sometimes it's those repetitive and necessary tasks that provide the most welcome for uninterrupted thought...
okay, so i didn't chop wood or carry water today...but before the rain threatened to make each task decidedly grim, i collected wood from the shed to warm the house (oil doesn't get here until tomorrow)...i gathered pears from our tree for a pear custard tart for after dinner...i cut some dahlias the color of the finest merlot and coreopsis the color of perfect summer sunshine for the table...
and as i worked, the boys playing quietly and separately in the yard, i was thinking about something i had read earlier...i am reading about the history of public schools in america and had come across the following sentence...
Some say that Americans are so different that shared civic values are impossible.
and as i worked i thought about this...shared civic values?...are there *any* civic values left in america, let alone *shared* ones?...a decidedly cynical observation, but it seems to me that this country has become so polarized politically, with so much of the population mis-represented or non-represented as a result, that indeed shared civic values are indeed impossible...
but isn't that the beauty of america?...the idea that you just don't have to if you don't want to...but do personal opinion and political preference outweigh our civic duty?...the duty to at least be a contributing member in some fashion to the *greater* good...and what of the idea of "civic duty" let alone "civic values"?...more and more i see people caring less about community in general, and more about personal gain or personal survival...not surprising given the last four years...survival of the fittest has had to become the order of the day...
because it's hard to move ahead enough to pull others up and along with you when a.) because of the last four years (politically and as a result economically) you aren't moving ahead AT ALL, and b.) you can't put faith or trust in anyone offering to help guide the way because they don't know how!...and thanks to the two major political parties that dominate america, you may never find someone with whom you can both trust and elect...
welcome to america...land of opportunity and manufacturer of dreams...in america you can be whatever you want to be...but just remember, if you aren't for A or B (or ABB ;) ) then don't count on representation to support where those dreams may take you...
and how can you really contribute fully to and share civic values with a country that doesn't represent you?...and that is not a wah-wah-wah excuse/whine or a diatribe against country of my birth, because lord knows there is so much more i could be doing toward that end, just a question i pondered while getting the last of the wood into the house as the first drops began to fall...
and as i brought the pears to the kitchen sink for washing i realized that none of these are new ideas...and as with any questions of this nature *answers* are few, and really aren't answers at all...just more questions waiting to be revealed...
and something to think about as i ran down to the mailbox to pick up the mail and get back to the house before the sky opened up and the rain began to fall in ernest...
x.
