Use Your Wisdom

It seems to me strikers harm themselves more than anyone else. So the writers are putting their foot down and saying they will not contribute to the Golden Globe Awards Show. They have also garnered support from nominated actors who are vowing not to attend the event in support of the striking writers. This may sound harsh, but who else is left to even care if the Globes happen or not? I can’t even remember the last time I watched an awards show or heard of anyone else I know watching one. I suspect the television audience for the Globes is already lean. Should the show not air this year, it could result in the remaining audience discovering they can do without just fine.

I’m not writing this post to say I don’t support the writers’ push to have a fair cut of DVD sales and the like. Writers are the backbone of all that entertains us and deserve compensation whenever their work is used. That said, I think striking and grinding in one’s heels often leaves those trying to make a point at a disadvantage.

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A friend of mine shared the following link with me. http://www.storyofstuff.com/

This is a link to a video essay about the rate of consumption in the United States. I think about the amount of waste I generate often. I pat myself on the back because my husband and I do a pretty good job recycling things. The points in this woman’s discussion made me realize recycling isn’t enough. It is great to try to minimize how much of what goes out our back door ends up in the dump. It is just as crucial, if not more, to minimize how much ‘stuff’ is coming in our front door to begin with. Consumer demand is what is driving the depletion of resources. The few of us who are making an effort to recycle aren’t even close to replacing what is being removed on a daily basis to meet our needs let alone everyone else’s.

The real problem in all of this is the economy of the United States relies heavily on consumption of resources. In fact, conservation tends to send the economy into a tailspin. Over the course of time we have allowed our nation’s financial stability to come at the cost of resource instability. Talk about short sighted. To make matters worse, our citizens are far from being financially stable because the push for consumption has resulted in individuals ‘contributing’ to the economy beyond what their means allow.

Ironically, the state of our resources and finances is not a mystery. Most people realize the availability of our resources is finite and that individuals are spending themselves into massive amounts of debt. You’d think in an election year people would be demanding a candidate come forward with a vision to get us off of this dead end path and back on track. That’s not the case, however. What people continue to look for in a leader for our great nation is a person with solutions for how we can keep consuming at our current rate (if not more) and avoid the consequences of doing so. Our government needs to be for the people and by the people. Therefore, people shouldn’t be forced by their government to be responsible citizens and when resources or finances are over-extended, the government needs to have a plan to bail out those affected. It’s a formula for disaster and none of us are immune from the pending fallout.

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Remember the old saying “children should be seen and not heard?” Well, I personally don’t subscribe to that way of thinking. I love hearing my daughter’s take on her world. I do, however, believe the saying can and should be updated to suit more modern needs.

CHILDREN’S TOYS SHOULD BE SEEN AND NOT HEARD!

All of the commercials for toys this year seem to talk and think for your kids. I, for one, would love for Dora to get a mean case of laryngitis. My 19 month old daughter believes most of her toys are ‘broken’. You know what? It doesn’t bother her one bit to play without her toys buzzing and squawking at her. Makes for a happy mommy too.

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I wonder if Obama is elected as our next President if Oprah will expect him to stock his eventual Presidential Library with Oprah’s book club choices as a gesture of appreciation.

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It’s official. No one can keep a secret anymore. Even the world’s most well known self-professed secret keeper is spilling her guts these days. Ah, Victoria. Don’t beat yourself up too much. Clearly you tried. For years you’ve been practically bursting at the seams with all of your private information. A girl can only hold it in so long. I really thought all of the well placed straps and ribbons would help. I guess everyone has their limits though. Again, don’t be too harsh on yourself.

Now that you are getting it all off of your chest, however, I do wish you would rethink where you choose to let it all hang out. Shouting it from the mountain tops might be a better idea than baring your soul, and whatever else, in the large display windows at the mall. I mean, it can be chore to get around the large cluster of teenage boys who have taken such a keen interest in all of your secrets. And they say women are the ones who like to gossip. Ha!

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CNN is running a report right now on a school district attempting to implement a basic report card for parents. It is actually more of a checklist. The school will record if the child is receiving breakfast prior to the start of school (either at school or home), is dressed properly, is arriving to school on time and ready for the day, etc. These are very basic things. The PTA for the district appears to be fighting the initiative. There is some concern the checklist isn’t fair to parents. Not fair to parents?!!! Parents do know their job description, right? There are a few things that may qualify as ‘optional’ in the grand scheme of things, but feeding and dressing your children and getting them to school seems as though it should be in the mandatory column to me.

I say bravo for parent report cards. Schools and kids get report cards all of the time. Why not the parents? They are crucial to the equation. If parents aren’t doing their part, it seems likely the students and schools are already starting at a severe disadvantage. Gee, I wonder why the public school system is in crisis?

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General Sanchez announced “Iraq is a nightmare with no end in sight.”  You know, it would have been a lot less expensive and time consuming if Cheney had simply invited Saddam quail hunting.

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Please tell me US growers are naming some of their new apple varieties after countries.  Stamped on the jug of juice in my refrigerator is “concentrate from Argentina/China.”  This can’t mean what I think it means.

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Ladies and gentleman, thank you for noticing I haven’t been around. Though I haven’t been writing, I have kept up with feeding my fish. You can see they still look just as purdy as ever.

As of today I have 6 1/2 more weeks until my son (AND MY LAST CHILD) is delivered by c-section. David Frank will join us on, if not before, November 19th. Boy am I looking forward to that blessed event. Not only will I get to meet my little boy, I will no longer be pregnant ever again. I love my daughter and I know I will be just as happy to be David’s mom. I am way too old for this pregnancy stuff though. I constantly feel like a frat boy must on a Sunday morning after a long night of partying. Ugh.

There have been so many things to write about I have missed out on. Such a shame. Almost as criminal as the people I could have poked fun at. I assure you my blog is not abandoned. In fact, I might try to motivate myself to fire a few bits off before the big day.

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Honestly, I don’t think I can take one more news story where a child has been left in a hot car all day by mistake.  It is too much to bear.  My mind can’t piece together how this even happens.  I try not to judge because I imagine the parent who left the child is beyond insane with guilt over their child’s torturous death.  Beating him or her up with “how could you” remarks solves nothing.  It does strike me that these kids are often dying in parking lots.  This means even if a parent has done the unthinkable and overlooked their child, there is still a chance at saving a child if we all really start getting vigilant about checking out other people’s cars.  I have turned into a Peeping Tom, of sorts, and I invite others to join me.  When I go through the course of my day, I am forever paying attention to the cars around me.  I am on the look out for pets and children.  It doesn’t take but a second to give a section of parking lot a quick once over.  If we all did this, we would cover an amazing amount of ground on a daily basis.

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