear price. We trade our privacy, our silent moments, our chance encounters, the potential for happenstance and adventure for a small device that allows us limited contacts (our "favorite five" or "friends & family" etc.) limited stimulation, and ultimately limited experiences. Wireless mind; what a sad existence.

Foreclosure: Heaven or a Path to Hell?

2007-07-25T08:53:00.002-05:00

My husband and I have found some houses we could afford and I've been pre-qualified for a loan with my bank. The thing is, we can only afford them because they are foreclosures. This could be great for us because we are currently on a limited income, and the payments wouldn't be much more than what we are paying now in rent. The thing that bothers me is we would be capitalizing on another family's misfortune. I think it is a shame that poor people must take advantage of other poor people to get ahead. Perhaps I am misguided in thinking this, but It has been eating at me.

On the one hand, its true the houses have already been foreclosed and the people already forced to move, so its not like I was the one displacing a family with four children (as one of the houses once housed), but somehow I am uncomfortable with this rationalization. If everyone simply refused to purchase foreclosed homes, obviously it would not be in the bank's interest to foreclose. Perhaps they could find alternative means of securing the loan payment, like allowing the family a break in payments until their situation improves. The bank would still get their money, the family wouldn't loose their home, and the bank wouldn't have to go to all the trouble of selling the house. But of course, in this scenario, my husband and I could not afford to buy our own home. How thick a web we are woven into.

Am I violating my ethics in this venture, or simply taking advantage of a good deal? This is the question I keep rolling round in my mind. I can't help the people, and If I don't buy their house, someone else surely will. The damage is done. I've decided to go for the houses I can afford. What else can I do?

The Trailer Park Nazzi

2007-07-19T09:14:00.001-05:00

Hopefully most of those reading this blog will have been lucky enough not to have lived in a trailer park. If however you are unlucky like myself, you will understand when I say that most trailer park owners are horrible! They go to extremes to try and keep their park from looking like a trailer park, which is impossible and ridiculous.

The worst thing about it is the park owners rarely if ever live in the park themselves, so the rules they impose for the good of everyone are not based on the actual wants and needs of the people living in the park. The park I live in was recently sold to a new owner, who just issued new agreements for everyone to sign. The new rules include:

1. No major car repairs in the park. ???
2. Only two cars per lot. If you want a third vehicle you have to pay extra rent.
3. People visiting park residents for more than three days must be registered with the landlord and visits over a week must be approved and additional rent must be paid.
4. If the landlord deems your outbuilding to be unsightly, she can have it hauled away and charge you for the removal.
5. All trailers must be insured.
6. No motorcycles or three/four wheelers are allowed in the park. (those who already own them must get rid of them)
7. No outside pets (including cats) and all pets must be registered with the landlord. (I currently have three indoor/outdoor cats that have never caused any neighbor to complain.)
8. No accumulation of junk on the premises (this is in itself not a bad rule, but my lot happens to have a heap of scrap wood on it left over from the previous tenant that I must now remove).
9. Starting in January 2008 there will be a raise in rent due to "excess water usage". No swimming pools allowed anymore, and select trailers found to be using more water than typical must pay extra rent.

My husband and I are looking into finding a house in light of these new rules. The problem is we have no money and little coming in. We looked at a house we could afford yesterday, but it was 107 years old and barely standing. We decided to look elsewhere. Who knows, maybe something will turn up. This could be a positive impetus to something better. The problem is we aren't sure if we could afford to get anything right now. Wish us luck.

Cult Classic: An American Childhood

2007-07-08T20:16:00.000-05:00

I grew up in a cult. Not many people who know me know that. Its not something that people sit around and guess about you (i.e. "You know, Martha is kind of strange, I bet she grew up in a cult...")

It wasn't the worst cult, but they all have certain things in common. We didn't live in a commune or anything, but we were discouraged from having friends who weren't part of the group, couldn't do anything on the Sabbath (Friday's sunset to Saturday's Sunset) except eat, watch the news on TV (for signs of the end time) and go to church. I had to have my SAT specially scheduled on a weekday, couldn't participate in any school sports, and had few friends (my entire childhood, I had a friend over only once). When I was really young, they didn't allow interracial marriage but they loosened their grip over this one over time as they realized how stupid it was. Women couldn't wear makeup until I was in my teens, and then it was supposed to be very conservative (whatever that means). We also couldn't eat pork, or any mammal that didn't chew its cud and have cloven hooves, shell fish or any fish without fins and scales, any song birds, etc. (and yes, this is in the bible).

Most of these things I didn't really mind. I disliked the kids at school for the most part, hated makeup, wasn't interested in dating, and wasn't really into sports (though I did play on the Church teams in Volleyball, Basketball, and Softball). I was racially mixed, as are both my parents, so that rule didn't apply to me. They said I was so mixed I could marry anyone I wanted. At least there was one thing I didn't have to worry about!

I stopped believing in the Church's teachings long before I stopped believing in god, and I stopped believing in both of them before I left "the Church". When you grow up in a thing, it can be surprisingly easy to leave it all behind. I had always had questions about things, but being a child you tend to believe the things your parents tell you. I think it was my interest in ancient Egypt that really fueled my distention. Realizing that there were other belief systems radically different from my own made me look at mine from another perspective. Looked at objectively, mine made no more sense than the belief that Ra traveled the sky every day in his great golden chariot. One day I realized I didn't believe any of it. I felt a great weight had been lifted from me, and at the same time, I also felt really bad for all the things I'd done that God had supposedly forgiven me for. I suddenly realized they were not absolved. I was responsible for them all.

I was plagued with guilt for a while over these things, then I realized the true meaning of sin (which literally means "to miss the mark"). It did no good to feel guilty about things I couldn't change. I could use them to shape my character and actions in the future. Contrary to what many Christians believe, truly ethical behavior doesn't come from fear of punishment. Ethical behavior only comes from ethical intent, and this comes only from a free mind.

You might think I was severely scarred by my childhood, but I have come to be glad of the way I grew up because it is the reason I have become the person I am. It has given me views from many sides not everyone experiences. It has also created in me a very strong sense of skepticism and critical thinking that has served me very well.

I often wonder who I might have become or what I might have believed had I grown up differently, but I don't dwell on it too much. Its pointless really, and besides, I like who and what I am. I bring this all up because it is my story, and some of my writings are best understood when the reader knows certain things about me. If I talk about Christianity, its because I know its dark side. Everything is important.

A Job Well Done

2007-06-27T08:28:00.000-05:00

Your life is composed of all. You live at work, at play, at study, at labor. I think everyone knows this, but they don't seem to count their work as their life, especially if they dislike their job. Few people seem to take personal pride in their work anymore, and the meaning of a job well done is lost to them. Most people have to work most of the time in order to "make a living". If they aren't being themselves or giving it their all, what are they doing with their life? Slacking? I personally don't slack for a living, but my dedication to my work is of course completely selfish in origin. I simply cannot slack off no matter how horrible the conditions. To do so would be to spend the bulk of my life merely getting by, never trying, never improving myself. What a horrible life.

I'm not a Christian, but I love the bible passage that states "Money is the root of all evil", which is for the most part something I agree with. Money changes people's perceptions of others, it controls our relations with others, and too often it controls what we do with our minds. It is an ever-present thorn in society, and too many of our social interactions are based on the exchange, earning or distribution of money. Imagine how our associations would change if money was no longer a factor! How many of the people you know or associate with in any capacity would remain in your life if money didn't exist? How isolated would you suddenly become if you had no money? What sort of associations would survive?

It is difficult to free yourself from the grip of money if you are not among the few in this country who are wealthy, but you can. This doesn't mean you won't make money, its just that you won't let money control your decisions or your life. Instead of seeing people in terms of how close or far they will take you toward your monetary goals, try thinking outside the box and see them for themselves. It takes practice, but it can be done. Until you think about it, you may not realize how great a role money plays in your social interactions. Ponder it for awhile and you will be amazed.

Voluntary simplicity is a movement that has been steadily gaining in popularity. It has lead to things like job sharing and people opting for less than the typical 40-hour work week in exchange for more time at home. I think over time this will become more typical than atypical. People can only take so much. If working less isn't an option for you, try making the most out of your job. Work can be a great catalyst for personal growth (as most unpleasant events are). Don't waste the opportunity for the little kindnesses you can do, the moments you can shine, or the unsurmountable obstacles that you can overcome. Opportunities for these are abundant in the work place. If the lack of monetary gain is making you miss these opportunities because of lack of insight, then you are missing much more than a few dollars an hour. You are missing out on your life. Make your life a job well done.

The Last Straw

2007-06-04T21:08:00.000-05:00

It seems to me that people are discontent. Even those who are affluent are not happy. How long can a society survive that structures itself so that the majority of its people live indebted, unhealthy, miserable, and/or desperate lives? How long will the majority allow themselves to be crushed by a few at the top of the food chain? How long will people wait for their big opportunity to come along? How long will it take for people to realize that the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of a freight train?

In a Perfect World...

2007-04-25T08:38:00.000-05:00

It has occurred to me that many visiting my site may have a fallacious or incomplete idea of what an Anarchist believes, and though my posts will naturally express anarchistic opinions due to my political beliefs, they may not paint a complete picture of Anarchy.

"In a perfect world!", is what we say when someone makes a comment or suggestion indicating something that would be nice, but would never happen in this life. Its a cop-out really, because it signifies our unwillingness or inability to make the positive change necessary to accomplish the reality of this "perfect world" we all seem to hold in our minds as an ideal state of things. What a waste of a good idea! I've found that is is most often the things we think we will never have that never find their way into our grasp. It is the power of our imagination that most characterizes human action from the actions of other animals. We can imagine other ways of being, doing and seeing. We are not limited to pure instinct and reason. We can imagine alternatives based on the way we see the world as it is.

For many, the perfect world is simply the opposite of the one we live in. Many are miserable and sense that something is inherently wrong about our society but they can't quite put their finger on the source of their misery or come up with coherent ideas for how to fix the problems they do see. This is because Capitalistic Democracy is the ruling worldview at the moment, and this is in direct opposition of our basic human need and instinct to live freely and think for ourselves, and it is built upon the principle that an elite few are somehow more deserving and entitled to the bulk of resources at the expense and demise of the rest. Contrary to popular belief, Democratic societies are not inherently free. They simply provide the illusion of freedom for the group, while simultaneously severely limiting the freedom of the majority of individuals within that group.

Anarchy is a political ideology which considers all forms of authority, hierarchy and capitalism to be both unnecessary and harmful in human societies. Anarchy is a form of Socialism, and is often referred to as Libertarian Socialism. It is completely opposed to State Socialism, which is in essence simply another form of Capitalism, and retains an authoritarian, hierarchical structure. Because we (Americans anyway) live in a Democracy, Anarchy has been misinterpreted to imply pure chaos. (NOTE: To people living under other forms of government, Democracy has also been equated with utter chaos and viewed in much the same way Anarchy is in this country.) Anarchists believe that humans are most happy when they live in a purely free state, and interact in a system of voluntary associations rather than coercive & exploiting associations. This philosophy of individual freedom and voluntary associations is the only political ideology which not only supports but also depends on the inherent human need to be free, to think and act for themselves, and to live among other humans in a society.

People of other political affiliations like to attempt to discredit Anarchy by pointing out that when governments are overthrown, another government always rises to take its place. They use this example in an attempt to prove that people naturally need hierarchy and authority, but this argument doesn't hold up under closer scrutiny. Naturally, any society made up of people who believe they need authority figures will have authority figures. An Anarchistic society would have to be made of Anarchists. Anarchy doesn't advocate or condone the militant takeover of governments. An Anarchy would have to be formed slowly by the people as they came to the understanding and knowledge that they no longer needed a government and refused their participation in it and subjugation to it.

Some also may argue that most people are not capable of self-restraint unless an outside force compels them to act in harmony with their fellow man. Anarchists disagree. It is easy to trace the problems that plague civilization including crime and poverty to the presence of authoritarian and hierarchical governments. If you look at examples of societies that were/are more egalitarian, with no rigid compelling enforcement of laws or traditions, you will find happy people who lived/live in relative harmony with each other. Anarchists do not believe that humans will never have disagreements or problems, but they feel these are best dealt with by free people who must rely on themselves or neutral third parties to solve them. When governments are present, people loose their ability and freedom to interact as free men & women. The law becomes a crutch, and sometimes a means to strip others of their property, their rights, their freedom, and their usefulness to society.

I'm sure many people have had moments when they (whether they knew it or not) acted as a free person, capable of making their own decisions when it came to their interactions with others rather than doing what the law would compel them to do. For example, this is something that actually happened to me a number of years ago. I was driving home from work when a teenage girl's car ran out of gas as she was waiting to back out of her driveway. She lost control of the car and it rolled out into the road in front of me and I hit the bumper. The girl didn't have a license, looked to be about 14 years old, and she wasn't even supposed to be driving the car. Kids will do stupid things from time to time. She obviously wasn't going to be able to go anywhere with no gas, and she had a dent to explain to her parents. There was only a minor dent, busted light and some scratches on my car. I thought about all the stupid things I've done in my life and I took pity on the poor girl who was crying hysterically. She couldn't believe I didn't call the cops, and the neighbors who were witnesses nodded their heads and went back inside after helping the girl push the car back into the driveway. They didn't call the cops either. The girl offered me the money she had been saving to buy her own car, but I declined. Instead I told her to be more careful and drove home. I had a good feeling, and despite everything else that happened that day I felt wonderful. Its nice to take charge of your own life and actions. I suspect everyone has had something similar to relate to sometime in their life, either as the active party or the one forgiven. We so often have little or no control over many of the things in our lives, it feels really great when we can do something off the grid. The light cost me $35 to replace. The look on her face when I told her I wouldn't call the cops was priceless, and who knows how that one kindness shown to her might have influenced her life in other ways. We don't often know how much our actions or in-actions influence those around us.

Some might argue that without the law's interference in the above scenario, the girl didn't really learn her lesson and she might have done it again. I disagree. I think she probably counted her lucky stars and never drove again until she was licensed. I recently was lost in thought and didn't notice the flashing lights as I drove through a school zone at 40 mph right past a cop. He pulled me over and was very harsh and I was sure he would give me a ticket, but he didn't. Just when I thought it was coming, he told me to be more careful and let me drive away. I was shocked, but there hasn't been a day since that I haven't driven through there more carefully. Had he given me the ticket, I would have lost all thought about becoming a more observant driver and thought instead about how I was going to pay my bills and a $100 ticket. In my youth, I did get a few tickets, but they didn't make me want to drive more safely. They made me angry. I felt abused and I felt that in each case that it was not my fault and the ticket was unjust. Only age and understanding have tempered my driving. The tickets had nothing to do with it.

If you have a society in which people only behave in a decent way because they fear punishment, then they haven't learned anything about how to get along with other people or why acting decently towards one another is beneficial to everyone. In our current system of government, there will always be those who want to use the law to take advantage of others, and those who will break the laws if they think it is the only way for them to break free of the intolerable situation they find themselves in. People will always find a way to break free of any bonds placed upon them, or become lost to them.

My hope is that those reading this and my other posts will pause and think about things from a different perspective. Instead of dismissing Anarchy as impractical, or something that would only work "In a perfect world", try coming up with arguments against the ideas it champions. If you think most people are too stupid to think for themselves, ask yourself why you think that and if the ignorant people you are thinking of might have turned out differently if they had grown up in an Anarchistic society. There are no easy answers to anything, least of all how to make people happy, but you can start by asking the right questions. Do you believe everyone should be free? Do you believe that people should have the right to exploit others for their own material gain? Do you believe that some people should be able to own property while others pay them for the privilege of living on it? Do you believe that everyone should be able to use the land to produce food, build a home, or make a living? Do you believe that people are inherently good, bad or both? Think about these things, and your own life experiences. What would you change if you could? What would "A perfect world" look like?

Simple Pleasures

2007-03-21T22:00:00.000-05:00

Life doesn't have to be as complicated as commercials would have you believe. One can live outside the hustle and bustle, but one must simplify their perceived needs in order to do so. In my previous post "Scab Miners of the World Unite!" I painted a grim picture that has become the reality for way too many of us, but there is an alternative. You can free yourself but you have to trade luxury for the privilege. If you are in debt, you can get out if you stop getting deeper into debt. Spend less than you earn and one day you will be free.

I say you must reduce your spending and this is rather easy to do. The key is to discover what it is that you actually use out of all the things you have and keep them, then sell all that remains. You can use this money to help get out of debt, or put it back for a rainy day. Then anytime you find yourself tempted to purchase a new thing, it must pass a simple test. Simply ask and answer honestly the following questions: Do I need this to live? Will purchasing this thing take me closer to my goals or further from them? Is this thing a replacement for something that really needs to be replaced? and the final question, Will I be glad I purchased this in the long run or will it become clutter? These will hopefully help you weed out the items that just gunk up your life, and help keep you from incurring new debt.

So what do you really need? Food, clothing, shelter and transportation along with a few accessories that make these usable to you. The thing is most people think that they need the most expensive forms of these basic needs. Anyone with a backyard can grow most of their own food. A 30 foot by 30 foot sized garden can feed two vegetarians all year. Clothing can be purchased second hand at a bargain without sacrificing quality or quantity if you feel the need to have a lot of them. Shelter is the big one. This is where the bulk of your money will likely go, so deciding exactly what you want and need is essential here. If you have eliminated all the clutter in your life, you won't need as large a house to hold your essentials. You may even decide that being transitory suits you best and go for the home on wheels (RV). This could save you a bundle and allow you to live almost anywhere you want. You could rent, which can sometimes be a cheaper way to go in the long run. Besides, just because you own your home doesn't mean you will not be forced to move if the government decides a new strip mall is in the best interest of the rest of your community. Transportation can be your own two legs if you ingest healthy food. This can save you a bundle in gym membership fees too. Cycling can work for those who must travel farther. You could also use a motor scooter. This will save gas. The free life is not only good for you, its also good for your environment.

So what will you do with all the time you would have been working to pay for all the stuff you had no time to use? Expand your mind! Reflect on your life and its meaning! Raise your children! Take long reflective walks! Sit and do nothing for an hour every day! Make every day a vacation! Just be! Live and let live! The list is never ending. Never think for one second that you are miserable for no reason. You can choose to be free.

Scab Miners of the World Unite!

2007-03-20T21:38:00.000-05:00

My Grandfather worked in the "scab mines" when my mother was a child. They called them that because they weren't tall enough to stand in, so the miners crawled in on their hands and knees and worked hunched over all day for a dollar or two. These mines were not unionized. The mining companies owned their workers. They didn't earn enough money to pay the rent on their shanties and feed their families too, so the companies issued them credit at the company store. The old song with the lyrics "St. Peter don't you call me cause I can't go, I owe my soul to the company store!" was referring to this state of things in the mining camps. The miners could never save enough to pay off their debt, so they had to stay in the mines. This was simply slavery in a poor disguise. If this situation sounds frighteningly familiar, its probably because things haven't changed all that much.

I don't literally have to crawl on my hands and knees into a dark hole everyday to earn my pittance, nor am I in perpetual debt to my employer, but I say things haven't changed much because they haven't in their essence. Almost nobody can afford to purchase a home without going into serious debt for 20 to 30 years; more if they have to take on a second mortgage to pay off credit card debt or medical bills. Almost nobody can afford to go into the hospital with a illness or injury, even if they are lucky enough to have insurance. Almost nobody can afford to buy an automobile without going into serious debt for 10 years or more. Almost nowhere in America can one do without an automobile due to poorly funded, inadequate or completely absent public transportation services. Almost nobody can afford to go to college without acquiring a huge debt, even if they get some scholarships and grants.

If you want to live somewhere besides the street, you have to get a good job. Then you have to get a car to get to the job and you have to have pretty good pay because now you owe for the house and the car to get to the job that pays for the house and the car. But lets not forget your student loans that you incurred while studying for the degree that you had to have to get the job that would give you enough money for the house and the car that you need to get to the job so you can pay for your education and your house and your car. But wait! You've forgotten about the job without benefits you took while in school to pay for your daily pizza, that gave you food poisoning which cost you $10,000 in treatment from the local hospital that of course wasn't covered by your non-existent benefits package. Then there is the credit card debt you amassed slowly over time when emergencies came up, your parents couldn't bail you out of a jam, or you just were young and stupidly spending without thinking of the consequences. Now you are older and stuck with a huge amount of money to pay each month. You had better get an awesome job! But wait! The idea for that perfect job wasn't yours alone! Turns out there are only so many jobs out there that pay enough to get you out of this jam and everyone else in school was going for the same ones. Looks like its Wally World management for you, just until you can find something better of course.

This is the cinch, you have to find something better. You can't get out of the mess. You are a slave, plain and simple. The only freedom you have is limited choice as to who your master will be, but you still must have one. There is another way out, but it requires you to take advantage of the other slaves around you. You must step on their heads to get up the ladder of success, in one way or another. To become one of the masters, you have to take on a few slaves of your own. St. Peter don't you call me cause I can't go! I owe my soul to Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, the bank, the hospital, the car dealership...! There are no free states to run to nowadays. The masters are everywhere.

Maybe its time for the scab miners of the world to unite...

I'm Poor but I Don't Shop at Wal-Mart

2007-02-26T10:29:00.000-05:00

It all began one weekend when I was about 8 years old. I was looking through a knife catalogue, trying to find a cool knife that I could afford on my allowance when I noticed that there were many inexpensive knives well within my budget that were identical to more expensive ones. I excitedly showed my father some of the knives I was interested in and I asked him why they were so much less expensive than some of the others that looked the same. He told me it was because the cheaper ones were made in Pakistan, and the expensive ones were made in the USA. He then added that he didn't buy Pakistani-made knives. I asked him if they were not as good quality, and he said he figured they were fine, he just didn't buy them because they were made by slave labor, and that was why they were so inexpensive. I was shocked. I didn't know then that such things still existed in the world. I was determined not to purchase Pakistani knives either. It was frustrating for me on my small allowance, but I stuck with my decision.

That experience was one of the many events that made me begin to question my world, and to question things that seemed a good deal to find out who was getting the short end of the stick. Looking back, I really marvel at my dad. He didn't volunteer the information to me, I had to ask to get it. Despite his personal beliefs, he didn't forbid me to spend my allowance on a product he boycotted. He let me explore and decide for myself. Instead of creating a drone in his image, he created a person dedicated to finding the truth and acting on it of their own accord. My dad had unwittingly released a free-thinker into the world.

I reminded him of this incident recently while I was explaining to him the evils of Wal-Mart and why I didn't shop there. I think he was getting tired of my raving and insisted that he didn't shop there very often. I came back with the logic that if he didn't shop there often, wouldn't it be easy to simply stop altogether? I finally got off my soapbox and in the silence that followed I told him that it was his fault that I hated Wal-Mart. He didn't even remember the knife incident, yet it was coming back to haunt him in full force. (One should never underestimate the effects that their actions, beliefs, or answers will have on the mind of a child. This one turned out positive {in my opinion}, but it is just as easy to have a negative impact without even realizing it.) I couldn't believe that his boycott of Pakistani goods was where his social activism ended. I guess it is easier to avoid one country's products than to avoid ground beef at $.99 per pound, or that super sized whatever that's just too good to pass up. It must be harder to believe in the evils of the world when you are on a retirement income.

I admit, I used to shop at Wal-Mart. When I was in college, it seemed the ideal place to get everything I needed in one swoop, and at a bargain price. Then I became co-worker to a girl who also worked at Wal-Mart part time. She shared with me the insidious methods the management used to try and get employees to quit who were vocal about their displeasure with their pay and hours. I had another friend who I had known in passing since high school who started working there and also hated it. My dislike of Wal-Mart began to increase, but being the critical thinker that I am, I didn't want to simply take their word for it, so I began to do some research. I found that their ill treatment of employees was well known, and that they had been involved in numerous lawsuits instigated by former and current employees alike for sexual discrimination and general unfair practices. At the time, I was naive, and I thought though they were a bad company, their employees could always leave or fight the injustice. I cringe at my stupidity now, but I think it is a common mistake. I continued to shop at Wal-Mart for a few more years.

Then a couple of years ago I began to hear more bad things on the news about Wal-Mart, and I did some more research. I found that not only are they bad for their employees, but their low wages and benefits lowered wages across the board. Areas that have Wal-Marts tend to have low wage jobs with little or no benefits as the norm. Wal-Mart often gets huge tax breaks in exchange for supposedly creating new jobs when they move into an area, but often just as many jobs are lost when companies that can't compete are forced to shut down. Small businesses, a great potential source of tax revenues, are decreased and sometimes eliminated entirely. They also get their super cheap goods due to child labor and slave wage factories overseas. They are sellers of Pakistani as well as other foreign made goods. Hardly anything they sell is made in the U.S.A. and yet they flout about how all-American they are. I can't exactly remember the moment I resolved to boycott Wal-Mart for good, but it was enlightening. I felt a great weight had been lifted from me. I was no longer contributing to the monster's growth.

After I stopped shopping there, I found that I actually began to spend less money than I had before on things like food and household items. I realized this was because Wal-Mart was designed to lure you in and entice you to buy one gadget after another that you didn't go there for in the first place rather than the few items you needed. It hasn't been all roses. More and more I find that there is something I want that you can't find anywhere else, but I learn to live without it. The more I shop elsewhere, the more I support the few independent stores left and diversity in the marketplace, which lends itself to better prices and employment opportunities in my area. I also reduce waste of all sorts by purchasing most of my clothing items (except for underwear and socks) second hand at places like the Salvation Army, Goodwill and other area thrift stores that are privately owned. If you think Wal-Mart is cheap, check out your local thrift stores. I regularly find like-new or nearly new clothes in name brands and of very good quality; much better quality than I would find at Wally world.

It seems to me a great shame that something that started as a small family enterprise dedicated to keeping prices low for consumers could have become such a wasteful, hurtful, and enslaving monster. I think if more people would think about their choices and searched for alternatives they would find better deals elsewhere, as I have. The government isn't going to step in and stop big businesses like Wal-Mart. They profit too much from special interests to take interest in doing something good for the country's people. It is a consumer world, and as consumers our choices decide who rules. Voting is great and I encourage it, but if you really want to make a difference, all you have to do is spend your money wisely.

**If you would like more information about Wal-Mart's business practices and how they are affecting our over all economy, I recommend the book The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works and how it's Transforming the American Economy by Charles Fishman. You can also click the Wal-Mart Watch icon in my left hand column to go to a really neat website dedicated to fighting Wal-Mart.**

The Prisoner Who Ran For President

2007-02-22T12:23:00.000-05:00

Eugene Victor Debs was the first and only man to ever run for president of the United States while in prison. With the help of supporters, he successfully ran a campaign for president as the Socialist party candidate against Harding in 1920. Not only did he run, he got nearly a million votes, 6% of the votes cast in the election. (3) Though president Wilson had refused numerous times, Harding issued a presidential pardon for Debs in 1921 and invited him to the White House for Christmas dinner. After his release, Debs returned to his home in Indiana, and died in 1926 at the age of 70. (1, p.178)

Debs was not only a member of the Socialist party, but also a railroad union organizer. He was in prison because he had delivered a speech in 1918 speaking out against the U.S.'s involvement in World War 1. Speaking to a group of railroad workers in Ohio, he had presented the idea that the war had nothing to do with them and that the poor should not be compelled by the wealthy to fight wars that are in no way representative of the real needs or protection of the people. He said, "You need at this time especially to know that you are fit for something better than slavery and cannon fodder."(1, p.178)

For this he was found guilty of violating the Espionage Act, which made it illegal to interfere with military recruitment. His sentence was 10 years, and this was upheld by a unanimous vote by the Supreme Court.(2, p.294) While in prison, he was a great help to his inmates, whom he counseled. He quickly earned the respect of both prisoners and guards. (1, p.178) He also wrote a book about his experiences in prison in which he discussed the shortcomings of incarceration and how the prison system not only did not rehabilitate prisoners, but often taught them to be better criminals.

I find the fact that I never heard about Eugene Debs in high school or college disturbing, but not at all surprising. I think it is a shame that children often have little interest in history, but I feel it is largely due to the fact that the version they are taught is so whitewashed and disconnected from their reality that it turns them off. If children were taught about the dynamic and rebellious personalities of people like Debs, I think they would see more relation between themselves and their history, and thus would take more interest. I don't think our society really wants to raise generations of rebels dedicated to social justice. How could our system survive generations of such people? I don't think it could. It almost makes you want to become a teacher, doesn't it?

I used the sources below for the dates and quotes above, and I highly recommend you find them and read them:

1. Evans, Harold. The American Century. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000, p.178

2. Zinn, Howard. Voices of a People's History of the United States. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2004, pp. 294, 295, 296, 297, 298.

3. Eugene V. Debs foundation website: eugenevdebs.com

A Small Death

2007-02-21T20:46:00.000-05:00

I had to euthanize one of my goldfish today. He was a beautiful calico colored Ryukin, and one of two goldfish I keep in my room in a large aquarium. I could have easily used the space for something else, like storage or bookshelves, but I wanted living things in my room that were beautiful. I like feeding them and taking care of their water changes etc. It is a small price to pay for their presence, and they make great models for my watercolor paintings. I was saddened that Ronin had to be put down, but he had swim bladder disease and was beginning to have difficulty eating. I wanted him to die peacefully, not slowly starve to death while helplessly floating upside down. After he was put to rest, I wrapped him in a little shroud and buried him in the backyard.

Ronin's life was a small one. All he knew was that he would be fed everyday, and that Ting Ting, his companion, would eat everything if he didn't get to the food fast enough. He would follow my fingers in anticipation when feeding time came, and often would flick the surface of the water to let me know he was happy to see me. It made me happy to see him happy, and I looked forward to feeding him. It is amazing how attached we get to little creatures like Ronin. He had a distinctive personality, and a fishy intelligence that was surprising and sometimes impressive.

Ronin's death has made me stop and reflect on a number of things. I thought perhaps Ting Ting would miss his friend, but he seems unaffected by Ronin's mysterious absence. It seems that I am the only one who misses him. Ting Ting just thinks that now there is more room and food for him. Humans have the capacity to miss their friends because they have intrinsic value to us and they add the important element of companionship to our lives. Humans don't think, "Too bad about Joe, but that's more oxygen for me and an extra piece of pizza on game night!" Ting Ting reminds me of what it really means to be human, and how horrible it is when people choose instead to be like fish.

I sometimes work at an animal hospital, so I have seen many pets euthanized. It is always a hard decision, especially when the pet is treatable but the owners can't afford that option. In Ronin's case, I had little choice. There are surgical procedures that may have relieved his condition, but I don't have the thousands of dollars it would have cost me to take him to a fish specialist to have it performed. I valued my little friend, but even if I had the money I wouldn't have done it. How could I in good conscience spend thousands of dollars to save my pet fish when there are thousands of people in this country who don't have medical care or proper food? In our great capacity to love, we humans sometimes fall way short of the mark. I try to keep my priorities straight. Don't get me wrong, I feel one should take care of their pets, but there are extremes in everything. Its like someone dying of starvation rather than eating their pet goat. What good does it do, really?

Tomorrow I will find Ting Ting a new friend. I'm sure that he would be happy to stay by himself in the large tank, but I somehow think his life would be more full if he had a companion of his own kind to share his meals and space with. Perhaps I am anthropomorphizing, but there are too many things that we just can't know for sure about them. If Ting Ting is incapable of appreciating companionship, then surely he is just as incapable of resenting it. It will do him no harm, and me some good.

Schizophrenia

2007-02-16T22:05:00.000-05:00

What is reality? Is it merely the ideas of things, customized by every individual brain? Is it a collective idea, generally understood by all with only slight variations of perspective? Do I exist because I think, as Descartes seemed to believe, or did the thinking come second? Questions about the nature of what is real have plagued mankind for centuries. Science has been no help. Thanks to science, we now know that everything we perceive as solid is in fact made up mostly of vast amounts of empty space. This begs the question; why does this vast emptiness seem so solid? Why do we trust our waking lives, and forget our dreaming selves? Are both sides of life merely a dream, and if so, who is dreaming it?

Questions such as these plague me from time to time, mostly when my credit card bills come due each month. I'm not exactly a normal person, as you have probably gathered if you have read any of my previous posts. I am a direct descendant of generations of madmen and women, and the possibility of my own insanity has occurred to me more than once. They say that madness often accompanies genius, and I have hoped to stay safely on the side of genius. So far, so good...

I realize that my mind has become a haven of sorts. In there I can be whatever I want. I don't have many friends outside of my mind, mostly acquaintances. I find it very hard to form deeply personal relationships with real people. I sometimes even have difficulties with the imaginary ones. I've never been diagnosed with a mental illness, but that is just because I have never been to see a psychologist. I'm sure they would come up with something to call me. It amuses me to think of it. Whatever label they would design for me I'm sure it would have "highly functioning" added to the beginning. That just means I don't mess myself, I pay my bills, and I shower regularly. Wow! I'm really awesome!

Interestingly enough, people often tell me that they think I'm the most sane person they know. Maybe that's because I've had to fight to hold onto reality so tightly that I seem to discern better than most what is real from what is not. Most people take their sanity for granted. I question mine frequently. I've learned to tell the real from the imaginary. I don't think that many so-called "sane" people can. They believe the craziest things; the American Dream, that money is real, security is attainable, that people who hate Americans are just jealous of them, that the right tires will prevent them from dying in a car crash and that George Bush was elected President twice. Where are the guys in white coats when you need them?

I think it is very revealing of a culture when their great writers and artists have been, for the most part, suffering from lead poisoning, mania, Schizophrenia, depression and/or substance abuse. Perhaps these maladies have their advantages. Perhaps when Isaac Newton wrote, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants", he wasn't being figurative. Maybe he was a little bit crazy. But if his Giants gave him an advantage, so what? Where do we draw the line between what is acceptable to believe in and what is not? It seems as long as you are producing works of art or greatly insightful and imaginative writings, your sanity isn't questioned, but woe unto you if you choose instead to do nothing, or to preach about your visions to everyone you meet.

So it is again time to pay my credit card bills and I realize that though they are, in fact, mostly made up of empty space and that the thing called "credit" isn't even a tangible thing, I feel I must pay them. Why? Because I am threatened by the other invisible thing called "Collections" and I fear the inevitable decrease in the other unknown but rumored thing called my "Credit Score" which would in turn prevent me from future use of my imagined "Credit". Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy? Perhaps if we all decided that credit card bills didn't exist, and we held to that belief firmly, never wavering, they would simply go away. But until we can convince everyone, I don't think it will work. Some things, it seems, cannot be imagined away.

This is Your Brain on Commercials...

2007-02-12T22:01:00.000-05:00

Commercials are everywhere. They jump at us from our email, from the radio, and then when you turn on the TV there they are again. Using tiny sound bites and video clips they program us to want things we don't really need, to spend more money than we have, to use or credit cards to the max, and that if we have the right one we don't have to worry about identity theft. But this is just the surface. Many other messages get mixed in along the way. If you are among the parents who believe there is too much violence, sex and bad language in TV shows, I would argue that the antisocial, capitalistic, and egotistical messages infiltrating your kids minds when they watch commercials are even worse. Allow me to elaborate...

Unlike adults who can watch commercials and get the joke of some of these messages, children take them as examples of how to live and who to be. One commercial comes to mind in particular in this regard. I haven't seen it in a while, but it was a department store commercial depicting a woman who had just moved into a new neighborhood. One by one her new neighbors brought her homemade food and cookies as housewarming gifts, all of which were taken with a snobby disgust by the woman. Then a third neighbor comes by. Instead of offering a home-baked token of welcome, she gives the woman information on a great sale at the department store running the ad. Most people would probably not give the ad a second thought, but I was appalled when I first saw it. The main message your kids will pick up on: the only people who matter are the ones you shop with or who tell you where to spend your money. The nice neighbors who took the time to greet their new neighbor with warmth and who took the time to bake her cookies etc. are worthless to the woman. Only the neighbor who tells her where to spend money is welcomed with open arms. The ultimate moral seems to be "It is better to spend money than to make meaningful human connections." If you think your kids don't get the message, think again.

This is just one example among hundreds like it. There is a new commercial still running in which a girl receives a singing telegram from her boyfriend who dumps her because she is not in his cell phone network and therefore it costs him too much to call her. The girl is visibly shocked and hurt, but the messenger is completely indifferent to her feelings and the commercials main message seems to be: if you don't have the right phone with the right network, nobody will like you or call you because it will cost them too much. That's a really nice thing for children to think about isn't it? No matter how much they think they are loved, ultimately they just aren't worth the cost of a phone call.

The reason I bring this sort of thing up should be obvious. Unless you are with your child 24/7 and can counteract these messages they are bombarded with every day, they will be influenced by them. The costs of this conditioning are readily apparent. I am continuously shocked and horrified by the children I encounter nowadays. They seem to be a morally bereft generation dedicated exclusively to satisfying their every whim and are severely lacking qualities such as honesty, integrity, loyalty, humanity, and consideration for others. They are unhappy because they lack the ability to cultivate loving and supportive human relationships, and they have no idea what it is that they really are wanting. They go from toy to toy, gadget to gadget, never satisfied. What have we done to them? Perhaps the better question would be, what haven't we done to them? Have our children been raised by caring, nurturing parents or by anti-social and inhuman corporations? Our children will one day rule our world, they will be the ones taking care of you (or not) when you are old. This isn't something that parents alone should care about. Everyone will ultimately be affected by this generation gone wrong.

So what can you do? I would suggest the easiest option first, i.e. GET RID OF YOUR TV!! There will still be insidious things like commercial-filled Channel 1 that they have access to at school, but this would be a start. The best solution would of course be to take care of your children yourself. Instead of carting them off to day care or school, teach them at home. I guarantee that at the end of your life, you won't give a second thought to the promotion you declined or missed or the hectic career you gave up so that you could be with your children. I do believe that you will regret all the moments you missed with them. Parenting is a huge responsibility, and not to be taken lightly. I believe it should be mandatory for a parent to be with their child at least 50% of their waking hours. That seems reasonable, doesn't it? I'm sure your kids would think so. Think honestly about how much real influence you have on them in your current schedule, the ask yourself, "Who is their biggest influence?" The answer may be far more frightening than you ever thought possible.

Christians

2006-12-04T09:41:00.000-05:00

When I see someone make overtly Christian remarks it makes me cringe. Most of the time they are assuming that everyone else is a Christian too, and if not that somehow their example of blatant evangelism will make everyone want to be one. Despite their general lack of tact and overt hatred towards alternative ideas, when their own ideas are questioned or challenged they become very touchy. They seem to think that if you disagree with them, you are attacking them personally. I think it has to do with blind-faith, which by default involves very little scrutiny. When personal beliefs are not based on reason, you cannot reason with those who hold them. Its like trying to make water burn. It just won't work.

Before I continue my discussion, I think I should tell you a bit about my background. I am not a Christian now, but I was once. Even when I was one, I didn't like making it public knowledge. It wasn't that I was ashamed (I was just a kid), but I felt turned-off by people who tried to force their world views on me and I didn't want to do that to other people. I was not taught this, in fact we were supposed to spread the "good word" at every opportunity. I never prayed in school, even when the rest of the class did. Back at that time there was always a minister at the PTA meetings to say a group prayer but I never bowed my head. I hated those group prayers. I am all for complete separation of church and state. It simply has no place in a PTA meeting. If all present are Christians, then their every action should be in keeping with their faith, right? So why do they need to pray publicly? When Jesus was asked how one should pray he said to go into your closet. He was opposed to public prayer and the pomp associated with the synagogues of his day. He knew that it was all to easy to go through the motions for the sake of show but have no goodness in your heart. Time and time again he made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with that sort of worship, and yet there seems to be a collective amnesia in that area among his followers today.

I guess it is easier to be seen as faithful than to really keep the faith. I think of this when I see someone like the president proclaim their faith and then wage a war that Christ would have been diametrically opposed to. If war is truly (as many seem to believe) an inescapable certainty for the human race, then no Christian should ever run for president or join the military. The ones who do and profess to be followers of Jesus are living in hypocrisy. If Christians want to take everything literally, why not take this; "Love your enemy as yourself and do good to those who would use you and pray for those who curse you."?! If the president doesn't feel that he can stick to his beliefs while in office, then he shouldn't mention them at all. To do so is to naturally invite the assumption that he is using his faith to win votes and fuel a crusade. If Jesus were here now, he would ransack that temple for sure.

I say I am not a Christian, but that doesn't mean that I disagree with what Christ had to say. In fact I agree with him on many points. What I disagree with is the monster called Christianity, the institution of Christianity. I call it a monster because it has everything in common with that designation. It is selfish, manipulative, terrorizing, huge, conniving, threatening, imposing, overpowering, deceptive and many other horrible things. It is not tolerant, unconditionally loving, compassionate or giving, nor is it generous, healing, or any of the other things that Jesus was. Jesus was a remarkable person. He came from nothing and now his name will never be forgotten. He was likely heavily influenced by the Buddhist teachings that were spreading quickly in his part of the world when he was a child, and his blending of that tolerant philosophy with the Judaic traditions has truly changed the world, but surprisingly and unfortunately not for the better.

When I see people sporting "WWJD" (What Would Jesus Do?) wrist bands etc., I wonder if they just like the colors and the pretty lettering, if they just want everyone to think they are good people, or if they are following the fad and they really don't think about what it means it at all. I think the latter is probably the case. Imagine if Christians really followed the example and the guidelines Jesus left as his great legacy. They would give all they had to the poor, they would love their enemies as they loved themselves and would never dream of using the labor of others to secure huge profits for themselves at the laborer's expense. They would never wage war, nor murder, nor intentionally harm any person. They would turn the other cheek rather than seek revenge for wrongs done to them by others. They would not disassociate themselves from those who do not hold the same views or beliefs, but would embrace the whole of humanity.

Its not hard to imagine how much better the world would be if Christians were truly followers of Christ's example. This post is dedicated to those who are, and those who try their hardest to be. You are a shining remnant in an otherwise very dirty garment, and though I do not share your beliefs, I see nothing harmful about your original leader's basic philosophy of love, forgiveness and peace. If you are among the true followers you will undoubtedly understand my dismay with the institution of Christianity, and no doubt you have suffered due to the problems caused by the many who misuse, misunderstand and abuse the teachings you hold dear. You are likely a deeply feeling and thinking individual who wants to make the world a better place and I would hope to find mutual respect in your company.

A Beautiful Life

2006-10-28T23:55:00.000-05:00

My Grandfather recently passed away. My family asked me to write his Eulogy. If I had not, he wouldn't have had one, so I stayed up all night before the funeral and wrote it. I had planned to have someone else read it, but when I had finished I realized that I would have to be the one. So much of your lives cannot be written or told, but only felt and remembered by those we know and love. I owe this man my life, and I knew that this was finnaly a way I could give something back to him. It was the hardest thing I have ever done.

My Grandfather once told me his friends used to call him "Duck", but to me he was always Poppaw. I thought long and hard about what I should write about him. I thought at first that I should write only facts about his life instead of sharing my own memories. Then it occurred to me that that was impossible. Everyone who knew him has their own personal stories and memories of him, and they are all part of him. His story lives in everyone he knew and loved.

Poppaw was born on Christmas eve in 1918. He used to joke that he was his Mother's Christmas present. He played many different roles in many people's lives, but with everyone he was always completely honest. He always gave himself freely without holding anything back, including his opinions. If you gained weight, you didn't have to wonder if he noticed. When he loved you, he made sure you knew it. His honesty made it impossible for you to be anything but honest with him. He never hesitated to speak his mind about anything, and he could cut to the truth of a matter as easy as a hot knife through butter.

Poppaw had many talents, and he loved to share them. Despite his lack of formal education, he made great use of his mind. He could read the trees and plants in the woods like I read a book, and he remembered everything. He was a talented musician and could play any song he heard on his banjo. He had a gift for math and problem solving. He was a wiz at puzzles and "brain teaser" games and he loved to take one you had been trying to figure out for an hour and solve it within a minute or two. He always beat everyone when we would play cards, but he was always so happy when he won that you couldn't feel bad about loosing. I loved the way he challenged me and he never cheat and let me win to just make me feel good. He was too honest. He was proud of all his abilities and loved to show them off. He never hid his light. He shined on everyone.

Poppaw's life and religion were one and the same. He always lived exactly what he believed. If he changed his belief, he changed his life. He didn't wait untill it was convenient to make a change. If He thought it needed to be done he did it right then. I remember him telling me about when he was called to be baptized. It was in the winter, but he went right away to get the minister. It was so cold they had to break the ice in order to baptize him in the creek. His beliefs made him strong no matter what physical hardship he had to endure. His religion was one of peace, love, and unwavering devotion. His beliefs were pure and beautiful, and I never doubted his convictions or his absolute faith in their truth. He wasn't embarrassed by his faith, and freely shared his beliefs with everyone he met. He didn't feel he was better than anyone else, he just wanted them to feel the same peace and love that his faith gave him. I didn't always agree with his ideas, but I always listened to him. I knew that when he was preaching to me he was giving me a special piece of himself and it meant a great deal to him. When I agreed with him, I said so. When I didn't agree I knew better than to argue with him, but he could always tell even if I didn't say anything. He'd look at me with a grin and say, "You're young now, but one day you'll know I'm telling the truth. I wouldn't lie to you". I knew he never judged me, he only told me what he believed with all his heart would make me happy. That was all he wanted me to be.

Poppaw had a strong appreciation for everything he had and he took nothing for granted. He kept every gift he ever received, even the things he didn't have a use for. I never had to worry whether he would like a gift I gave him because I knew it was the thought that mattered and he would keep it forever regardless. I liked the way he always took pride in his appearance and dressed up whenever he left the house. I was always impressed with how he would dress up just to go to the grocery store. In the summer he would still wear a dress jacket and his hat, sometimes even to walk to the mail box. He was very proud of how he kept his affairs in order and didn't owe for what he had. He took great pride in ownership, but he never let his things own him. He was generous with others, but he was careful not to give in a way that would embarrass or hurt the pride of those to whom he gave. He always tried to do right by everyone.

I marvel at how much the world has changed within his lifetime, but I marvel even more at the legacy he has left in it. I look around at all the faces here today and realize that there isn't one person here who's life has not been affected by him in some way. He had a brilliant mind and a brilliant soul to match. I used to think that if given the opportunity for a better education, he would have gone far and done great things. I now realize that he did exactly that and much more. He was wise in ways that books can't teach, and he was rich in all the things that really matter. Generations will be born because he lived the life he did. I have learned from him that laughter, happiness, generosity, peace, and love in your life matters more than any material success you could ever achieve. In all the important things, he was a great success.

Poppaw told me once that when he died he would be at peace and in a better place. I don't think that place is somewhere far away. I believe he is everywhere around us and in the hearts and minds of all who knew him. While he was here he made the most of it. He said all he needed to say, did all he needed to do, loved with all his heart, and was loved in return. His was a perfect example of what it means to live a great life. He will be missed, but he will never be forgotten.

Is there Anybody Out there ?

2006-10-28T23:26:00.000-05:00

I must admit, I have been disapointed at the complete absence of comments on my posts. I have a handy counter that tells me people come and at least open my page, but I have no way of knowing if my posts have been read or appreciated because nobody has left a comment. Perhaps people doing searches are attracted to my blog's title, but are disapointed at the content and don't stay long enough to read anything. Or perhaps I've left everyone "typeless" with my eloquent musings; yes, that has to be it (LOL!).

Our human existence is absolutely interdependant. No matter how independent we feel we are, nothing really means anything unless we have the disaproval, aproval or comraderie of our fellow humans. So I'm asking those who do take the time to read my posts to please leave some comments, even if it is simply "hey dude, you are like so far out!" or "I fell asleep reading this". I'm asking the most revealing question that anyone could ask (and I quote from that classic 80's movie, The Day After);
"Is there anybody out there? Anybody at all?"

The Tyranny of Stupid People

2006-07-17T23:39:00.000-05:00

I hate euphemisms and I refuse to change my language in order to be more "politically correct". Semantic play of this sort is simply an ineffectual and ludicrous attempt at avoiding offense. You can't please all of the people all of the time. This is the first truth we learn as we "grow up", and yet so much energy is wasted trying to succeed in this futile quest every day. I don't have time to waste on such rubbish. The title of this post is truly intended as written and if you have taken offense that means you are part of my target audience, so please read on.

Stupid people are everywhere, and they are breeding at an incredible rate! If you haven't yet realized this, then you should seriously consider the possibility that you are one of them. This is not one of those situations where the saying "takes one to know one" holds true. This is because "Stupid" is used to describe someone who is unaware, ignorant, devoid of reason, simple-minded or otherwise mentally deficient in some important way. Therefore, most stupid people are happily unaware of their malady. Realization of ones own stupidity elevates you to a new level of awareness, thus freeing you from the lowly ranks of the truly stupid. It's a twisted little circle.

Stupid people themselves are oblivious to their condition, but unfortunately others are not. The stupid among us can be amusing, but most often they are the source of all the annoying, ridiculous and/or horrible things in modern life that make little or no sense. Things like the electoral college, illegal drug laws, dress codes, safety warning illustrations, "red tape", personal lawsuits, cigarette health labels, the minimum wage, fine print, the illegal status of Hemp, fast food ordered with diet soda, fatalistic religious cults, standardized tests, economic depression, war, urban legends, suicide bombing, Reality TV, traffic accidents, "freedom fries", horoscopes, condom instruction leaflets, the Department of Homeland Security etc., etc... all can be traced back to stupid people. The list is never ending, and worse, its growing bigger by the second!

Our entire way of life encourages, caters to and supports stupidity. I see people everyday who would not have survived long enough to procreate in a more primitive time when humans depended on their wits and their skill to survive. Evolution is not a steady progression of life towards ever higher forms. Evolutionary theory simply states that individuals which procreate in greater numbers than other individuals in a given group will change the genetic makeup of the whole group over time. A contrived form of evolution can be seen in the dog. Through selective breeding, the original canine ancestors have been manipulated into hundreds of true-breeding sub-types commonly referred to as breeds. This is how mutations such as curled tails, floppy ears, absence of tail, color varieties, and wrinkled skin have been isolated and encouraged until ultimately we have dog breeds which will always produce offspring with these traits as long as they are mated with another member of their breed. This is why the best breeders only breed using animals which have all the physical and mental traits that a member of their breed should have. If they consistently bred dogs that were "pure bred" without regard to their actual resemblance to that breed's standard of traits you will eventually end up with Labrador retrievers who weigh in at 100+ pounds (standard is 55 for males and 45-50 for females), aggressive bull mastiffs, German shepherds with hip displaisia, and 65 pound shelties. They may otherwise look like their breed, but they are not true representatives of the form that has been carefully created through careful selection for hundreds of years. In this respect, they are not true members of their breed. They are just dogs, and we already have way too many of them. This makes irresponsible breeding all the more horrific.

People are the same way. Smart people who breed generally produce smart kids. Stupid people who breed generally produce stupid kids, who in turn grow up to become stupid adults who produce more stupid kids. Unfortunately for the human race, intelligent people don't tend to produce nearly as many offspring as stupid people. There are many theories as to why this is the case, but I think it has several causes. Intelligent people tend to be more conscious of their impact on the world, and thus would be less likely to breed for irresponsible or ill-considered reasons. (see my article Children in my archives) Intelligent people may also be more skilled at avoiding pregnancy if desired due to their heightened comprehension of birth control methods and their use. Intelligent people are also less likely to respond to any procreative instincts they may have in favor of more pragmatic reasons not to have children, but the main reason may simply be the fact that stupid people greatly outnumber the smart, and thus smart people would have to have huge families in order to compensate for the enormous growth rate of stupid people.

In our modern world, everyone is presumed to be stupid until they prove otherwise. This is very practical considering that most people are stupid, but it makes life a great deal more difficult and cumbersome than it otherwise would be for intelligent people. Stupidity rules the day. It begins in elementary school, our first venture into social life. There we (intelligent people) encounter a group of children in various stages of intellectual development and ability. To ensure that "no child is left behind", we cannot start where we are and go from there. We must wait till everyone catches up with us before we can move on. We are made fun of by our classmates when we use words they don't understand. Our teachers counsel us to "talk down" to our classmates or to try and be more like the "normal kids" instead of reprimanding the bullies or teaching them the meaning of the words. This is frustrating, and leads to boredom, apathy, and all too often, low grades due to lack of effort or failure to complete assignments we feel to be meaningless. This natural rebellion is ineffectual, and only serves to hinder us further and many are turned off by formal education permanently.

Colleges lower their standards a little more every generation in order to stay in business because stupid people have decided they want the same opportunities that intelligent people used to have exclusively. Thus intelligent people who are not completely turned off in high school and choose to continue their education in college (thinking things will get better) will only find the same stupid people in their university classrooms. There we will be chastised for "breaking the curve" thus preventing our stupid fellows from excelling. We will not be challenged to grow beyond the level our stupid fellows are capable of. Then when we enter the workforce, thinking we are finally free to advance as far as we can, we will find that it is the stupid who are promoted by the stupid bosses to which our superior ideas and innovation seem far fetched or incomprehensible. Frustrated and misunderstood, we will jump from job to job looking for a place where we can thrive, but very few of us ever escape the tyranny of the stupid. We may ultimately go into business for ourselves, becoming artists, writers, business owners and innovators, but here too we will soon discover that strictly marketing to an intelligent audience/clientele is not very economical. Stupidity ultimately wins again.

So what can be done? Is there no hope for the human race? Here are a few ideas...

1. Encourage intelligent co-workers and friends to slip birth control pills into their stupid female co-workers' morning coffee. Encourage stupid males to use condoms by spreading the notion that they increase penis size if used properly over one's lifetime.

2. Write to your school board, your state and local government officials and your president (don't worry, he has a troop of people who read his mail for him so feel free to use big words and eloquent language to stress your point) about the need for young people to have instruction in the use of and access to birth control methods without parental consent in the schools. Humans are sexual creatures. They are going to have sex anyway so at least help them avoid making life-crippling mistakes when they do, and help avoid children having children who are forever impaired because their teenage mothers were drunk and/or high when they were pregnant with them. Our founding fathers were greedy, hypocritical wealthy men with royal privilege-envy, but they hit a good one when they separated church and state. Lets not return willingly to a medieval world where the religion of the rulers is imposed on the people to their demise.

3. Revive the popularity of mail-order spouses in rural areas to diversify the gene-pool. There are only so many times that cousins can marry before stupid becomes a true-breeding certainty, so lets give our isolated brethren a helping hand.

In conclusion, I'd like to emphasize that just because we are greatly outnumbered doesn't mean that intelligent people can't make a life for themselves. The key is to work together and fight the tyranny of the stupid. Good luck, my fellow brains. By the way, if you have taken my first and third suggestions seriously without giving them a lot of thought, you might be a stupid person. Read my first and second paragraphs again to be sure. (Ha!)

Post-Modern Menstruation Scandal: "PMS"

2006-06-20T07:29:00.000-05:00

I've previously harped about diapers, but feminine hygeine products fall into the same category when it comes to unnecessary waste. Think of all the women in the world who menstruate every month for 4-7 days and use disposable pads and/or tampons. Those women may also have the need and/or desire to use disposable pantiliners the week prior or after their menstruation, or every day of the month. The next time you go to the grocery store, pharmacy, department store, or all-in-one monstrosity of choice take note of the many disposable choices availiable in this isle. All those pads and tampons will very soon be purchased, unpackaged, used and then dumped in a great smelly heap somewhere closer to home than you might imagine. There they will languish for want of air and water. Denied both, they will break down slowly over many generations, out of the sight or thought of those who sent them there. Thankfully, there are realistic solutions to this problem.

The subject of feminine hygeine is not usually brought up when discussing landfill wastes (probably for fear of angering or offending women and/or companies who make money by convincing women to purchase their products). I'm going to tackle the subject becasue I think people can only make informed, conscientious descisions when they know all the choices avaliable to them. Women have existed for thousands of years, and since we are still an extant species we must assume that women have always mensturated. Where did women in the Dark Ages get their "overnight" protection? How did ancient Celtic women warriors fight without tampons? Why haven't we found ads on ancient Egyptian walls proclaiming how women can feel protected against leaks with "wings of Isis" super absorbent pads? How did they do it? Women in various cultures and time periods throughout the history of womankind have used a multitude of highly creative and inventive ways to dispose of, avoid or celebrate menstrual bleeding. Modern western culture perpetuates and fosters menstrual shame and has severely limited our thinking and our options.

Modern disposable pads are very recent in origin, and women got by without them for a very long time prior to their emergence in the U.S. in the 1920's. The early models were not well recieved. This was due to many factors, including difficulty advertizing these products to a populace that just wasn't ready to admit that women had vaginas let alone menstruation. Early menstural cups had the same problem with marketing, especially in the U.S. Due to this and other problems, disposable pads did not really begin to become popular until later in the century, which is also when disposable tampons were re-invented (placing absorbent materials inside the vagina to absorb menstrual flow is an ancient idea) and began to increase in popularity. Since that time, use of these products has become nearly a universally accepted norm, and a large contributor to landfill waste. In the U.S. (in 1998 alone) 7 billion tampons and 13 billion "sanitary" pads were dumped into our landfills. (This statistic came from the Diva Cup website) This is clearly not a sustainable option. Women have been using lots of different methods and materials to absorb, catch, or otherwise manage menstural blood for thousands of years, and yet in a few generations we have permanently damaged the earth (and our health) in our modern menses madness.

These new products came at a time when women were begining to stretch their wings and take advantage of opportunities completely denied to them in previous generations. Disposable menstrual products seemed to be a miriacle of the industrial age, further freeing them of former constraints. These women were not bombarded with images of landfills on their TV sets everyday. Their concerns were much closer to home. Today many women are begining to re-think their eager acceptance of these products due to health as well as environmental concerns, yet there are deeper issues associated with modern menstruation products which also need to be addressed.

Why do menstrual products need to be discreet? One might assume that modern products are designed to be discreet becasue of comfort and convenience issues. Who wants to wear a matress in their underpants or be seen carrying a super-maxi that won't fit in your pocket on their way to the bathroom? You can see how this rationale breaks down when you think outside the box. If it were simply a matter of comfort and convenience, women would don elaborate wrappings of fleece every month. The desire to hide menstruation is the sole source of any inconvenience associated with it. The sad fact is, disposable products have had a negative effect on both womens' health and body image. Menstruation has become "nasty", "stinky", "foul", "secret", "unmentionable", or worse, "unnecessary", "an excuse", "an illness", or "an obsticle". Pay close attention the next time you see an ad or comercial for disposable tampons or pads. What are the women doing? Are there any men present? If so, are they aware of the menstrual status of the women? Are the women celebrating their cycles or discussing better ways to hide it? The unfortunate message that comes across is "women can do anything they want IFthey can manage their period and absolutely don't let anyone find out about it!" What purpose does this message serve? Wouldn't women respond to ads that promoted menstruation as a symbol of Women's life-giving ability rather than as a curse? Wouldn't women respond to ads depicting men as knowledgable, understanding or even envious of rather than oblivious to menstruation? What if women were paid double if they had to work when they were having their period? What if they got the week off with pay? I can assure you if the later two scenario's were true women would actually look forward to their period, men would envy it, and it wouldn't be kept secret anymore. The women who helped make disposable feminine hygeine products the norm celebrated in their new freedom to participate in a society controlled by men while a collective amnesia and fear of femininity kept them from seeing healthier alternatives for their bodies and minds.

Modern women who seek alternatives for health and/or environmental reasons will find a pleathera of products to choose from. In our modern age of consumption and waste, personal care products designed to last 5-10 years aren't viewed as highly marketable or attractive to our consumption-minded latest-fad-crazed population. Women often don't know they exist unless they search for them. Tampon alternatives like the Keeper, Diva Cup, and Moon Cup are gradually emerging into the mainstream consciousness (These cup-like devices catch rather than absorb menstrual flow. Cups for this purpose were invented in the 1930's prior to the takeover of disposable tampons and pads.) as well as re-usable pads availiable from a number of sources on the web or at natural food markets across the country. Sewing-savy and unskilled alike with time but little cash can also find patterns to make their own re-usable pads from cloth, old sheets, shirts, cotton dishrags and/or nightgowns. Women who use these trypes of re-usable products have found that their periods often become lighter, they experience less cramping, have a decrease in severity of other "PMS" symptoms, and less vaginal dryness or irritation. Many also discover that the "menstrual smell" they had fought so hard to control/avoid is not inevitable and is actually created/made worse by increased use of perfumes, deuching, and/or disposable products in general. There is also evidence that toxic residues from the bleaching of disposable tampons and pads (dioxins) are contributing factors in the development of female cancers.

I find it sad that alternative products, with all their health benefits and equal or greater convenience when compared to modern disposables are viewed with disgust and disdain by so many women today as a "step backwards". There is nothing "backward" about the increased body-knowledge, self-esteem, health, dependability, convenience and cleanliness that "alternative" feminine products can and do offer. The benefits to the environment are also a plus. Re-usable pads are simply pre-soaked (1 gallon is more than enough and can be re-used to water plants/gardens) and then can be easily added to your regular laundry load without additional water usage. A number of excellent phosphate-free eco-friendly laundry soaps are now widely availiable which can be used to clean your pads as well as all of your other laundry.

Solutions begin or end with each of us individually, and everyone around us is affected by the choices we make. I saw a blurb online several months ago about a speech Tom Hanks gave in which he emphasized the power of individual choice. He talked about the fact that if, for example, one in four people stop shopping at a store which has business practices that they disagree with, that store's sales will be affected so greatly that they will be forced to change or be eliminated by the competition. Majority doesn't have to rule. Significant minorities can weld a great deal of power. Its amazing to think about really; one in four people making different choices can ultimately change the world.

Are you one of the three, or are you the one?

A Sane-itary Solution

2006-06-11T14:11:00.000-05:00

New Zealand is conducting a campaign to encourage parents to use re-usable "nappies" instead of the slightly more convenient disposable diapers so popular here in the U.S. On average, prior to being potty trained or using training devices such as "pull-ups", a baby will use 5,000 disposable diapers. This is an unnecessary and enormous source of waste. Cloth diapers would seem to be ideal but they too have their own negative impact on the environment. The ecological down-side of cloth diapers is less obvious but just as bad. Disposable diapers and cloth nappies also differ in their up-front financial costs, but the hidden costs of laundering service and/or home laundering of cloth diapers can make the two nearly equal in this regard. Areas where water is less abundant may actually be harmed more from the use of cloth diapers for this reason. Disposable diapers made of cornstarch are a possible solution, but they need air and water to decompose just like regular disposables do, which is usually lacking in landfills. You can go to this site to read a wonderful article comparing the two options in more detail: http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Diaper-Not-Clear.htm

After reading more on the topic (including the article at the link above) I felt a bit discouraged. I then began to think deeper about it and realized that the cloth diaper's financial and ecological impact could still be less (depending on your circumstances), and could be eliminated all together with a simple change in parental outlook on the matter. Disposable diapers are convenient on the surface, which is what we are programmed by corporate America to want, but they are irresponsible and extremely inconvenient if you stop to look beyond your own personal trash can. I wonder how many people would use disposables if they had to burry them in their own back yard, or their children's future school yard or playground? What if they had to dig a big hole when their child was born and gradually toss them in? Actually if that was the way of things and there were no alternatives I doubt many would have children! This might be a good method of preventing ill-considered parenthood as well! There isn't anything cute, huggable, glamorous or "cool" about having to burry 5,000 dirty diapers in your backyard.

Obviously, people who use disposables for whatever short term convenience they think they gain are simply avoiding the responsibility entirely. If, on the other hand, they shifted their thinking and took responsibility for the waste they produced, the main problem with disposables would go away!

If this were the real deal with disposables, cloth diapers would win hands down! Imagine if people really lived in the scenario above, and the someone came along and said "Hey, why don't we wash cloth diapers instead of dealing with all this fecal matter?!". People would go mad for it. Then there is the problem of detergents containing phosphates or other harmful chemicals, fossil fuels being consumed for their transport (if using an outside laundry service) and electricity to run the washing machines, not to mention the burden in waste water treatment! It is a real conundrum, and the highly conscientious parents of my imagination would surely balk at the thought phosphates and waste water! The solution is the same as for disposables; consumer responsibility. Those who use cloth diapers want to feel they are doing the earth a big favor when in fact they are simply giving her a headache. They want convenience as much as the disposable crowd, hence the expensive diaper cleaning services, whitening agents, fabric softeners, and electric or gas powered washing machines. These things can be eliminated. When these are erased from the picture, there we find our most viable solution.

Water is not needed in abundance to clean diapers. In fact, electricity isn't needed, nor is cleaning agents of any kind. Whiteness (contrary to popular opinion) is not necessary. Things can be clean and yet be stained. Everybody knows this, but we have been programmed to not only covet whiteness, but to equate it with purity and cleanliness. The solution is simplicity. Everyone in the community would donate their used cotton sheets to parents instead of throwing them out. Parents would boil the sheets in big iron pots. They would then cut the sheets into appropriately sized squares and sew them together for desired thickness and absorbability. Moisture-barrier diaper covers could be made from recycled shower curtains, rain jackets, and camping tents or biodegradable cornstarch-based "plastic" panties could be used and appropriately composted when no longer needed . When the diapers were dirty, they would again be boiled and stirred, scrubbed on a scrubbing board with vegetable-based soaps if needed. The little water needed for boiling could be re-used when cool to water plants, gardens, and flower beds. The diapers could be hung to dry in the sun or in the house in winter. When the diapers were no longer needed, they could be sewn together as a quilt base and covered with new cloth. The kid could keep the quilt and use it the rest of his/her life. It doesn't get much more simple than that!

You will likely be thinking that this solution would be very hard for modern parents to accomplish. You are right! This would be very daunting if not impossible for most modern parents, at least here in the U.S. So what can be done in the less than perfect real world? Does the solution to the problem ultimately lie in changing our diapers, our minds, or culture, or our entire way of life? Unfortunately, all of the above.

Revolutionary Nostalgia

2006-04-01T21:00:00.000-05:00

I recently went to see the movie V for Vendetta, and it brought back so many memories...

Not that I have ever blown up buildings or started a revolution, but the main character reminded me of the person I always imagined myself to be, and the person I am inside my head. Seeing the movie was almost like watching one of my dreams projected on the screen for everyone to see. My sister had urged me to go see it originally. She had told me that the main character reminded her of me, and that I would be flattered at the comment after I saw it. "Wow, she knows me better than I thought!" was my first thought upon seeing the movie. And being the egotistical, flamboyant, and grandiose person that I am, I was flattered.

The movie did get me thinking seriously about a great many things. My similarities to the character "V" were merely an amusing mental masturbation. I began to wonder as I was watching the film why I had not blown up any buildings in my life thus far and why I was not in reality the kind of person I had always fantasized being in my daydreams. I didn't really have a good answer for myself at first, but then I thought a little more...

When I was growing up, I was taught like most people that violence was wrong and murder was really wrong. There was never a good reason or justification for violence in any form. Someone who resorted to violence to solve their problems was a weak person. There was the distinct impression that violence was a first resort only for those too ignorant or stupid to find a more "constructive" solution to their problems. This logic applied only to people; things like countries and nations were exempt from this rationale. For them, violence was the first solution. Nobody liked it, but since there were evil nations and countries in the world who would take advantage of a pacifist nation, it was just a fact of life. This thinking is not archaic, in fact, in recent years it seems to have escalated to new extremes.

This indoctrination of non-action or more specifically non-reaction is primarily responsible for the fact that I never voiced any of my violent fantasies nor acted upon them. I was a walking bomb all through my junior and high school years, and I wanted so badly to explode. I wiled away the boring hours by daydreaming about how I would somehow acquire an Uzi, sneak it into school and just start killing everyone. I got really creative with this fantasy, and it was one of my favorites. Sometimes I chose to use swords and daggers instead, or even a bow and arrows. I imagined how everyone I despised would beg me for their pathetic lives. I made mental lists of those I would exempt from my vengeance, and those I would hunt down and torture before slitting their throats personally. The latter list was by far the longest. I had a keen sense that violent actions should always be done in a personal way, not in a distant or disengaged manner. If you can't kill someone with your bare hands or while looking them in the eye, you shouldn't kill them at all. That was part of my code of honor.

I also dreamed of leading a counter-cultural revolution. I imagined myself to be a leader with many followers, and we lived on the land and rode horses instead of driving cars and used bows, arrows, knives, swords and spears instead of modern weaponry. Our entire way of life was in opposition to the larger capitalistic society. We were so skilled in guerilla tactics and so loved by the masses of disadvantaged people who were sympathetic to our cause that we were able to survive all the military's attempts to subdue us. In fact, many of the soldiers mutinied and joined us on the battlefield. We looted and burned and killed the source of our common oppression, and in so doing we became free in a way I have never felt or understood in my real life. This fantasy began with a dream I had in kindergarten. Of course it grew more complicated and precise as the years went by. These daydreams got me through many a bad day in school, and nobody ever knew or suspected.

While I once believed everyone harbored such ideas in their youth, I now know this is not the case. I have had a great deal of debate in my head of late as to why I had such violent thoughts and tendencies. These are but two examples of many such daydreams from my childhood. I experienced many a guilt-induced sleepless night over these dreams. This wasn't because I thought they were bad, but because I thought they were good and I enjoyed them. People weren't supposed to like violence or derive pleasure from the thought of killing someone or blowing stuff up. I did entertain the idea that I was crazy for a long time, but I don't buy that anymore. I think I'm too sane, and like any sane person keenly aware of the corruption, insanity, mediocrity, injustice and abuses of power in their world, I reject and resist it strongly. That rejection and rebellion is transformed into violence, at least in my head.

In my adult life, I have studied the history of rebellion and revolution in or against civilized societies (where it exists exclusively), and I have come to admire many a leader of these rebellions. Ghandi in particular has earned my admiration. I often find myself asking "What would Ghandi do?" (hmm..I should make arm bands with this slogan). I suppose the better question would be "What would Ghandi refuse to do?". Passive resistance worked pretty well for him and his followers. He nearly starved himself to death and wound up being assassinated, but he also liberated a country. I am a reasoning person, and I understand the logic behind Ghandi's tactics. He lived what he believed; "Be the change you wish to see in the world". He wanted peace, and he was peace. What a beautiful life.

I find myself revisiting a number of questions lately... Is it always better to rebel peacefully, even if you die a violent death because of that choice? Is it better to die violently while fighting violently for peace? Is it really possible to achieve peace through violence? Is all violence, whatever the cause it defends, always counterproductive to peace? Does violence have a place in a humanitarian world, and if so, what is it? Is extreme pacifism a form of violent resistance? Are my violent thoughts an example of something that is universally inherent in human nature which we cannot escape or an example of an unnatural mentality, a product of a hierarchical and oppressive culture? Is it my deeper human nature which prevents me from acting on these violent feelings, or my conditioning? Is this passive conditioning good for me, representative of a greater good, or just good for the aggressors and abusers of power? Did Ghandi choose peace as his weapon because it was right, because he thought it would work, because it was the antithesis of his oppressors' methods, or because he had no other weapons? All of these questions are related to the battle I have long fought within myself between what I wanted to do and what I permitted myself to do. I find myself often questioning my conscious decision to abstain from violence.

There are many examples in history of both passive and aggressive resistance that worked. There are also plenty of examples where each method failed. I think the answers to my questions lie in distinguishing between collective violence, coercive violence, defensive violence and personal violence. I no longer believe that violence is always bad, that peace is always good, nor that violence has no place in peaceful societies. Every decision to act with violence or to refrain from that action must be made within the context which creates the choice. You can't make broad rules about what is right and wrong absolute because life isn't absolute. Was I right in my decision to not commit mass-murder back in high school? I would say yes. Is it right for me to always favor pacifism? I would say no. To limit my choices so absolutely in all future actions is ridiculous, and would only hinder my ability to discover solutions to any future problems I may have to face. I won't spill the beans for anyone who has not yet seen the movie, but the last decision that "V" makes is illustrative of this ideal, and so is the one made by his protégé. Though we often act alone, the results of our decisions are never limited to our individual experience. Everything we do affects the rest of the world. Think on this always, and choose your actions well.

Postgraduate Musings: "Black.White" and Switching Places: Another Opportunity Lost to Convey Something Powerful

2006-03-23T00:49:00.000-05:00

Postgraduate Musings: "Black.White" and Switching Places: Another Opportunity Lost to Convey Something Powerful

Remember Henry Burn

2006-03-19T18:17:00.000-05:00

Henry Burn was a 24 year old legislator in Tennessee in 1920 when the 19th amendment to the constitution was in the process of state ratification. Out of all the other states, only 35 of the needed 36 had voted yes to the amendment. Tennessee was to be the deciding state. Henry was planing to vote against the amendment, and had been active in the anti-suffrage movement. The night before the vote, he received a letter from his mother. Her message was simple and direct. Henry was the last to cast his vote the next day. Realizing that he would tie the vote if he stuck with his plans & remembering his Mother's message, Henry changed his mind. So it was that on August 18th, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th amendment with a vote of 47-49, thus granting the right to vote to all women in every state of the union. After making history, Henry was promptly chased by his fellows to the top of the building where they threatened to throw him off. Who knows why they didn't follow through on their threat. In any case, Henry Burn lived that day, and millions of Americans were at last free to participate in their own government for the first time.

Henry Burn's career in politics was over after that. He never held another public office, and virtually drops off of the radar after this one extraordinary contribution. Some would see him as an unfortunate political victim, or even a failure. I see him as a hero, not just because he voted the way he did, but also because he was willing to change his mind and make a difference in the world. It is a shame that our political system had no place for Henry, though by liberating half of the population from political bondage, he essentially did more good in his brief career than many do in a lifetime of politics.

I often think of Henry when I hear people say "It doesn't matter if I vote or not, its not going to change anything" , "I can't make any difference, so why bother", or some other apathetic statement. I understand why so many feel this way. Despite our culture's obsession with individuality, those who feel that they can make a difference are often discouraged and condemned as "idealistic" "naïve" "unrealistic" "immature" "delusional" "crazy" "obsessed" "possessed" "egotistical" or any number of other things. Where does this attitude come from? Our country was birthed from rebellion and peopled with the outcasts, rebels, extremists and radicals of the world. How is it that we so easily are duped into thinking we are powerless? What has turned us into inspirationally bereft drones?

Part of the problem is the focus of the media on corruption in politics today. I am not saying that isn't the case, but the fact that a huge majority of the population thinks it is the case has a profound affect on their level of participation. The media also dupes those who do vote into thinking that no matter how may people are running for office, the only real choice is between candidate "Stinky" or candidate "Stupid". If you vote for anyone other than them, it will take votes from whichever you may see as the least evil. Thus, the one you see as the most evil will win unless you vote for the lesser evil. This is inevitable you are told, because you are the only one who wants to vote for someone other than "Stinky" and "Stupid", or are one of a very few, and thus it is a complete waste of your vote if you don't choose between them. This skewed logic spews out at us over and over from the radio and TV like a bad 80's tune every election, and we fall for it hook line and sinker. I know this because I too have fallen prey to this vicious propaganda that the media sings us to sleep with every election. It does leave you feeling powerless when you vote like this because if your "lesser evil" candidate of choice looses anyway, you kick yourself and throw up your hands and think "why do I even bother, it doesn't make any difference anyway!". But wait a minute! Haven't you forgotten something? "Stinky" and "Stupid" weren't the only choices. You did waste your vote, but not because your candidate lost. You wasted it because you didn't vote for someone you really wanted to vote for. You tossed away one of the most cherished and basic of rights, the right to vote, because you listened and believed them when they said "Only Stinky or Stupid can possibly win this election, so don't even think of voting for anyone else. If you vote for any other candidate, you must be simple-minded, ignorant, or uninformed". I must say, I'm rather embarrassed that I ever fell for this heap of dung. What a load of fecal matter! What was I thinking!

There have been a number of pivotal moments in my life when it seemed a fog lifted, and I could suddenly see clearly for the first time. I had such a moment after the last Presidential election, and I decided to never again waste my vote so carelessly. I wonder if Henry had a similar experience the moment he opened that letter from his mother. I often think about Henry Burn, and not just at voting time. I think of him as a person like me, with flaws and weaknesses, who by a twist of fate or circumstance found himself holding a tremendous gift in his hands. He decided not to vote as he was expected to by his peers that day, and in so doing he gave that same gift to his mother and to every other American woman. I wonder if he ever regretted his decision. Somehow I doubt it. Imagine how different things might be if everyone used their vote as Henry did. I for one, will never forget Henry, or the decision he made. This post is dedicated to Henry, his Mother, and all the other unsung heroes who decide to make a difference, one vote at a time.

2006-03-16T09:09:00.000-05:00

The Hype of Black & White

I wasn't sure whether to add a post about the new series on FX called Black & White. I found the idea somewhat repulsive since so many others have already bogged about it. The fact that it is a TV reality series also makes the subject somewhat distasteful to me. But, if I really want to explore the myths of America, I really can't ignore or shun TV shows. This is a large part of the "hum of Mother Culture"- to borrow Daniel Quinn's term. Modern thinkers should not and cannot ignore its influence on society. So... now that I have justified my desire to add my comment to the heap, let me begin...

Race does not exist. Modern scientists and anthropologists are in near unanimous agreement with this statement. The migrations, conquests, and enslavements throughout history have resulted in such a blend of DNA that the ability to draw distinctions between people based on the idea that there are separate "races" is virtually impossible. There are now a number of internet companies which offer DNA testing to determine racial composition. Without fail, they have a disclaimer warning that the results of your test may reveal that you are not what you thought you were racially. For example, around 90% of northern Europeans have around 8% African ancestry. Most sites have examples like this from sample populations to help educate their clients about these sorts of things beforehand. When we speak of "race" relations today, it would more accurately be used in the sense of a group of people with shared culture or history.

I had hoped to remain racially anonymous on my blog, but because my racial identity might shed light on my experiences with racism and my views of the issues explored on this show in particular, I have decided to reveal it; I am "other". "What! that's not a race!" I can almost hear the shouting. "Its on the list", would be my argument. Why would they put it there if it didn't refer to a specific group like all the other labels do? I admit, I don't often get away with this. Even though it is listed as a choice, nobody wants you to check that little square on the application (or whatever document it may be). But what other choice do I have? The instructions say "check only one". What doom would I unleash upon the world if I chose to change the rules to "check all that apply" instead? (I actually have tried this, but it doesn't work either. They simply assume you are stupid and don't understand the directions. "You are supposed to check only the one that applies to you" they try to explain. Oh well, at least I tried!)

As a "other" person in our society, I feel that my race is the one most persecuted, ignored, marginalized, discriminated against, insulted, and denied in America today. By checking that little box, we open ourselves to attack, and we often loose any protections or privileges we might have gained by checking any one of the others. Suddenly everyone hates us because they don't know who or what they are dealing with. I am usually confronted and forced to change my selection to one of the "accepted" choices. What is worse, most often the change is made for me without my knowledge. I become acceptable, explainable, and predictable with a secret stroke of a pen. I am instantly transformed into something deemed more appropriate in the application taker's judgment. Thus I and my people are erased from the record, eliminated and assimilated. This is genocide.

Being "Other" is a unique experience in America. Nobody recognizes you unless you tell them. In this respect, I identified with the characters on this show. They got to hear all the things said by people who assumed they were of the same race as they were, when in fact they were not. I have been mistaken for just about every "race" out there. Most people seem to want me to be one of them, it makes things less awkward. But, when they start bad-mouthing my people (you know, all the "Others") I am left feeling abandoned and misunderstood, as well as righteously angry. Sometimes I reveal my true identity, but most of the time I don't. I think it is often better for people to hear reprimands from someone they see as a peer rather than an outsider. Their opinion of you as a person changes instantly once they know your secret. You may as well talk to the wall if that happens.

Like every other race, we "others" have our heroes and movie stars. You've probably heard of most of them. Vin Diesel comes immediately to mind. I remember what a stir he made when he refused to reveal his "race", way back when he first earned a spot in the lime light. Speculation abounded, but he stood firm in his refusal. Most of the first articles I read about him focused more on this mystery than his career! Besides people like Vin who refuse any label, some "others" create a whole new term for themselves. Tiger Woods coined the term "Caublinasian" to describe himself, choosing to combine his heritage rather than choose any one group. Despite this, he has again and again been labeled as a "black" man. There goes that secret pen again, or in this case, a blatant disregard of his true identity. I'm sure if Vin didn't have a blond, blue-eyed brother, he would have been stuck with more acceptable label too. They just couldn't figure him out. Every generation more people of "other" heritage are refusing to be subjected to traditional racial discriminations. This trend will only continue. "Others" will soon become the recognized racial majority around the world. One day soon, we will no longer be ignored. There will be heated debate about what truly defines "otherness", and people will bend their family trees like pretzels for the honor of being counted among our number.

I found it interesting that most of the people in the white girl's poetry class were supportive and reassuring when she revealed her true race, but one was not. His anger and disgust seemed to be because he couldn't see who she really was, and she hadn't been honest. She hadn't lied to them about anything, she just showed up every day in black makeup. What was his problem? It wasn't that she lied, it was that he had assumed so much based on her appearance. I do understand how a shared cultural identity does tend to create a sense of shared points of view or experiences, but how far does this go? I am harassed in similar ways when I do reveal my race to others. "What are you!?" is the most common response. I guess it isn't enough to just be human. They have to set you up as inside or outside, black or white, trustworthy or suspect. Will that ever change?

Where did all the hype about black and white come from? Historically speaking, these two groups have not always been in the state of relations we see today here in America. When our country began, white and black people alike came over as indentured servants or slaves. White women married black men and vice versa, and curiosity rather than hatred was the normal reaction when differences existed between the two groups. Then those who had power and wealth got scared. Poor people of both races, as well as Native Americans, were joining forces in resisting the injustice and inhumanity of their circumstance. The fledgling country, which had been founded by white men of substantial means, was beginning to show itself to be no more dedicated to freedom and justice for all than its mother. Laws began to be passed outlawing "miscegenation" or the mixing of the races. Laws were passed outlawing black workers from associating with white workers. Laws were passed imposing slavery on blacks and bestowing freedom on whites.

Why would these sorts of laws have been necessary? They were necessary because white, black, and red slaves, servants, industrial workers, and freedmen didn't hate each other. Their hate had to be manufactured, and it served those in power very well. If whites, blacks and native Americans had not been turned against each other, they may have rebelled against the corrupt system that was beginning to take shape in early America, and they may have succeeded. By fighting amongst themselves, they gauranteed the success of the wealthy who depended on the abuse and enslavement of the poor among all three groups for their material gain. Early on, and on rare occasion in later years, organized riots and rebellions did take place, but these were squashed as quickly and quietly as possible. The work of subjugation and control became much easier as poor whites and blacks began to see each other as enemies. Native Americans were encouraged to utilize black slavery as a means to assimilation and survival, and rich whites used poor whites as cheap labor and a means of controlling poor blacks, fighting and harassing Native Americans, and abusing slaves. What a tangled web they did weave.

This artificially imposed racism still survives today, and it still serves as an excellent means of control, though it has long had a life of its own. The generations of today have long since forgotten the origins of their hatred, yet it continues. If the underprivileged of America, or the world for that matter, could come together and see their common goals and common plight, they indeed would be a force to be reckoned with. The divisions create and teach ourselves and our children to see are as naked as the emperor in that revealing childhood fairy tale. I for one refuse to give in to the racism, hatred and stupidity that the media, news, TV, and entertainment industry have pounded into everyone's brain since birth. If we all joined hands in defiance, nothing in this world could stand against us. This is why I will continue to check that little square next to "other" on my job applications, on my university applications, on my insurance forms, on the census card, and at the plasma donation center when I need an extra buck. I refuse to be discriminated. I am "Other" and proud of it! I am "Other", and I am one of many. Our very existence is rebellion. All you out there who rely on our invisibility, our silence and our anonymity in order to maintain this artificial system of hate be warned; we will not be silent anymore.

Great American Myths: Success

2006-03-14T09:51:00.000-05:00

If you go to school, study hard, get good grades, graduate, go to college, get a degree, and or just work hard enough, anyone can be a success in the good old U.S.A. How many times have you heard this or similar slogans of capitalism in your lifetime? When these sorts of sentiments are expressed, "success" generally refers to some sort of monetary gain or material accumulation. The sorts of activities these statements suggest as the means to this end could suggest little else in our society. Who would dream of working hard, excelling academically, or getting a degree purely for the experience, personal growth, sense of accomplishment or challenge it provides? Quite a few, actually, but these reasons usually take a sideline to the more important goal of material gain. This has serious consequences because it influences what things are taught, learned, and valued by our society. Thankfully, there are still plenty of people who, despite criticism, hardship, and opposition, choose to live their lives unencumbered by ideas imposed by society about their value as a commodity. This post is dedicated to them.

I do not believe that all wealthy people are mindless drones who have internalized the ideals of capitalism as their own; some people inherit their fortunes. (sorry, just an attempt at humor) Seriously though, material wealth does not always come as a result of a pure pursuit of that end, and many people become materially successful as a result of their pursuit of other goals. This discussion is not intended to categorize material success as bad or good, but simply to illuminate our culture's obsession with material gain, the results of this obsession and how it affects the life choices of individuals within our society.

The role that accident and pure chance plays in the accumulation of wealth is not something often brought to light, with good reason. If people were taught that even if you do everything "right" you can still wind up penniless, a major means to power employed by the wealthiest 5% of us would quickly evaporate. It is the lure of success, belief in its attainability, necessity, and the power and financial security that comes with it which keeps the other 95% of us from demanding our share. The belief that those in power have more because they worked harder, earned what they have, and if we keep at it we too can reach the top, is a fundamental belief held by many Americans. The cold hard reality is that hard work, education, and all the other things which are supposed to win us a place in the world often prove useless. But people are catching on. Modern movements toward things like living simply, working from home, job-sharing, holistic living, and personal growth are all examples of a change in values which is beginning to occur in our culture. The more people ignore the pressures of society and begin to define success for themselves, the more free they will become.

Civilization & Human Sacrifice:

2006-03-09T14:59:00.000-05:00

Pollution, waste, war, violence, crime, social injustice, racism, poverty, psychological problems, hopelessness; the list of our problems seems never ending, but few people seem to link these problems with their common cause- Civilization. Civilization as exemplified by most modern nations is the cause of all these problems. These problems are all a result of billions of mentally isolated people engaged in the mindless & short-sighted pursuit power, wealth, security, things, or any combination of these. We are all taught in social studies class in grade school that Civilization is good and everything else is bad, without any discussion of the pros and cons of alternatives. Actually, according to the texts, there are no alternatives. Civilization is presented as the height of human achievement, even though its usual form represents a very tiny and very recent development in human history.

Several "great mysteries" of history are the result of this thinking. So-called "Lost civilizations" like the Maya of Mexico, the Anasazi of the American Southwest, or the various Mound Builder cultures in the southeast all left an abundance of physical evidence of grand achievements which were abandoned long before Europeans came to this continent. Famine, natural disaster, and war have all been postulated as possible explanations of the disappearance of these highly sophisticated societies, though little to no evidence has been discovered which supports these claims. It never seems to occur to historians that perhaps these people simply decided that the problems caused by "civilized life" outweighed any gains they had anticipated, and simply abandoned this way of living in favor of a less problematic alternative. What we know of the Maya prior to becoming the hunter-gatherer society encountered by the first Europeans to explore their country indicates that civil war, wars of conflict with outsiders, and wars of conquest were ever-present in their society prior to their abandonment of civilization. These wars were instigated by the ruling classes, but the ordinary citizens were the ones who provided the man-power and supplies needed to wage these wars (sound familiar?). This led to a vicious cycle of coercion, conquest for wealth and human sacrifices, expansion of territory, and more wars to defend that territory and gain more wealth and control of resources, and round and round again. Reading Mayan history is almost like reading our own, as if there were "Another America" in this hemisphere long before our modern nation was ever conceived.

I am likely not the only one to notice these similarities. This would explain why many historians tend to focus on the Mayan ritual of human sacrifice as the one fault in their otherwise grand civilization instead of their history of perpetual war. If they did shift focus, it might suggest that our civilization is also seriously flawed, and may also one day meet the same fate. Our grand accomplishments might all be forgotten or ignored by future generations because of this one overwhelming flaw in our system. Unthinkable!

History teachers too often point a finger at ritual human sacrifice as an example of why European civilizations were superior to the semi-civilized barbarian cultures of the Americas, and why Christian nations were thus entitled to and obliged to eliminate these people and take their country. (if you don't believe me, just check out one of the outdated history texts your local school system is using) Though the Maya and many of their neighbors did sacrifice human beings to appease the gods of war and production, not many people think about how many people have been sacrificed by our modern nations in wars of aggression, expansion, control of resources and economic gain. True, we don't literally rip peoples hearts out of their chests atop temples dedicated to angry deities, but the sacrifices we make to the gods of modern life are no less horrific. I would argue the opposite to be true.

The public school system is very good at murdering the potential for alternative ideas and perpetuating the national myths our society depends on, after all, that's why they exist. They churn out millions of minds every generation. Why public education is virtually ignored by those in power seems a result of severe lack of foresight and poor prioritizing only if you fail to notice the many ways this state of affairs benefits them. Under-funded Public Schools create an environment devoid of stimulation, encouragement, or exploration of ideas and the boredom, ignorance and apathy which result are largely responsible for keeping society in its current configuration. Think about it!

Imagine if every child in the U.S. received a well-funded, quality public educational experience in which they were challenged, stimulated, encouraged, and allowed to experiment with new ideas. Imagine the radical variety of life experiences these children have had, and how that influences the new ideas they develop. Imagine that most of these children find ways to continue their education beyond high-school because they feel inspired and encouraged to achieve. In this scenario, how do you imagine the future these children will experience? Are they blue-collar workers? Are they in the military or law enforcement? Do they drop out of school or become welfare dependents? Are they homeless or in prison? Do they work in fast food restaurants, department stores, or in other low-wage jobs with limited growth potential? Are they unemployed?

The chances of a majority of these children making the career and/or life choices leading to these outcomes doesn't sound very likely does it? These children would much more likely become scientists, inventors, artists, philosophers, writers, professors, politicians, lawyers, judges, innovators, engineers, or other professionals. They would no doubt prove to be a driving force for social change in whatever career they chose. But there is a problem with this model. The leaders of our hierarchical society depend on the inequality, ignorance, and limited opportunity of the majority in order to maintain their current state of power, material wealth, and comfort. It is much easier to control and fool an uneducated public into believing that everyone is a free and equal member of society when such dramatic excesses and ill-distribution of wealth exists. It is also much more difficult to enslave an educated population in a system which serves the interests of a small elite. In order to maintain a state of fear, uncertainty, and provide manpower for the wars of aggression required to preserve the power enjoyed by this elite, ignorance must remain the predominant state of the general population. Who would dig the ditches and fire the cannons in this brave new world? How can our civilization function without enslaving the majority in order to maintain the power and wealth of a tiny minority? The answer is, it can't.

Civilization as we understand it is defined by this social arrangement. In the case of the Maya, their inability to maintain a state of civilization is often viewed as a sign of inferiority or at the least a great tragedy. I tend to see this as one of their greatest achievements. They serve as a shining example to the world that radical change is possible. No nation or institution, no matter how great or controlling it is, can survive the power welded by ordinary citizens in simply refusing their support of a corrupt system. Inequality, slavery, and war are not viable choices for humanity. A new form of civilization or a completely new way of structuring human society must evolve. Our survival depends on it.

(Note: Though this post is an original piece of writing, the idea that Civilization is the casue of our modern problems, and the idea that some "lost" civilizations may actually be examples of people in history who simply abandoned civilized life in favor of something better was inspired by the writings of Daniel Quinn. His style, examples, and arguments differ from mine, but due to the fact that I have read his works, similarities between my prose and his may exist. If so, this is unintentional. I don't have a copy of any of his books on hand for comparison, so I wanted to add this note. Should anyone find such an error, please let me know.)

Children

2006-03-05T21:48:00.000-05:00

I hate children. That's my short answer when people ask me why I don't have any. The real answer is much deeper than that and is reflective of a great many of my personal views, and like nearly everything, is interconnected with a wide array of issues and problems associated with modern life. Allow me to elaborate...

First of all, let me clarify that I am not the sort to make broad generalized stereotypical statements about any sort of group. The only reason I give this short answer is when I just don't have the time to explain in detail my real reasons to someone in a specific circumstance, or if I am convinced that they do not really want a detailed explanation. It simply serves to save me from wasting my breath. In fact, though the statement implies a negative sentiment directed at all children collectively, I have on rare occasions encountered children whom I did not hate. I suppose the statement "I hate most children" or rather "I hate most Parents" would be more precise, but would tend to invite further questions, thus defeating the purpose of a short answer.

Now for the long answer...

My decision not to procreate was made in early childhood. My mother was an undervalued housewife who had given up her own personal dreams in exchange for a life of monotonous, dull, unrewarded work. My Father was rarely home, and when he was, he was usually tucked away in his study reading. It seemed to me that he didn't really want to be a father. With this environment as my base, it is no wonder that the first time I reflected on the fact that I too would one day be grown and capable of marriage and family (around age 4) I decided that I would never marry and would absolutely never ever have children of my own. As I grew older, my decision stood firm, though my reasons altered somewhat and expanded as I became more experienced in life. One experience which not only strengthened my decision but also added a whole new dimension to the issue was my brief employment as a child daycare worker.

I am not sure why parents who use daycare facilities expect their children to grow up without major mental, social, and behavioral impairment. The many problems with daycare are easily discovered upon direct observation, reasoning, and questioning. I will elaborate on these issues in more detail, and I will also focus on the reasons why so many people have children, rely on daycare facilities to raise those children, and why they turn a blind eye to the obvious problems this entails.

I suspect any parents reading this will have paused at that last sentence, most likely in objection. Though many of the parents I encountered while working at the daycare were all too willing to pass the enormous task of raising their children on to the daycare staff, I also suspected that many were completely unaware of what they were doing. It doesn't take a genius (or maybe it does) to realize that if you drop you child off at daycare at 6am, pick them up at 6pm, feed them at 7pm, and put them to bed at 8pm that you are not raising your child. You may have them on weekends (unless you hire a babysitter) and during a hectic morning and brief evening, but you are virtually out of the loop. The times they will remember, learn, retain, and developed their personalities are the times you won't be with them. Many clients worked a part time job simply to pay for their daycare, even though their spouse paid all the household bills. If they didn't work that job, they wouldn't need daycare. They only worked so that they could pay someone to raise their children. There isn't any other way to explain it. Some of our parents would drop their children off as soon as we opened and didn't pick them up until the minute we closed even though we knew that they were only at work from 9-5, 8-3, etc. It didn't cost them extra to leave them the entire day, so they did. Most of the children had their daily breakfast, lunch and an evening snack while at the daycare. Most of the kids would get diarrhea after certain meals, which was due to poor food quality and bad food combinations. This was not only very unpleasant for us and unhealthy for the children, but also caused increased waste due to extra land-fill clogging non-biodegradable diaper usage.

The children were difficult and often uncontrollable, but this was not really their fault. The bright light of clarification came at pickup time. It was usually obvious which children got attention at home and who did not even before you met their parents. The behavior of many of the adults was much more inexcusable and appalling than anything their child could have dreamt up. One day I saw a woman pull up to the front door, pull her 3 year old son out of his seat, push open our door just enough to shove him inside and shout "Here, you take him now!". She then got in her car and drove away without even stepping into the building to sign him in. Her son stood there clutching a blanket, a blank look on his face. He didn't cry, as I thought he would. I guess he was used to being tossed aside.

Most of the children there had behavioral problems. We had no power to discipline them except to give them 1 minute of "time out" for every year of age when they misbehaved. If they chose to disregard the "time out", we had no recourse. It didn't take them long to figure out this flaw in our system. The director was supposed to notify the parents if a serious incident occurred, but she seldom did so because she didn't want to loose business. Most parents blamed us when their child misbehaved. We weren't sensitive to his/her needs, or he/she had trouble fitting in and we should have intervened etc. etc. One boy who was nearly 5 years old was still not potty trained. His mother expressly forbade us to encourage him to use the toilet unless he wanted to. Therefore, we had to change his diapers whenever he said he needed to be changed. When you were changing his diaper, he would use foul language to badmouth you and threaten to say you were abusing him. He did this to everyone, and there were usually witnesses to back you up, but it was still a miserable situation. Once he threw a handful of his feces at the staff. Finally, the director called his mother and arranged a meeting. She told his mother about the language he had been using. His mother said that he did the same thing at home, but that his "therapist" said that he was unaware of what those words meant (I guess it was a marvelous coincidence that he used them in context), and that he couldn't help it. Evidently his "Therapist" also was responsible for the fact that he was not potty trained, and had recommended that pushing him before he was ready would damage him in some way. Seeing she was getting nowhere, the director gave up. He was going on to Kindergarten the next year, so at least we wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. I wonder how many times since he has been passed on down the line. He had been a full-timer in the daycare since he was an infant.

Despite the extreme difficulty of the job, the workers were generally paid minimum wage, or just above minimum. I was lucky when I started because they were desperate (several workers had recently walked out) so they offered me a whopping $6 an hour. The local McDonald's was advertising higher starting pay, and benefits to boot! (Just a side note: Though this was a number of years ago, the standard wages in my part of the country have not increased since that time, though food, gas, clothing, and everything else costs anywhere from 10-50%+ more) You would think that this kind of pay would attract only those who really wanted to work with children, or independently wealthy eccentrics, (who else?) but what I encountered most were people who couldn't find anything else or who thought the work would be easy. (Before anyone gets really offended here, let me say that there were a handful of very caring, dedicated workers there as well, and worth their weight in gold. If our society rewarded a person's work in proportion to the amount of good it helped create, they would be among the wealthiest people in the world.)

To further the frustrations involved in working with these children, the regulations we were expected to follow were absolutely impossible to achieve in that environment. For example, we were not allowed to leave a child on the changing table unattended, but we were also supposed to watch the entire group at all times. With one person per class, this was impossible. One location I worked at even had the changing table arranged so that you faced the wall when you were changing a diaper (what sense does that make!). We were also expected to check and/or change everyone's diaper every hour, which took about 30-40 minutes depending on what meal was served that day. That meant that even on a good day, nearly half of my time was spent with my back to the class. We were also supposed to wash our hands and change gloves after every change. Many times gloves were nowhere to be found. Most of my co-workers did not use gloves at all to save time. We were also supposed to clean and disinfect all the toys every day. That happened about every week or so. It didn't do a lot of good anyway, since sick children were not usually sent home because the director was afraid of loosing business. The parents must have known their children were sick when they dropped them off with a temp of 102, vomiting, coughing, sneezing etc., therefore it must be assumed that they just didn't want to deal with it. While I was there, only one sick child was sent home. He had a very high temp and was vomiting. Though we had called his mother shortly after she dropped him off, she wanted us to just keep an eye on him. Finally, the director called back and said that for the child's health and the risk of infection of his classmates, she would have to take him home. She was upset and seemed angry with her son for being sick. I wanted to strangle her. She sent his grandparents to pick him up around noon. Due to the frequency of sick children in attendance, the staff also felt the result. Shortly after beginning work there, I got sick and stayed sick nearly the entire time. When you make $6 and hour, you can't afford to stay home.

This brings me to my theories about 1.,why people have children 2., why they don't take care of them 3., why they choose to ignore the obvious horrors of daycare, and 4., how this problem affects everyone in our society whether they have children or not.

"Children! Why do they have them and why do they bring them here?!" was the sentiment often expressed by one of my former employers when I worked in the kitchen of a 4 star restaurant many years ago. He said this each time he had to come down into the kitchen to retrieve one of our high-chairs for use in the dining room. His negative view of children was not without cause. The dining room was carefully decorated, and we used only linen tablecloths and napkins. People generally thought it cute when their child decided to throw their food everywhere, or even if they did try to stop them, often damage had already been done. He would often ask me if I had children. When I said no, he would ask me if I wanted them. When I answered no to this question, he would say "Finally, someone intelligent!". My answers are not common in this part of the country (and I suspect elsewhere), and many people find my decision offensive. I think this is related to the fact that many people have children for the wrong reasons, and once they have them, they take solace in the belief that everyone has them or wants them, and this helps them rationalize their life choices. When someone like myself has other ideas, and very good reasons for them, I can see how it would make people uneasy. Nobody likes to think that they have made a mistake of that magnitude.

So...why is it that people have children, and how do their reasons influence their choices after they have them? I think, unfortunately, that the number one reason people have children is because their parents had children, and their grandparents had children, and their great grandparents (you see where this is going). I know this seems stupidly simple, but our society is very compulsory in this regard. The ideal of the "all American family" with their little house and yard and the dog with his little house to match, and the man/woman/child standing in front is not something the media/corporations use just because it looks sweet and nice. This is something imbedded in our subconscious. This strikes a chord with people, even though their lives may be radically different from this picture. If only they had a dog, a house, a wife, a kid, maybe that car in the advertisement, they would be fulfilled. This is what all our school texts, children's books, and our parents unwittingly have programmed us to want, and the ads/tv shows/etc. not only take advantage of this hard-wiring, they reinforce it. This is not to say that everyone buys this ideal as legitimate (obviously, I am writing this), but I think that a large majority of people do to one degree or another, even if they consciously are unaware.

There are too many people in the world. Overpopulation is becoming pandemic all over the world. One could make a good argument for not having children on this basis alone. Adoption is a great option for people who want children but do not want to contribute to this problem, however, this can present financial barriers to many. Actually, most of the reasons why people do not take care of the children they have is usually directly a result of money, either too little or the pursuit of too much. In a perfect world, nobody would have to think about whether they have enough money to support a child, but our world is far from perfect. I do not believe that money is a prerequisite for good parenthood. If a poor person is able and willing to provide for their child's basic material needs and take the time to raise their child themselves, great. Same criteria for wealthy people. Financial barriers are a major reason why people choose to ignore problems with daycare etc. which they see as their only option. People who have kids by accident, for no reason or out of ill-considered compulsion often fall into the same patterns or ignore the importance of their role as parent completely and rely on others to take care of these responsibilities, often in a sub-standard way. The fact that it is impossible for so many poor and wealthy people alike to take the necessary care with parenthood is a major flaw in our culture which will, if left uncorrected, prove our ultimate undoing. I am reminded of Socrates, who was executed after being found guilty of "corrupting the youth" of Athens so many centuries ago. According to Plato's account of his trial, his response to the charge was an appeal to reason; "Why would I corrupt my fellow man? Will he not in turn corrupt me?". I do not feel Socrates was guilty, and I find the charge to be too subjective to warrant execution in any case. However, the fact that the Athenians felt this to be such a serious crime indicates to me that they were much more aware than we of how such an act could damage their whole society. Today we don't have it as easy as those ancient Athenians. There isn't one person or institution that we can point a finger to in blame. We are all contributors to this state of corruption, and it will take many individuals making conscientious choices to start us on the road to improvement.

So, to sum up this very long discussion, my reason for not having or wanting children is: I meet none of the criteria I feel to be necessary for parenthood. I have other life goals which would interfere with the time needed to do it well. I am commited to many ideals to which parenthood would be a contradiction. The world doesn't need more children, we are overcome with them. Children are everywhere! The desire to have one's own personal DNA perpetuated seems to me largely a result of lack of perspective, ignorance and selfishness. I do believe that humans have an inate desire to continue themselves which stems from our awareness of death, but children are but one of many ways we can fulfill this need (not the best way either). Why not make history, change the world, or start a blog instead! If after considerable soul-searching you decide that being a parent is your main purpose in life, and you are willing to dedicate that life forever after to your children first and all else second, I say go for it! The world needs people like you. If you have other ideas, please, leave the baby-making to those willing to make it their life's work. Contrary to what tv/magazines/ and modern myth would have you believe, you can't have everything. Children aren't mere decorative additions to our life to be enjoyed when it is convenient. We all have to make difficult choices in life, and the consequences of those choices are never felt by us alone. Choose well.