Every Single Bloody Thing

  I knew months ago that we would be in a recession and that gas, oil, food,clothing - all our modern conveniences would sky rocket. Complacency is one of the problems we will have to get over and deal with. The biggest one that I can see is our idea that we have the "right" to have what we want, when we want it - and more and more of it too! I'm afraid we have become used to using resources at our convenience. It is going to be a new world and we had better get on track for it now.
    It's not so much that we will go "backwards" and that we will have to live like they did in the 1930's - baking our own bread (if we can get grains), sewing our own clothes, carrying buckets of water from a well, no television or internet. But we will have to make hard choices. I want my books, internet, computer and to be warm in winter. If I have to use the air conditioner less in the summer so that I can have heat in the winter, I will do that. If I have to cut back on restaurants and convenience food to pay the internet bill, I will do that. I choose to walk a lot of places now to save on gas so that I can afford fuel for the car for when I truly need it. Most of my household goods are purchased used because I believe in recycling (or they are not "high end" - I see no need for a 3 thousand dollar sofa that I will sit on for an hour or two a day but I do not trust used soft furnishings, too much chance of fleas, bed bugs and other nasties in sofas, chairs and beds that come from strangers). I don't really know when it happened but we seem to believe that we have to have the "best", the "newest", the "fastest", the "biggest".
    I will take some of that blame and responsibility. I recently spent more on a new laptop than many families make in a year. But I am willing to do without other things. I no longer believe that I deserve to have everything that I see and I know I need to make compromises and choices. I want the coffee I buy to be "fair trade" and/or shade grown coffee and I have to pay extra for that. In return I will spend less on pre-packaged foods to make up that additional cost. At least I have that choice available. Some people will have to choose between coffee and cereal for breakfast. I have no idea how my son is going to be able to feed and clothe three children, let alone pay for sports, equipment, dance classes, martial arts lessons and gasoline to get them to all the places they need to be. We couldn't afford any of that when I was growing up and perhaps the next generation will find that all these extras will be denied to them too. It might be a good time to bring back hop-scotch, jump rope and marbles.
    I won't step foot in Walmart. I would rather do without or save up a bit more to purchase from a Canadian company or from local vendors. I do not want to perpetuate the outsourcing, low wages and cheap goods mentality that has gripped us. America had better wake up soon before it is too late.
    The local nursery gave away Redbud seedlings and hubby picked one up for me. Cities need to plant more trees instead of destroying our forests. The nursery has joined with Rayon to plant trees in Haiti and we donated $10 to plant 10 trees. Take a look at google earth and see what Haiti looks like. There is a clearly seen line that is the border between Haiti and the Dominican. Green, lush forests and parks on the Dominican side and arid desert on the Haitian side. Greed, bad planning and human interference has destroyed half an island.
    I am just as greedy as the next person, don't get me wrong. But I am beginning to see that I must regulate and structure my "need" for "things". If I want that new tarot deck I must be prepared to do without something else. THAT is what this generation doesn't yet understand but they will. One cannot have every single bloody thing that one wants just as soon as the idea crosses one's mind. You can't live in a home that you can't afford, you can't drive a car that is beyond your means, you can't use Mother Earth's resources without replacing them. It is an honour and a privilege to be alive and live on this beautiful planet. The Earth doesn't owe us a thing, we owe her. Life doesn't owe us either.

Posted via email from Sesheta's Place