I had a customer (a regular) who came in today to the shop and we got on the subject of politics. This is always a bad way to start any day. Anyway she was asking me if I had seen the Queen of Jordan on TV yet. I don't have television so I told her no and she said that if the world would just stop for 8 hours and do what she has talked about that maybe we could be done with the wars and get on to the livings. I am not an unreasonable woman most of the time but I am getting really tired of people killing off people for ideals that are imagined. Religion should never condone war. There should not be war over a piece of ground or over the minerals in that ground and we need to start listening to each other without framing things in black or white!! Our world is collapsing around us under our weight. Actually the world will survive long after we do. She will simply shake us off like a dog does with unwanted fleas. Why are we (People) who are the most advance species? In the world so actively trying to kill off our own species. Why can we not see that the very thing we do is killing all of us? The Shiites and the Sunnis fight over political and religious differences. Neither is black or white, right or wrong. In Africa there are warlords that continue to kill indiscriminately so that they may control the land and their people, never mind that their people are dying at a far faster rate than anywhere in the world or that their land is drying up and wont be able to support life much longer unless the people living their start concerting their efforts toward finding a solution. There are so many reasons that the earth would want to shake us off that I have problems finding simple reasons why she wouldn't.
The truth is that people are failing to live! We are failing to be of worth to each other and to ourselves. People are losing at the very largest game of all! We are getting ready for elections in the US. Talk about colossal failures! We don't have any politicians anymore because it is way to much trouble to come to a equitable solution for all involved. Its true! To reach a "happy medium" requires patience, tolerance and willingness to compromise. It is too much work for those men and women who call themselves politicians. Its to much work to do research, to find out the very least of what is needed and negotiate with each other for a fair portion of the rest. A fair portion being defined as an equitable portion and agreed upon by all. This is the very basics of politics! And yet most working adults will admit that their jobs do not require even a tenth of that much work! That's why politicians get paid so much so they can become negotiators, not legislators, not kings, not people who control through intimidation and by seeing everyone who doesn't agree with them as being wrong!! It isn't a matter of black and white! When did it become a matter of black and white! When did the world become black and white? The world I live in is flexible, and understanding and full of learning. It isn't until we start to identify things as black and white, right or wrong, left or right, that we start to disregard those around us and parts of ourselves as well. We become failures. It's time to spend money on making peace and preserving it... Not through the threat of intimidation, but through negotiations, talking, understanding, mediation, and acceptance. Until our people (all people) can come to some form of this they will be failures and no more that unwanted fleas on our earth's back! We will not be living up to Christian values, or Buddhist values or Jehovah's values or mother earths values or any other deities that we follow. For what God could want to see his people destroy each other?
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Thursday, August 03, 2006
It is the dog days
It is that time of the year when everyone in their right minds wants a rest! I would love a few days to just sit at home and veg! I can do it here at the shop but after a while it gets kind of depressing because you should really not have time for veggin' at the shop. I am getting hit by more and more bills and they are getting to the point where they hurt! The neighbor (LaPaz restaruant) just told me yesterday that they are closing down their shop the end of September and I find myself wondering how I will survive with them closed. To make matters worse I am at that lull in my cycle where I am feeling slightly sorry for myself and I just want to stay home and sleep. I think they call this depression! Fortunately it doesnt last long for me and then I will be on the upswing again.
I have had a few customers in today and that is generally really a good thing. But it is lunch time. The hardest time for me is these few hours since I seldom have any from 1:00 to about 3:00. It is hard and disheartening. To make matters worse i bought three new chairs to paint. They are all stripped and ready but I just cant seem to find any creative juice to paint them. I have seven other chairs and a small end table waiting for my attention. Will probably get to them tomorrow. I guess I should go. I have to visit the hardware store for tacky cloth and primer and I need to pick up my other chair. Talk with ya soon. R
I have had a few customers in today and that is generally really a good thing. But it is lunch time. The hardest time for me is these few hours since I seldom have any from 1:00 to about 3:00. It is hard and disheartening. To make matters worse i bought three new chairs to paint. They are all stripped and ready but I just cant seem to find any creative juice to paint them. I have seven other chairs and a small end table waiting for my attention. Will probably get to them tomorrow. I guess I should go. I have to visit the hardware store for tacky cloth and primer and I need to pick up my other chair. Talk with ya soon. R
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Something everyone of us should see
If you are an internet junkie you probably have already found the following video. If not please check it out. http://tv.msn.com/TV/realitytv?GT1=7703 The video is the the full first episode of 30 days. It is wonderful. I have to tell a story about this subject so perhaps you can understand why I feel it is important.
My husband and I lived in San Diego for 7 years. During my second year in San Diego I was asked to go to Tijajuana with a missionary from a local church, to deliver clothes, and other donations from a local church. We were to go to a small village on the outskirts of Tijajuana. I had never been to a poor country before and had no experience about what to expect. On the way to the village I was told the people who resided there were mostly squatters and that the only people who owned any shelter where the minister and his family who owned a trailer that they parked on the grounds of the church which was also legally owned. We arrived in a place that was filthy, and poor. Most of the homes that people resided in were cardboard boxes or walls of buildings like the one shown in the film. The trailer that the minister and his family (wife and 3 children with a new baby on the way) lived in was a small travel trailer. Most of the people in the US do not even own a trailer that small anymore. They considered themselves lucky compared to their neighbors. They were gradually adding on to the trailer so it would eventually have separate rooms for two of the children.
We went to a grocery store to buy some items we needed and I discovered young children who begged to help you with your cart. They were paid in tips and often that was the only money their families would get for the day. Most of the schools in the area closed early so the children could work in this way to help support their families.
This trip to Mexico had a profound impact on me. We as Americans have no idea of the hardships that other people of third world countries endure. To deny them citizenship on the grounds of illegality is absurd! We as a country that is so rich as to be the "greatest nation" on earth should be the very people who try to make examples of ourselves through our humanity and our care. We should find a way to work more diligently with the Mexican government in helping to find economic stability for their people instead of using their economic worries to plunder the poor by providing substandard wages and offering substandard housing that is better than what exists but is not what American workers would even consider fair. It is time to make our corporations understand that the workers in third world countries are entitled to the same standards that we as American workers are and that the huge corporate economies that our corporations are declaring are profits earned through swindling the poor. Is this a standard that the United States is willing to accept? I as a citizen of the United States am not and I am embarrassed by those who are and who choose to defend the status quo as a usual means of business.
The fact that these companies can go into third world countries and offer this substandard fare is only due to a government that not only supports the corporations but refuses to be actively involved with the very governments that could help create an economically viable standard for their citizens thus decreasing the need to even address the problem of illegal aliens. Until our government stops spending the trillions of dollars on wars and starts working to address the financial instability of governments that are our neighbors we will never be able to address the issue of illegal immigration. It is time to put our dollars where they can best do the work and take the money away from a government that insists our boys are there to be targets and our money is theirs for the spending.
I guess that is all of my political rant for right now. Thanks for bearing with me. R
My husband and I lived in San Diego for 7 years. During my second year in San Diego I was asked to go to Tijajuana with a missionary from a local church, to deliver clothes, and other donations from a local church. We were to go to a small village on the outskirts of Tijajuana. I had never been to a poor country before and had no experience about what to expect. On the way to the village I was told the people who resided there were mostly squatters and that the only people who owned any shelter where the minister and his family who owned a trailer that they parked on the grounds of the church which was also legally owned. We arrived in a place that was filthy, and poor. Most of the homes that people resided in were cardboard boxes or walls of buildings like the one shown in the film. The trailer that the minister and his family (wife and 3 children with a new baby on the way) lived in was a small travel trailer. Most of the people in the US do not even own a trailer that small anymore. They considered themselves lucky compared to their neighbors. They were gradually adding on to the trailer so it would eventually have separate rooms for two of the children.
We went to a grocery store to buy some items we needed and I discovered young children who begged to help you with your cart. They were paid in tips and often that was the only money their families would get for the day. Most of the schools in the area closed early so the children could work in this way to help support their families.
This trip to Mexico had a profound impact on me. We as Americans have no idea of the hardships that other people of third world countries endure. To deny them citizenship on the grounds of illegality is absurd! We as a country that is so rich as to be the "greatest nation" on earth should be the very people who try to make examples of ourselves through our humanity and our care. We should find a way to work more diligently with the Mexican government in helping to find economic stability for their people instead of using their economic worries to plunder the poor by providing substandard wages and offering substandard housing that is better than what exists but is not what American workers would even consider fair. It is time to make our corporations understand that the workers in third world countries are entitled to the same standards that we as American workers are and that the huge corporate economies that our corporations are declaring are profits earned through swindling the poor. Is this a standard that the United States is willing to accept? I as a citizen of the United States am not and I am embarrassed by those who are and who choose to defend the status quo as a usual means of business.
The fact that these companies can go into third world countries and offer this substandard fare is only due to a government that not only supports the corporations but refuses to be actively involved with the very governments that could help create an economically viable standard for their citizens thus decreasing the need to even address the problem of illegal aliens. Until our government stops spending the trillions of dollars on wars and starts working to address the financial instability of governments that are our neighbors we will never be able to address the issue of illegal immigration. It is time to put our dollars where they can best do the work and take the money away from a government that insists our boys are there to be targets and our money is theirs for the spending.
I guess that is all of my political rant for right now. Thanks for bearing with me. R
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
It's August
Why is it that as we age we see the days go zooming by faster at a time when we really do want the days to slow down so we can enjoy them? It seems that at the very time in life when we have learned gracious living and how to enjoy it we cant enjoy it because it goes by so rapidly. Anyway, the shop is feeling this lazy dog days of summer and the schedule of which I am so proud is showing it. We have one weekend of music this month and as of yet the rest are not scheduled. We have Chess and we have Scrabble, and then there are a few days of odd events occurring that we have and that is all. So it is a month where I am not sure what will happen. I am continually worried about money now since my funds are diminishing rapidly and the profits have not quite found their way to my door. As with all small businesses it is a challenge to keep the doors open. Yet things do continue to happen in my shop that I enjoy being a part of. Synchronicity some call it, others call it magic and others coincidence. I dont have a name for it really. Coffeehouse happenings I guess. I have a friend who says this shop is becoming a vortex for unusual and wonderful happenings. Whatever it is, there is not a day goes by that I am not really delighted to own this wonderful venture.
Last week two young people who were visiting the island met each other for the first time here. I have had women come in who are lonely because of moving to someplace new and meet with another woman who has like interests and become lasting friends. I have seen people meet for other things as well and always it is an unexpected and wonderful event. I had two friends who met for the first time in over 10 years. Niether knew the other would be here but both were drawn to an event that I was holding here. It is a wonderful thing to be a vortex!
Well our grandson and my son and daughter (in law) will be visiting in September and will an open Studio tour through my studio and coffeehouse the following weekend after the visit it is beginning to look like September might just be a huge time for me. We will see what happens when we get closer to that time. I guess I should get ready to go now though since I still have table tents to make for the business next door and I need to get some work done on some chairs I am getting ready to paint. Until next time. R
Last week two young people who were visiting the island met each other for the first time here. I have had women come in who are lonely because of moving to someplace new and meet with another woman who has like interests and become lasting friends. I have seen people meet for other things as well and always it is an unexpected and wonderful event. I had two friends who met for the first time in over 10 years. Niether knew the other would be here but both were drawn to an event that I was holding here. It is a wonderful thing to be a vortex!
Well our grandson and my son and daughter (in law) will be visiting in September and will an open Studio tour through my studio and coffeehouse the following weekend after the visit it is beginning to look like September might just be a huge time for me. We will see what happens when we get closer to that time. I guess I should get ready to go now though since I still have table tents to make for the business next door and I need to get some work done on some chairs I am getting ready to paint. Until next time. R
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
