I miss Howard too. I also miss the feeling that we have a voice, we don't. I miss the feeling that we can save our environment, we can't. Our paper money is misprinted. It should not read "In God We Trust". The truth is America's motto is "In Gold We Trust". Greed rules nearly every decision and action of those with power and, face it, we have neither gold nor power. I pity the my grandchildren for the life they will have to live. Greed will eventually lead to human extinction.
Actually, I have more faith in our grandchildren than that. Our parents' generation believed we would all die in a nuclear holocaust, and we're still here. I believe in the creativity of the people. We are going through some serious rye in the greed field, but we also learn by doing. When we dig down beneath fear there is a well of love, and love always ultimately wins.
Actually I think we do have the power. Granted that with advancing age I no longer go out and knock on doors, as Howard showed me I could do. But Howard also showed us that hundreds of thousands of small donors could raise more money than all the country's big donors put together. Which means we can provide the support the people out there knocking on doors need. I firmly believe that we -- the American people -- do still have the power.
I believe we have the power, but we also have to choose to use the power, which requires that we come together to make change possible.
It *is* a discouraging time we are in, and while I believe things can get better, I also feel the pain that Susan speaks to.
I see it on so many levels, too...even in how birthings happen in hospitals. It seems like we haven't retained the advances we made in the 60's and 70's. But then some flash mob performs Mozart in an airport, or a town comes together to help a family deal with a great tragedy, or people oust a dictator thanks to internet communication, and I realise we may again be approaching a positive tipping point. It may take a new 60's-style revolution (minus most of the drugs, of course).
In the 60s, people the age I was then were simply ignored -- treated as invisible. As I look back at what happened in the 60s and later, I see the changes produced by "revolutionary" fervor -- civil rights, for example -- having been preserved and extended. But equally significant was the huge expansion of union power, which has been in steady decline for three decades.
And strange as it may seem, Big Business is actually less powerful than it was then.
Thinking about hospitals: In the 60s I had surgical repair of a broken elbow. I was in the hospital for 2 days. A few years ago, I had a hernia repair -- open surgery under general anesthesia, not a laparoscopy. It was done on an outpatient basis. I would say that was a MAJOR advance.
Sweet News: Deaniac Maura became a Mom today! Maura and Pete welcomed Hugh Joseph early this morning, about 5 or 6 weeks early. He's beautiful and robust and presently in the NICU. Tuck them into your prayers, please. ♥
The widening income gap could be considered to resemble the Gilded Age. I don't see the same sort of conspicuous consumption, but maybe I just don't pay attention.
I miss Howard Dean!
ReplyDeleteI miss Howard too. I also miss the feeling that we have a voice, we don't. I miss the feeling that we can save our environment, we can't. Our paper money is misprinted. It should not read "In God We Trust". The truth is America's motto is "In Gold We Trust". Greed rules nearly every decision and action of those with power and, face it, we have neither gold nor power. I pity the my grandchildren for the life they will have to live. Greed will eventually lead to human extinction.
ReplyDeleteActually, I have more faith in our grandchildren than that. Our parents' generation believed we would all die in a nuclear holocaust, and we're still here. I believe in the creativity of the people. We are going through some serious rye in the greed field, but we also learn by doing. When we dig down beneath fear there is a well of love, and love always ultimately wins.
DeleteMy lack of faith is not in my grandchildren. It is in the people who make the rules today.
DeleteActually I think we do have the power. Granted that with advancing age I no longer go out and knock on doors, as Howard showed me I could do. But Howard also showed us that hundreds of thousands of small donors could raise more money than all the country's big donors put together. Which means we can provide the support the people out there knocking on doors need. I firmly believe that we -- the American people -- do still have the power.
DeleteI believe we have the power, but we also have to choose to use the power, which requires that we come together to make change possible.
DeleteIt *is* a discouraging time we are in, and while I believe things can get better, I also feel the pain that Susan speaks to.
I see it on so many levels, too...even in how birthings happen in hospitals. It seems like we haven't retained the advances we made in the 60's and 70's. But then some flash mob performs Mozart in an airport, or a town comes together to help a family deal with a great tragedy, or people oust a dictator thanks to internet communication, and I realise we may again be approaching a positive tipping point. It may take a new 60's-style revolution (minus most of the drugs, of course).
In the 60s, people the age I was then were simply ignored -- treated as invisible. As I look back at what happened in the 60s and later, I see the changes produced by "revolutionary" fervor -- civil rights, for example -- having been preserved and extended. But equally significant was the huge expansion of union power, which has been in steady decline for three decades.
DeleteAnd strange as it may seem, Big Business is actually less powerful than it was then.
Thinking about hospitals: In the 60s I had surgical repair of a broken elbow. I was in the hospital for 2 days. A few years ago, I had a hernia repair -- open surgery under general anesthesia, not a laparoscopy. It was done on an outpatient basis. I would say that was a MAJOR advance.
DeleteSweet News:
ReplyDeleteDeaniac Maura became a Mom today! Maura and Pete welcomed Hugh Joseph early this morning, about 5 or 6 weeks early. He's beautiful and robust and presently in the NICU. Tuck them into your prayers, please. ♥
Rereading the note, looks like he was born last night, so May 15th.
DeleteI think we can, Susan. It's just that we can't win once and for all. *They* will keep coming back again and again.
ReplyDeleteThis era has reminded me for years of the Gilded Age. . . . We fixed that once, and here they are again.
The widening income gap could be considered to resemble the Gilded Age. I don't see the same sort of conspicuous consumption, but maybe I just don't pay attention.
DeleteI guess for me the Age is so strongly entwined with the Robber Barons that I can't untease the two.
DeleteI wish I could say I disagree with Susan, but I don't.
ReplyDeleteDad's going to paint the attic stairs tomorrow and I'm going to Patty's on Saturday; so, I won't be back till Sunday.
Enjoy your time away!
DeleteBTW not only is that photo beautiful, but I bet the real thing smells heavenly!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely heavenly!
Delete