Pressure to change is big for me. Sitting in a bastion of options and dissatisfaction spells "Go for it!" I'm not one of those "hang in there" people like the poster from the 80's with the orange kitty dangling by one arm. I should clarify though.
I will hang in there when the endgame is worth the wait, the pressure, and the difficulties inherent in situations like scholastic achievement, learning an instrument, fitness pursuits, and reading a book. But give me a job dealing with rude people, and the endgame loses its sheen. I can rarely do anything long term just for the money.
Relationships are similarly...and sadly...in this category. I can rarely do anything long term just for the love. And if love gets lost in the process, or takes a hike for awhile, forget it! I'm out of there!
There is one huge caveat though.
Communication. I don't like guessing or reading into people's moods or responses. Clarity - of self and with others - is my lightening rod to interrelationships. Without it, contempt takes over. Relationships are ruined once contempt enters the picture. They can be put back together, but to do so involves great change and healing of old wounds within the relationship.
Lately, there is tremendous pressure to change. Even the winds agree.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
This Morning 11/6/12 Rich White Guy Loses to Skinny Bi-Racial Dude
Obama won his re-election bid for POTUS.
He won the "battleground" states of PA, OH, VA, FL, CO, NH and WI, with close percentage points in VA, OH and FL, but the margins elsewhere were decidedly an Obama majority.
So, what does it mean?
Beside the opportunity to institute Healthcare reform in the U.S., which has been the most important overall campaign goal of this administration, the ending of the U.S. military occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan will be welcomed changes in Obama's second term. Redirecting all that military funding into domestic social programs would mean helping more of the 99% to empower themselves and getting the economy back into a positive slope.
As for the title of this piece - Rich White Guy Loses to Skinny Bi-Racial Dude - it is a wink and nod to a recent article I've read. Martha Finnemore, author of The Purpose of Intervention: Changing Beliefs About the Use of Force, references the changing face of social norms regarding humanitarianism, human rights and sovereignty issues as shaping the public's normative contexts concerning rights and duties. Overall, she argues, a change in the attitudes about these issues will tend to extend into behaviors of State's (meaning country's) political and State's population's behaviors. Hence...
The re-election of Barack Obama, a half-white, half-African man raised by his low-middle class grandparents instead of electing a rich white capitalist businessman speaks volumes about what is now important to the American electorate. We cannot talk about the problem of wealth disparity in this country and elect a man who has never walked into a grocery store to buy his own food!
Symbolically, the minority black youth defeating the distant white conservative is a metaphor for the ushering of new ideas and norms of identification by the U.S. populace. We are now more willing to allow the construct of "difference" to be representative of our ideals. This change in perception is meaningful. The black-skinned man, once a symbol of something less-than human, not worthy of human rights, or perceived with fear and associated with gangs, has been given the confidence again to represent our country more coherently than the white guy. It is what we are more comfortable with. This victory is somehow more purposeful than the original election of Barack Obama four years ago.
Further enforcing this paradigm shift is the subject of gay marriage, on the ballots of four states, which appears to be passing into law in several. As well, an openly gay woman has been chosen for the U.S. Senate in Wisconsin. These are examples of historical norms fading into extinction.
These shifting norms, evidenced in this election, can give us real hope that Finnemore's theories about social liberalism are having an effect that tastes much sweeter than anything a rich guy's money can buy.
He won the "battleground" states of PA, OH, VA, FL, CO, NH and WI, with close percentage points in VA, OH and FL, but the margins elsewhere were decidedly an Obama majority.
So, what does it mean?
Beside the opportunity to institute Healthcare reform in the U.S., which has been the most important overall campaign goal of this administration, the ending of the U.S. military occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan will be welcomed changes in Obama's second term. Redirecting all that military funding into domestic social programs would mean helping more of the 99% to empower themselves and getting the economy back into a positive slope.
As for the title of this piece - Rich White Guy Loses to Skinny Bi-Racial Dude - it is a wink and nod to a recent article I've read. Martha Finnemore, author of The Purpose of Intervention: Changing Beliefs About the Use of Force, references the changing face of social norms regarding humanitarianism, human rights and sovereignty issues as shaping the public's normative contexts concerning rights and duties. Overall, she argues, a change in the attitudes about these issues will tend to extend into behaviors of State's (meaning country's) political and State's population's behaviors. Hence...
The re-election of Barack Obama, a half-white, half-African man raised by his low-middle class grandparents instead of electing a rich white capitalist businessman speaks volumes about what is now important to the American electorate. We cannot talk about the problem of wealth disparity in this country and elect a man who has never walked into a grocery store to buy his own food!
Symbolically, the minority black youth defeating the distant white conservative is a metaphor for the ushering of new ideas and norms of identification by the U.S. populace. We are now more willing to allow the construct of "difference" to be representative of our ideals. This change in perception is meaningful. The black-skinned man, once a symbol of something less-than human, not worthy of human rights, or perceived with fear and associated with gangs, has been given the confidence again to represent our country more coherently than the white guy. It is what we are more comfortable with. This victory is somehow more purposeful than the original election of Barack Obama four years ago.
Further enforcing this paradigm shift is the subject of gay marriage, on the ballots of four states, which appears to be passing into law in several. As well, an openly gay woman has been chosen for the U.S. Senate in Wisconsin. These are examples of historical norms fading into extinction.
These shifting norms, evidenced in this election, can give us real hope that Finnemore's theories about social liberalism are having an effect that tastes much sweeter than anything a rich guy's money can buy.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
This Morning 11/4/12 The Smiling Disparity Gods
My own bed was a sanctuary last night as I finally returned from four days of the gypsy's life sleeping over at friend's houses, eating out of a shopping bag of food kept in my car, and buying morning coffee at the local cafe. The electric power returned to C--- and my road is back on the grid burning its share of coal, or nuclear fuel, or one of the many other destructive, idiotic ways this part of town generates power to feed millions of homes with Franklin, Volta, and Faraday's crowning jewel. Someday, I will have solar panels and a windmill!
While I was a refugee of the storm's destruction I stayed in the guest rooms of friends empowered with the gift of either a generator or - as the real estate agents say - location, location, location! The generator is a manifestation of self-sufficiency and experience. Is location a manifestation of luck or neighborhood? I'm not sure, but either way, at both places, I sat in the smile of the disparity gods. In other words, my friends are wealthy, and I benefited from that.
Disparity is disproportion, divergence and difference in material worth. The word is often used as general terminology to reference the wealth extremes which plague the world's populations. Disparity is the reason for the Occupy Wall Street movement. Mostly, it is considered a bad thing. Disparity smiled on me these last few days though.
My friends have guest rooms (code for a room which used to be kid's room) nicer than some hotels I've been to. Actually, nicer than most hotels I have been to! Decorative pillows and not a spot of dust on the floor. Perfectly arranged vanities and tissue boxes within reach of the bed. Walls painted neutral colors with matching window dressings and bedspreads. Even the bathroom had a fresh candle, heat lamp and a large bathtub into which I plunged in silence and repose.
Yes, the disparity gods smiled on me and, for once, I could not feel angry at two people living in a house with more than enough rooms for four families on the Indian reservations of South Dakota.
In fact, it is the only time when the disparity gods smile; when those more fortunate help those less so.
While I was a refugee of the storm's destruction I stayed in the guest rooms of friends empowered with the gift of either a generator or - as the real estate agents say - location, location, location! The generator is a manifestation of self-sufficiency and experience. Is location a manifestation of luck or neighborhood? I'm not sure, but either way, at both places, I sat in the smile of the disparity gods. In other words, my friends are wealthy, and I benefited from that.
Disparity is disproportion, divergence and difference in material worth. The word is often used as general terminology to reference the wealth extremes which plague the world's populations. Disparity is the reason for the Occupy Wall Street movement. Mostly, it is considered a bad thing. Disparity smiled on me these last few days though.
My friends have guest rooms (code for a room which used to be kid's room) nicer than some hotels I've been to. Actually, nicer than most hotels I have been to! Decorative pillows and not a spot of dust on the floor. Perfectly arranged vanities and tissue boxes within reach of the bed. Walls painted neutral colors with matching window dressings and bedspreads. Even the bathroom had a fresh candle, heat lamp and a large bathtub into which I plunged in silence and repose.
Yes, the disparity gods smiled on me and, for once, I could not feel angry at two people living in a house with more than enough rooms for four families on the Indian reservations of South Dakota.
In fact, it is the only time when the disparity gods smile; when those more fortunate help those less so.
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