Mine Olde Mind

Well, this is the last of the "list" posts. I hope through some of this you have found interesting thoughts and what not. Any who, let us begin.

Look at today's society... what do you see...

• suburbia
• dead-zones
• garbage in the pacific
• erosion out of control
• shopping malls the size of football fields and larger
• soaring gas prices
• mediocre health care
• In a Nutshell--- EXPLOITATION

Exploitation-

the closest thing that the 1877 dictionary has to exploitation is "exploit" which is listed as "a heroic deed". In the 2003 dictionary, it does include a similar definition but adds- "to make unethical use of for ones own profits".

It is clear that in every way, our society has turned a heroic mission into a profit making machine. Yes, agricultural expansion is a heroic mission... until you turn it into a machine that degrades soil. Yes, insurance is a good thing... until it so corrupts the health care system that you can't afford insurance or doctor's bills, and definitely not both. Yes, gas is a good thing...until so much of it is consumed that there is no longer an affordable way to travel.

In a nutshell, We are running ourselves into the ground, full force, without heeding any of the warnings. Our society, our culture is built on exploitive philosophy. There is only so much you can take without giving back. There is only so much you can give back (waste/garbage) with out taking something. Anyway, this concludes a series of thoughts based on society. I am a member of that very same society, but I am different. I will be different. If more people were different, then society would be different, and there would be no need fr me to stand on my virtual soapbox.

WARNING: HOT TOPIC

• the work of producing crops and raising livestock; farming (Webster's 2003)
• the art of cultivating the ground; husbandry (Webster's 1877)

Holy COW!!!! (no pun intended) Have we as of yet seen such a discrepancy between definitions??? This goes from ART to WORK. What a tremendous shift.

When did this happen??

When American began to over produce (around WWI it really hit home, though it had been tough on farms since then) they switched to monoculture rather than sustenance farming, the excess of which were occasionally sold at market. After the WWI farming boom (caused by people in Europe were waging a war and had not time to fight, therefor opening that market to American produce) there was a farming depression. Farms were hit hard by the fall out of prices when the war ended effectively beginning the great depression over a decade early for farm families. Many factors play into this, such as an unregulated banking system, and an unregulated stock market, but in the end it led to thousands of small farms being converted into large land holdings. These large land holdings were worked by fewer people due to the efficiency of mechanization. Larger and larger machines worked the land until all hell broke loose and the top soil just blew away. (The Great Dust Bowl)

Do you see what happened??? People, real people, not people on machines, not people in offices far far away, but people, whose life and livelihood depended on that soil... LEFT. They were uprooted just as the land was. That is when the switch happened. That is when "cultivation" turned into "production", that is when art turned into work and husbandry into farming.

The Dust Bowl

Yesterday in Soil Science 210 lab (a class I am in right now) we watched DIRT! the movie! It was an awesome documentary about how a a global entity humans are constantly moving farther and farther away from the land. Soil in particular was the focused upon part of the land in this film. After all, our whole lives exist because of the soil. Think about it... what do we eat, where do we go when we die, what is the most fun for a kid to play in, what are our houses made from. All of these things come from the soil.

More than just soil, we as a culture have become distant from every aspect of the land. The trees, the hills, the wildlife, growing things, water, and how all of these things interact to make an ideal environment. Not many people these days can go out and trek into a wilderness and find themselves content. Often they would need toilet paper or a dishwasher and all of the conveniences that come between. There are as always exceptions to the rule, and those people are to be learned from. Note: I am not advocating isolation from society and just living alone in the wilderness, but rather a happy medium where you can care for your land and for yourself in a social community.

Lets look at the Native American lifestyle. They knew that they relied on the land, and look at how well they cared for it. They knew that a forest would be healthiest if burned periodically. They knew that they should take only what they needed. They knew how to leave hardly a trace of their existence. Those things, that knowledge has all but disappeared from our society. Notice that it is a thrill to find pottery, or a piece of worked flint that was made by Native hands. Why is it such a thrill...? It is because those things, the signs of their impact are not the most common things. It was not even that long ago that they lost the majority share of the land on this continent. Now look at our signs. Our bright flashing neon signs. We have impacted everything. We leave a track like a wounded elephant through a bamboo forest. There is no way that in the same relatively short amount of time, our traces could be so imperceptible, so valuable to find.

We are an exploitative society. We take an take and give nothing back. We must start giving back to the land, caring for it, realizing that our livelihoods come from it. The signs of our bleeding earth are everywhere... smog, the great pacific trash patch, erosion, deforestation, etc. These aren't even the greatest of the signs.

One of the definitions for land is "to come to rest". I believe that this is exactly what will happen when we come back to our land. Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust. Lets get back to the land.

Democracy-



The official definition of this term is:

• 1.) government by the people directly or through representatives. 2.) a country, etc. with such a government. 3.) equality of rights, opportunity and treatment. (2003, Webster's)


• 1.) government by the people. (1877 Webster's)

let us make this brief for the sake of efficiency and understanding. Notice how the 1877 definition leaves it as it is. It takes nothing away, it adds nothing. It is, if you will, a pure definition.

If this was left as it is...think of how different our world would be. Elections by popular ballot rather than electoral colleges (which FYI, is an outdated system, only invented to appease a petulant South wanting representation for slaves who didn't vote [3/5 compromise]). No "party" lines of division. There would be more choice. Probably too much choice, which is why we have the system we do today. Is there such a thing as too much choice... yes, but only if you can't handle it. In a society and a nation as large and encompassing as ours, it would be difficult to pull off to say the least.

Even though, I can think of no practical system (I can come up with theoretical systems all day long) of government for our nation that would work better than the one we currently have, I till believe that when we vote we are choosing between two evils, and merely trying to pick the lesser of the two. That is not democracy. Somehow, the cream of the crop is not getting picked, they are not even running. What has happened to statesmanship?? Where have the patriots gone?? They are now, most often, the silent ones, who know better but stand aside and do nothing to stop what happens. Other times they are part of advocacy groups and lobbyists because that is the only way to be heard in this day and age. (which I believe is sick and wrong). So what are we to do about all this?? We the PEOPLE, are to govern, we the PEOPLE are to elect what officials we want, not just elect the officials that run. We the PEOPLE need to get off of our lazy, government dependent rears and start playing an active role in the direction of our country. We the PEOPLE, need to be the ones who decide whether or not a bill goes through, not the dollars being pumped into Washington, not the lobbyists screaming in politicians ears, we the PEOPLE can play a part in our government and we need to.

I am not going all "hippie"~"peace rally" on you, I am simply stating that action needs to be taken. We need to get out of our own little box that we live in, and pay attention to what is happening on the hill. We need to care. We need to show that we care, and we can do that with our votes, with our wallets, with our feet, and with our voices. We the PEOPLE, can show that we care. Indifference is what has gotten our society to the low level in which it stands. This is our battle, the nation is our field, go and make your voices heard.