Saturday Thoughts

our town has an annual tradition of holding a parade the friday after thanksgiving. this year it was postponed. why? because of a football game. we had our annual civil war game yesterday--a game filled with dangerous, unnecessary competition held in a stadium full of drunk, littering suv-driving folks of all ages. dollars that could be better spent helping rather than harming the body and planet. a friend of mine watched the game yesterday and called me afterwards to tell me who won. i was immediately on my soapbox, preaching about the perils of competitive sports and the waste of resources. she couldn't disagree, but she still loves a good football game. i've always always always been a terrible fan (back in the days when i watched certain teams regularly). i'd be so estatic when my team won, but then i'd always feel sad for the losers. then i'd go into this spiral of guilt that eventually lead to introspection. i came away with the idea that all sports should be played like t-ball: for fun. no scores are kept. no winners or losers. just people playing a game they love and having a good time.

my hub is correct. the university rules this town. explains why (some of) the local police are so damn lax with the behaviors of college kids. the excuses out of these officers mouths has really pissed me the farm fuck off at times. "look, they're college kids. this is what they do. if they're keeping you up, just move." "i know their music is loud, but this isn't an issue for the police. you need to call the landlord." "aren't you being a little picky?" then there was my favorite: "i don't hear a thing."

hub and i took the chance last night and ventured out to rent some movies. we were surprised at how quiet it was--not much traffic. the party-animals had likely already left town, or as my spouse said, were "passed out early" being they began drinking at 10am. we decided to rent al gore's an inconvenient truth. excellent film. very well done. you get the feeling that gore is truly living his passion, his destiny. this is what he is meant to be doing right now and it is that sincerity, backed up with the inarguable scientific facts, that should convince every last bit of the doubters out there. the scene that most moved me was the animated picture of the polar bear swimming and swimming in search of ice. so many have drowned because of the melting glaciers (what wasn't touched on was the bears who are dying of starvation because of the changing food chain). that image is now burned in my mind and i can only hope it remains there and reminds me when i am being wasteful with my energy use.

the only thing i wish he had gone into a bit more detail was the idea of greed and over-consumption. i wish he had spoken about the unequal distribution of wealth and resources. the "keep up with the joneses" mentality is killing our planet. balance is desperately needed. of course, one could make an entire documentary about this topic alone. it's just something i am intensely passionate about, so i was hoping to see more discussion. anyway, this is going to be a film to add to our permanent collection.

anyone interested in learning more, check out www.climatecrisis.net. being i'm a songwriter, i have to mention melissa ethridge's song she wrote and contributed to the movie, "wake up now" (i believe that's the title). very moving, very powerful song. the video is a special feature on the dvd.

so many things in which we need to "wake up NOW"....................