No one else wanted to comment on my last post? I have information that you are reading, but you're not commenting.
Are you all trying to be uncontroversial? Or is everyone just not that interested?
I've been thinking about something. I was looking at the Times this morning and, aside from all the Super Tuesday primary stuff, there is other news going on in the world. Al Qaeda is still training terrorists. In fact, an intelligence agency made a report yesterday that they have reason to believe Al Qaeda might be training American citizens. They would be less visible and could attack us from within.
Also, more and more people are dying in Kenya, poppy farming is flourishing in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and forty-four people (so far) have died in yesterday's storms in Alabama and Tennessee. This was just this morning's news.
Closer to home, we are almost definitely heading into a recession, the housing bubble has thoroughly popped and people are drowning financially. People here in my community who cannot pay their bills are losing their homes.
Add to that the state of my very own community school district. Our classrooms are too small and outdated, our roofs are leaking and the level of technology is woefully behind that of other Long Island Districts. At a school board meeting last night, our brave Superintendent presented the first draft of a budget proposal for the 2007-2008 school year. It will require increases in taxes. And people are already freaking out. But, as she so intelligently reminded us, our schools NEED the money to get up to speed. We either need to pay in cash, or pay with our children's future.
Also yesterday, I heard that the great governor of New York, Hon. Eliot Spitzer, (man, I've never felt so regretful about a vote I've cast) is close to making a decision about the Broadwater Liquid Natural Gas facility proposed for the Long Island Sound. And I understand that he's leaning toward supporting it. He is the last hope for the Anti-Broadwater coalition, and he's letting his LI constituents down.
What the hell is our Sound going to look like if we set a precedent with Broadwater?
All this on my mind this morning. All these things. And I'm thinking, I'm raising three children in this world. This messed up, stressed out, over-taxed, over spent, dangerous, polluted, globally warm world.
What can I do?
I thought a while about this - there is really only one thing I can do. I can fight. Ok, there are other choices. I could close my eyes, shut the blinds, stop reading that fricken newspaper and, for goodness sake, stop going to all those meetings. I can sit on my money and my things and try to protect the status quo and hope that everything "out there" goes my way.
Ignorance is bliss, right?
Wrong. What I need to do - what we need to do is to get involved. The presidential primaries are very exciting this year. Part of the reason is that they are so close. But part of the reason is that people are into it! People are involved. They're attending rallies, asking questions and sending letters.
And I, for one, am inspired
The time to get involved, be informed, and be heard is NOW. We can't wait any longer. All this strife in our world, both locally and globally, is, to me, a call to action.
So maybe instead of my kids growing up in a world of fear, sadness and trouble, they will grow up in a world of activism.
I can live with that.
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5 comments:
Ok, here I am, the Technologically Challenged One. How do you check if people are reading your blog, even when no one's posting? Is there a hit count? I'd love to check mine.
Oh, and, yes, I agree with the bulk of your post. When there are real tragedies going on in the real world, globally (German Nazis, which still exist, bombed a Turkish school and killed students and a teacher yesterday, for example) what does our mainstream media focus on? Britney and her continuing court saga, and other Hollywood names and theirs. If our children only learn what is important from mainstream media, we are IN TROUBLE! We have to act responsibly, civically, and teach our kids to do the same.
Hi Mamacole! Yes, I've been reading, but keeping my comments to myself -sorry. I have a tendency to shut the bad news off, what I don't hear doesn't affect me. When I listen to or read the news, I tend to dwell on all the truly bad news, then I tend to obsess over it...worry about my children's future, wonder if I should be doing more, wonder/worry about our financial future, etc...
I also tend to stay out of political conversations. If I had my choice, none of the candidates would be in the race. I frankly don't like any of them. I don't trust them either. I will still vote, however, and bitch about the fact that I just am not happy.
I just blogged about the state of our "news"casts. It seems you and I are on the same page this week. Oh, and I finally figured out how to put links to blogs on my page so now I can read you more quickly! Our little family is slowly coming back together :)
Giving our kids a sense of hope and instilling a sense of responsibility for making good things happen--I agree wholeheartedly.
Without really clearly being able to articulate it always, I think I've been trying to not only give those things to my kids but to struggle to feel them myself, in spite of the many disappointments and realizations and daily news!
I love my kids so much that I've wanted to protect them at the same time as I impart to them some yucky medicine with a spoonful of sugar.
This role of helping give children a reason for being, a joie de vivre, a sense of being welcome and loved in this world, while at the same time preparing them to become healthy, happy adults in spite of all the bad stuff--it's a tall order and one that I have found challenging, to say the least. I've had to address some areas where I hadn't grown up in order to be strong for them. And I'm still growing up, FCOL! Really, it never seems to end, the lessons...
This introspection and working things out, growing their horizons, watching them as they make their way, knowing when to step in and when to step back, big part of our job as parents, in my opinion--aside from all the endless and often absurd and seemingly thankless housework.
I for one need a tropical vacation, no kids, for about two months.
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