The Longest day

With the Solstice summer has arrived, and in LA it’s brought the heat with it.  Long host summer days are part of why we love LA, but it’s also a reminder that there are more long days ahead.

With a renewed sense of hope we march forward, as we always have towards a better day, but the oppressive heat gives me pause.  I sit in my office with three computers adding to the building heat.  The AC unit I bought last year during the worst heat wave I can remember since moving to LA sits behind me turned off.  I’ll turn it on when I can’t do anything but turn it on.  Until then I’ll keep a cold drink on hand.  Our electric bill arrived yesterday and that’s hotter than I have ever seen as well.

As I thought of what the solstice means to me today I remembered a story I had seen on TV several months ago.  It was an examination of poverty and environment.  Two families in similar conditions where part of this examination.  On family was from the heartland of the great nation and the other lived in Africa.  Though both families fought a daily struggle to feed there children the family in the USA was desperate and seemingly without hope.  The family in Africa however desperate had hope, they laughed and the children played as the cameras rolled.  The difference was striking, and left a lasting impression.

There are few who would argue, no matter how bad things seem they are a lot worse in Africa.  But it may be easier for the poor there to hold onto hope because while the disparities are greater, they are a lot less obvious.

We are asked to conserve while our elected officials drive to work in a Hum-vee.  We are asked go with less while we see excess all around us.  We are asked to pay $4.50 for a gallon of gas while Big Oil posts the highest corporate profits of all times.

Is ignorance bliss?  If you feel powerless maybe it is.  Most people don’t need to be rich they just need to pay there damn bills.  Regardless of how far we feel we might have fallen over the last 8 years the truth is that the United States of America is still the richest and most powerful country in the world by a huge margin.  For many this is exactly the problem.

Children in this country go without food and water while we spend hundreds of billions of dollars sending other children to die in wars on the other side of the world.

Our government bails out Bear Sterns—it’s starting to look like I can replace that statement with bails out a bunch of rich criminals—yet refuses to extend the same courtesy to it’s citizens.

We send Aid to foreign countries yet refuse to help our own.  We show the suffering of people in far off lands but we ignore those in need who live across the street.

Free hand outs just encourage the lazy to be lazy.  But there is a difference between an hand out and a helping hand.  Until we help our own people how can we help anyone else.  To those of us with the highest ideals I say open the dialogue in a real and honest way.  To those who would keep the status quo I said “You’re either with us or you’re against us.”  Turn about is fair play after all.

I had to turn the AC on while I finished this post.  I guess I will have to pay for that later.

There is so much amazing technology and wealth in this world now there is no reason every child in this country can’t get a good meal and a solid education, and there is no reason I can’t have my AC on.  We need to stop crying about how bad things are and start helping grass roots politics get our local voices heard.  Voting down party lines is the single biggest bullshit concept I have ever heard.  It used to be called the Democratic-Republican Party and it’s bullshit.  You want your AC?  Vote out the old guard. Obama and McCain are just two sides of the same old worn out coin.