May 12, 2020
poor georgie's almanack
WILL THERE BE AN ACUTE SHORTAGE OF GRANDPARENTS? IF SO, IS THAT A GOOD THING OR BAD?
Everything we see, we hear, we feel, and what we believe, is relative to how we process what we see, we hear and we feel.
For instance, we stand on a corner and watch a slow moving bus. The passengers behind the windows are moving from left to right. At that exact moment the passengers see us sliding from right to left. (That’s a simplified explanation of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, which is about physics, but also works for some metaphysics.)
So, please consider these four harsh and quite unpleasant big-picture statements that really are about money.
- Millions of otherwise reasonable Americans and citizens of other countries think supporting an unborn baby’s right to life is more important that their grandparents’ right to life. Or vice-versa.
- Millions assume the survival of a business is more important than the survival of its staff and customers. Or vice-versa.
- Millions believe health insurance is a privilege only for those who can afford it, and the government should not be responsible for the others. Or vice-versa.
- Millions are convinced it is more important to strengthen the safety net for wealthy people and businesses than the net for poor people (including the working poor). They essentially argue that a strong circulating dollar is more important than a strong DNA. Or vice-versa.
Millions of others probably are like me. We bounce around in the middle between the vice and the versa. We know that once in office every politician’s vote affects constituents’ quality-of-life and quality-of-death. We know that some votes seem relatively innocuous yet unforeseen consequences can lead to tragedy.
E.g, an unfilled pothole causes a car to veer into an oncoming vehicle. Injuries occur. That might not have happened if either of the drivers had learned about defensive driving. But, someone made a budget decision to drop drivers-ed from their school curriculum because the money was needed to upgrade its football stadium, which grew in size. Meanwhile, it had been a hard winter and someone else knew there were too many pot holes and too little money to hire more workers. So potholes grew too.
If you’ve lived in a rural school district, that kind of thinking would not be unusual.
But, we don’t ask our elected officials (down to county and lower levels) how they determine whose life is worth saving or improving, and whose life is on the other side of the divide. And why they think the way they do? Especially in allocating budget monies.
For the most part, those of us in the middle don’t have an opportunity to ask decision makers about the pros-and-cons they considered when choosing options that affect our lives. Especially the cons.
So, we depend on the rapidly shrinking “edited and fact checked” free press. We know that most of what we hear or read is provided by people who thrive on providing us what we want to hear or read, without nuance, or even what we in the middle consider to be fact-checked.
Unfortunately, with minimal exception, members of the media neither ask nor report on the often complicated decision-making process. In part they have given up and assume politicians will not answer, or bureaucrats will pivot off onto another topic, or the person behind the podium will stop them from even having an opportunity to ask. I personally would like to know how they developed their positions on questions such as those in the four statements above.
Grandmas and grandpas like me have no knowledge of what is going on behind the facades erected by newsmakers so we fear the worst. We fear for our future and fear for the future of our children and their children.
No matter what we may say to others, behind the facades we ourselves have built, we are relatively sure fear is stronger than hope. And we fear we are as expendable as an old penny.
Or vise-versa.
What do you think?
uncredited picture from BestLife.com
