What has civilization come to??

Progress. Sometimes I wonder exactly what that means? The opposite of congress? Hey, you think I'm kidding?? Seriously...

Have we, as individuals, become so wrapped up in our 'me me me' lives that we can't see the world in front of our noses without the input from a self-appointed, glory-seeking, seemingly-concerned-as-long-as-it-makes-us-money groups?? Can we not see for OURSELVES what we do to the earth around us?? What gives the ever powerful 'concerned' groups the RIGHT to act on our behalf? WHO exactly appointed them the movers and shakers of the decision world?

What am I ranting about this time, you ask?

I'll tell you. No matter what newspaper I pick up, no matter what magazine I read an article in, there is always someone with a voice as a spokesman for the 'betterment of society' or 'betterment of the world'. The articles are written with a particular view in mind, be it ecology, environmental concerns, animal rights, human rights, etc.

It's understandable why they're written. The word MUST be gotten out to the general public so that they will be informed. I give them that, it's a valuable tool to reach the public. But...

.... what do WE as citizens do with the information??

Like most people locally, I'm lucky to have a job. I have two kids in school, a husband and a father to worry about. I don't always have time to THINK about what is going on in the world around me. I spend most of my day just trying to figure out which end is up between running kids to school, to work, to the store, and working myself. Not to mention the household chores, IF by chance they don't fall by the wayside because I just can't do it all myself! I don't have TIME to think about my OWN health and well being much less that of the world....

and if I'm like that... well, I just can't believe that I'm the only in America, the world even, that doesn't take the extra time to be concerned about our planet.

How do these people that write these articles find the time to sit down and do so?? I've been working on a book for nearly ten years, and I don't have time to write on it, much less publish article after article in magazine spouting how concerned we should be about bovine bowel gases collapsing the ozone layer!

The only answer I can come up with is that they have the money and time that I don't. And in a way, that makes me resent what they do. Yes, I might agree with their message that we need to take care of our planet, but don't spout Ten Ways to Go Green when I have less than ten minutes to change my clothes between work and basketball practice!!

And where do we read these articles. Dare I say that the last time I read one I was in the bathroom? The time before that was in the dentist office. And before that, probably a doctor's office or some such place where I spent more time waiting than I would in the actual appointment!

The general public, or at least the working class that I'm a member of, simply does NOT have the luxury of time to spend reading the 'message' they send out. And so we remain the 'uninformed majority' that doesn't know any better than to spray our hair with ozone depleting aerosols, eat meat from beef and pork treated with antibiotics and hormones, and drive gas guzzling Tahoes less than a mile from work to home. (even if one way is a steep mountain we'd have a heart attack climbing to get home!!)

And so, we the uninformed are criticized for what we do because we don't 'know any better' and there becomes a need to form a 'non-profit' (I raise my eyebrows at this because I've seen the so-called non-profit tax returns from some of these groups!!... three words... nonprofit my ass!!)

And so they form a non-profit group to hold meetings and deliberate the public welfare and the public good and then they make signs and hold rally's to demonstrate against something that the 'uninformed public' should be aware of in the first place. They write articles that the uninformed only get to read when an unscheduled pause occurs in their daily schedule.

And then the uninformed people bitch because they 'didn't know' what was going on before an action from the government gets everyone up in arms.

And the government says... "But we told you...." And then we can only look around and wonder what the hell happened.

Yeah, we're so caught up in our own little day to day lives that the big picture is fast passing us by and the sad part is that we're pretty much helpless to do anything about it unless we make major changes in our lives.

Maybe those are changes we should seriously consider.... just so the world doesn't end with us in it wondering what the hell happened...

and the government says... "But we told you...."

Thoughtful in the mountains

Dragonlady