Gas Prices

Is this a historic week? In one 24 hours news cycle, the President tries to shut up Donald Trump and the "birthers", our media builds up the British royal wedding to a fever pitch, and the NFL's draft produces endless speculation about which 21 year olds in America are going to be getting 10's of millions of dollars.

Why is our population so focused on fantasies?

The theory here is that humans seek out distractions to avoid dealing with what is lacking in their reality, including a lack of truth. People will turn just about anywhere to look outside of themselves for "non-reality."

The entertainment industry spends billions of dollars a year on films, games, pornography, and escapism to take advantage of this. Of course in a "free" country companies and individuals can spend money on producing anything they want, while taking advantage of human weakness in the process.

A democracy does not tell its people or companies that they have to spend part of their money on productive endeavors. During this process of producing items that negatively impact the planet and its 7 billion people, and countless other species, precious natural resources are depleted. Drilling for and refining oil pollutes the environment and the Arab world holds the rest of us and our economies hostage, by manipulating production and gas prices at our pumps.

(Of course, taxes are collected so politicians can decide what is useful and/or important. But corporations hide income with accounting tricks, off shore banking, and fake overseas corporate offices, while spending $100's of thousands on expensive accountants who shelter income from the IRS. If IRS fraud, Medicare fraud, welfare fraud, etc. were not so rampant and if there were not so many loopholes in the tax law, there would be enough money to take care of the infrastructure, our seniors, and folks who honestly cannot take care of themselves due to mental illness or physical hardships. But I digress.)

Entertainment is stimulation that creates drug-like states of euphoria. The sensory input human brains receive from TV, movies, music, video games, etc. are addictive; like cocaine and heroin. There is science that examines the effects of sensory input on the brain, but I won't bore you with research info - you can look it up.

Some exposure to story telling, myth, and fantasy is important for the development of children. However, today's child and adult fantasies, even Harry Potter, are fantasies that go beyond what is healthy and beneficial. These are also heightened super-stimuli designed to create a rapid response. Like the overdose of sugar in junk food and candy. The marketing industry pumps out fantasies to consumers at warp speed, in order to satisfy its own selfish goals; greed = money ....... this is critical to the cycle of over-consumption.

Humans who like tobacco, fast and loud race cars, cheap, watered-down American beer, and incredibly over the top cartoon-like violence, are also easily drawn into voting for politicians who will give them what they want. They watch and listen to loud and obnoxiously over blown, cliche spewing, and big personality-with-attitude pundits. Check the ratings and the demographics.

So what is the point of this rant? Gas prices are high enough to effect the mindset of consumers who would otherwise be spending more in a recovering economy. The irony is that they would be buying stuff that is not necessary and not good for them, with money that they don't really have (see credit crisis).

The bottom line is that all 7 billion of us live on a beautiful planet, but have lost our way. We should be living in humble harmony, peacefully taking care of mind, body and spirit, and enjoying the simple pleasures and bounties that naturally occur around us.

Happy Days

Why do humans have such a strong need to express their opinion? What core element of the human brain is geared to oppose others, and verbally, and sometimes physically, defend against another humans remarks and/or beliefs? How did humans evolve to be so reactionary?

There is no pretense here that the answer is obvious, subtle, or researched to a conclusion; the questions posed above unto themselves bring forward enough food for thought to build a series of observations.

During recent conversations with a group of strangers at a meetup.com group, whose intention is simply to gather around the need for intelligent conversation in San Diego County, I realized what I wanted and needed to enrich my current life. Talking about current hot topics, exchanging philosophies about how we got here and where we are going, and speculating on the possibilities, acts like a transfusions of energy for me.

Viewing life balance as a three legged stool, work, home, and creative expression have become a necessity for this life form. The search has ended for the allusive "hobby." Writing posts in this Blog and  discovering meetup.com I am linking to my world globally and locally.

Along the way, I had to figure out what was at the root of my needs, and also how to gain satisfaction and enjoyment out of new outlets to maintain harmony. Thanks to Zoey of zoey.com for encouraging me to realize I am expressive.

Lesson #1  -   I just need to write without ultimately caring if anyone reads what I have to say, or if they respond after they have read it.

Lesson #2  -  Have interesting conversation with people who don't want to argue their point or have a need for acknowledgement and support. Talk to people who like to hear the thoughts of others, can easily move from one topic to another, are open minded, and who don't get stuck.

Now I can take you back to the beginning of this circle; Happy Days. The fantasy/reality of my youth in the 1950's is that civility, respect, courtesy, manners, and other restraints that were built into this society "back in the day", had very few people outwardly/publically insulting others. (I am not blind to the fact that people in private have always "hated" on others due to bigotry about race, religion, economic status, social class, etc., etc. And yes there have always been hate crimes.)

Sure there was a Fonzie or two in most High Schools around the country, but polite society listened to each other, and our political leaders were able to create big programs with our tax $$ for the benefit of all; build and maintain our infrastructure, education systems, and emergency services. They agreed to disagree on many things, but generally focused on moving forward ,with compromise and compassion.

Fear and greed have risen exponentially over the past 50 years, and this finds us adrift, shipwrecked, and drowning; miles away from the shore of our core values. The good news is that most of us would say that their are more good and kind people amongst us, than bad; and human interest stories flood the media highlighting the incredible giving nature of millions of our fellow citizens.

The real division between the "haves" and the "have-nots", and today's leaders vs. the followers, is the basic elements of purpose and accountability, and ultimately the lost focus on what is most important for the good of all. The original reason for suppressed, over taxed Europeans creating this America, was to create a new nation dedicated to: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

May the Force be with You

Jet Blue carried us back and forth to the south coast of Florida this weekend, and with the wind at our backs, we made the east leg in 4 hours and fifteen minutes. During the extended weekend, there were light sea breezes which made the 88 degree temps very pleasant as we sat, strolled, drank, talked, and observed life past, present and future.

The main reason for the trip was to celebrate Dad's 90th and with raised glasses, in a fine setting on the inter coastal, words of wisdom about the passages of time warmly blew across the candles on his cupcake. Easy references to a lot of hot air will be avoided. Anytime humans gather to honor life, family, friends, and food, the attempt to put into words the depth of feelings turns into a declaration of life passages

There simply is no way to tell it all in one sitting. How to sum up 90 years of pain, change, revelations and eventually forgiveness. Suffice to say, the expression was genuine and flowing. I was particularly focused on my Father's wife's son, Bir Krishna das Goswami, as he expressed his appreciation for my Dad's role in his journey. I have not been privy to their relationship, but obviously they have found common ground over these oh so many years.

I have been reading http://bkgoswami.com/ and realizing that a brilliant, enlightened being has been so close but yet so far in my life. The time has arrived to enjoy the wisdom, insight, and peacefulness. Take a look with an open mind.

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow."

My mind gets clogged with words of others.

I choose free spirit to explore and learn.

Without restrictions I face new challenges.

Knowing balance is the key to safe adventures.

Weaving, dodging, I just keep moving;

My ears don't hear the chant "You can't."

The best views have boundless horizons,

I maintain hope and stay open to possibilities.

Steering clear of the complex web,

I strive to determine my own fate.

No fear that stormy seas will sink me,

Believe the sun rises uniquely each morning.

Hope encourages my instincts and confidence;

I focus on opportunities to increase wisdom.

With a positive attitude, my mind sees clearly,

That dark skies bring the rain we need to grow.

Toto, I’ve Got a feeling We’re Not in Kansas Anymore

Dad turns 90 on April 13, so from my view, health insurance for seniors (Medicare) is working. As the years roll by, Dr. visits increase and of course the ubiquitous American appetite for prescription medication is spins out of control.

But there is a need to eliminate Medicare wasteful and corrupt spending, just like there is an urgency do the same for the Defense budget. So how do the masses feel, respond, or know what to think about the Budget. Most Americans can't even manage their own household $$$, spending beyond their means, using little of their brain to realize their earning potential.

This debate will now flame across the media and politicians will try to earn points and gain traction from sound bites. Most of these bites will be exaggerations, 1/2 truths, and will be purposely misleading and deceptive. This is how humans play the game.

So we'll never know what is really going on in our Federal and State programs because the accountants that guard the books, play a shell game with revenue streams and expenses, and develop ever more clever ways of creating deceptive P & L statements.

What is to be done? Annie and I talked about this today on the phone and agreed that there is nothing to be done. We sit on the sidelines as we get older, realizing it has always been this way with humans. We are helpless to create change because the evolution of mind, body and spirit takes 1000's of years; but along the way in every cycle of let's say 50,000 years the planet itself shifts, heaves, tips on it's axis and kills off enough living things to reset everything back to start.

How long has this been going on on Earth? Millions, maybe billions of years. No one knows. "It doesn't really matter anyhow"(sing it like the way Chicago did in the 60's and 70's). We will do what we do to stay sane, centered, and in balance. We focus on our family and job. We keep our eyes down staring out our feet as we trek through our lives, hoping for safe passage for all in our sphere.

We need good health as a basic element of our simplistic survival. We rely on the support of the government in a free society to subsidize our lives by giving us what amounts to vouchers to pay for health care and drugs. Wouldn't it make more sense to consider controlling the cost of health care by writing laws that standardize the charges of all health care services on a menu?

Yearly exam=$25  Teeth Cleaning=$15  Xray=$37  Cancer treatment=$175  Eye exam=$9  and so on.

Oh wait, now I remember. The democratic free enterprise system doesn't allow for those kind of controls. The market sets the prices. The wealthy can afford things, the poor cannot. The middle just struggles to get by.

As the Wicked Witch of the West said as she was melting into a pool of oblivion, "What a world, what a world ..... "   

I have a great image for a scene in a different life; a scene where evil do-ers will be completing the Witches speech as they disappear.

An image that someday a young girl (maybe a reincarnation of the David in the David vs. Goliath tale) will wield a sling shot and one small stone, manage to turn a mob into an uprising, and with simple common sense create the game changer.

Here is a hope that she/he will toss the proverbial water on the flames of corporate greed and the CEO's of ExxonMobile, Pfizer, and Halliburton will be melting into the pavement ranting: "Who would have thought that a little girl like you could destroy my wickedness."