Thoughts and Ruminations

Why is it that government costs on almost every level are cut by cutting from the bottom, where the need is highest and the over-all effect upon the nation as a whole is the greatest?! Two of the most important needs are severely affected—health and education, especially the latter. What makes human beings human is the awareness of the various worlds around them, and the ability to reason. And both of these abilities can only come through education and the quality of the education received.

Is Sen. John McCain running for President again? Republicans tend to think of war as the first tactic to consider, and I see he has been on the news quite often lately, berating Pres. Obama and his ability to lead. And that reminds me, Vice Pres. Dick Cheney evidently doesn’t realize that he is no longer President, either.

So far as I know, the religious right doesn’t disapprove of keeping animal populations down by exercising birth control (or shooting for sport.) What, exactly, is their position on the smothering blanket of human beings drawing ever tighter around the globe?

And speaking of religion and the growing population, it is becoming more and more apparent to me that peoples with differing religious and/or political beliefs simply cannot live together as a single nation. There is no way that religious and political views can merge into a government that satisfies and serves more than one point of view at a time. Religion, especially, cannot and will not compromise.

There is only one solution to the overpopulation problem, and that is the unrest and annihilation of most (if not all) of the human race by the final choice we have made—constant war and subjugation. Religious groups, in particular, are eager to spread “Democracy” around the world. But, whether they realize it or not, Democracy as they know it can only spread as it has in this country, by proseletization by the religious right of non-believers, either in person, or by inserting it into the government which will control us all.

ARW
6/23/09

Lessons, Learning, and Relationships

For over two years, now, I have needed caretakers to help me around the house. The morning helper is here for two hours, during which she helps me bathe, feeds my cats, fixes my breakfast, and makes my bed.



When making my bed, whether or not there is a cat on my bed, most of them have simply sort of pulled my blankets up to the top and smoothed them down. A few days ago, I decided to give them lessons in bedmaking, as anyone who has been in the service can recall. So far, I have given bedmaking lessons to three of my helpers, with excellent results, and as I was relaxing on the couch just now, it occurred to me that the lessons were not just in bedmaking.



First of all, without realizing it, I was teaching and they were learning geometry, possibly without ever having taken it in school. The bed and the bedding were squares, and they were learning that you cannot make them relate to each other by just pushing the wrinkles of the sheets farther across the matress. They have to figure out where the middle of the head of the bed is, and the middles of the sheet and blanket are, and then to relate them to each other in squares. The sheet must be longer at the head of the bed, and the blanket a few inches shorter so that the sheet can fold over the blanket to protect your face from the rough surface of the blanket. The bottom edge of the blanket thus can be tucked in farther at the foot of the bed.



This is followed by learning to pull up the resulting extra bedding hanging out of each side of the foot of the bed. The helper learns to pull up that extra bedding into a sort of triangle that folds down neatly at the side. All of my students were absolutely amazed at what they had done!



As I relaxed on the couch, I realized that I had actually taught them a little geometry without mentioning the word. But what was even more important was that they were delighted with what they had done. And most important, each of them and I were drawn even closer to each other by their pride in themselves and my pride in them.



ARW

6/21/09

Are Christians being oppressed in America?

Read And when I feel my finger on your trigger.