Food for Thought 1

This is from the article The Bus vs. the Bear from the Washington Post, written by Tom Howarth. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/23/AR2008052302610.html

" The former head of the Jesuit order, Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, once said that there are not enough resources in the world for all peoples to be brought up to middle-class American standards of living. Something has to give. We have to learn to slow down and live simpler lives so that others can simply live. "

What a quote, I love it! It reminds me of:

"Don't live within your means, but rather within your needs."
I think we all need to reconsider what we really "need" to live well and happy. Not Huge SUV's, $1000 designer handbags, 4000 sq feet of living space....
An insulated place to live that protects from the weather's worst faces, enough food and water to survive and keep healthy, a few outfits (vs. closets full of them) , decent health care, to name the important few.
Of course with what's happening with the prices of these, our means may soon only cover our basic "needs".
Why didn't we think of this sooner? Don't get me going on that one..or just read the previous post.

The Superclass - Definition, Comments and Reflections

They're Global Citizens. They're Hugely Rich. And They Pull the Strings.
By David RothkopfSunday, The Washington Post - May 4, 2008; B01

We didn't elect them. We can't throw them out. And they're getting more powerful every day.
Call them the superclass.
At the moment, Americans are fixated on the political campaign. In the meantime, many are missing a reality of the global era that may matter much more than their presidential choice: On an ever-growing list of issues, the big decisions are being made or profoundly influenced by a little-understood international network of business, financial, government, cultural and military leaders who are beyond the reach of American voters.
In addition to top officials, these people include corporate executives, leading investors, top bankers, media moguls, heads of state, generals, religious leaders, heads of terrorist and criminal organizations and a handful of important cultural and scientific figures. Each of these roughly 6,000 individuals is set apart by their power and ability to regularly influence millions of lives across international borders. The group is not monolithic, but none is more globalized or has more influence over the direction in which the global era is heading.

The above paragraphs were the opening of an interesting article from the Washington Post, that I sent to many of my firends and family. What it argues I have heard in conferences here in Spain and have been observing for a few years now. Scarey, truly scarey.

Below is just my own quick refelction and prediction on what will happen that I sent in an on-going e-mail conversation with my conservative uncle. It seems we are in agreement on the problem and plight. We just disagree tremendously on how to address it. (See earlier article on Proud to be a Liberal)

" The superclass exists in all of the developed parts of the world. Question is whether they really want to see wealth redistributed in a more equitable manner."

" It’s so true in the First World in general, although the social safety nets here in Europe , (health care, unemployment, training, housing help) help keep the middle class from falling into poverty levels when difficult times, like now, come. I think this difficult period is the beginning of major changes, and getting through them is gonna’ be tough, with or without the safety nets. I truly believe a major shift is coming, and the US will perhaps be a big loser. Things are so out of balance globally– the environment, our values…consume, consume, consume, to keep an economy going when other people’s food chain and supplies are declining or non-existant,, the declining value of human life for so many, the pace we try and keep up with to keep earning to keep spending, which keeps worsening the environment, which hurts the have nots more than the haves….like I said out of balance. "
Well, how did I get there? I just have been observing it from that perspective for a long time.

Mother's Day

My Daughter's and I in Paris in Feb.

I celebrate Mother's Day twice. The first celebration is for me as a mother, I celebrated it last Sunday on Spain’s Mother’s Day. I gave myself a lovely day, decided to stay home and not go out among the noisy Spanish throng of extended families, but rather, enjoy the peace and tranquility of our own garden that my husband has been working on for days. It looks so impressive, the pool is clean, the fountain’s running. So our comida, just the fours of us, on our patio was prettier than any restaurant could offer. I did a leg of lamb on our gas BBQ and served it with the new potatoes steamed with butter and parsley, green beans, baby broccoli and beets from the garden of my new organic supplier, even made a gravy with the lamb juices, MMMmmmm. I made a pear crumble for dessert and served it with ice cream. A Rioja Reserva, and a quiet afternoon. Couldn’t have asked for more! Did lots of reading in the sun in the morning and then again after lunch while my husband watched tennis and the girls, who had late nights the night before, had naps. It felt good not to have any obligation of any kind at any time. Can’t remember the last time I had a day like that…Well today is sort of like that.

Today, the second Mother's Day celebration, on America's Mother's Day I celebrate for my mother. It was the Cudeca Cancer Hospice (where I used to work) Walkathon this morning, the 6th edition. This is the first year I was NOT involved in the organization of it, so I walked as a participant. I thought it was the appropriate way of remembering my Mom who died of cancer 7 years ago. Afterwards, I sat for awhile and enjoyed the entertainment with a girlfriend, who lost her mother a few months ago to cancer, a patient of the hospice, and we talked about how the parts of the walk we did alone were important to us.

She called me later at home and told me she'd done some writing when she got home and had written something for me. Then she read me a poem in English (she's Argentinian) about how we were not alone, but how our Mom's were there, carrying us along, folding us in their silk and cotton, from both sides of the ocean. Of course tears came, and I could barely speak, but I was so touched by how insightful it was and how special a gift she gave me on Mother's Day.

I like having two days, one for me and one for her, never shining one over the other, each celebrated for all they mean independantly.

A long way to my heart

It is a long way to my heart, that phrase has been in my mind when I've thought of my journal writing lately. Why is it a long way to my heart? It seems to me that it is just under the surface, close, always open and reaching out. How can it be a long way to my heart? Is it buried? Buried under what? Under my husband and kids, under my work? Or has it run off to a distant place? Is that place my homeland, my family my roots? That must be it, since as I write these lines emotions rise up in my chest, tears well and would fall if I let them. My homeland; I often criticise it from afar, but secretly I long to know how I might feel, back in its bosom. My roots, my family; I long to see my brother -rekindle our comraderie, to enjoy his wife's optimisim. I miss his children and dream of being a more active presence in their lives. His oldest, 11, so much like him physically, is he personality wise? I don't know, but I think so. His second, 8, so determined in his quests, whatever they have been, may be and may become at each stage of his growing up. And his little girl, 5, so cute, so like my mother in her looks, has she got my mother's soul?

That must be where my heart is, in that faraway place of my homeland, my family, my roots. I soon will go after it and that other part of me, in the United States.