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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