MasterCord

Mirrors

How many times, when we rant and rave about the "wrongs" done to us,  do we do so in front of a mirror?

"Karma"

"what goes around comes around..."

"look in the mirror"

"we often fear the return of that which we generously give others"

"our actions too often boomerang"

"we have seen the enemy and it is us"

"wait until the shoe is on the other foot"

...etc...

Aging and introspection go hand in hand for many of us.

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Christmas 2011

All around us there seems to be a profusion of hate growing, and it is world-wide in scope. Modern electronic media has not succeeded in bringing us together - instead, it is slowly tearing us apart.

In America, we are as a people, more polarized than ever. Right vs. left, citizen vs illegal immigrant, one religion against another - and there many more examples.  We have politicians trying to bait us into a class war, and others who say they oppose a class war and then lump all people who have economic problems into one undeserving class.

One needs only look at the sarcasm and underlying  anger and attitudes that guide many of the posts on this site when conflicting views collide. It is equally bad on virtually any site where people can offer an opinion.

Lord knows I've certainly acted/posted like a total ass about some issues as well.  It is altogether too easy to become upset over words on a screen. This media I fear, makes it all too easy to allow bad feelings to be diverted from the track of reason.

Maybe it is the anonymity that causes this. Maybe it is a desire to act like a "big man" in front of a large number of people without having to fear someone will punch your lights out. If there is one thing history has taught us from day one, it is that once we lose our fear and become driven only by our own narrow views, someone eventually gets hurt.

Nor of course, should we accept "everyone and everything". There are things and people that need to be stopped in their tracks - but does the discourse about where to draw the line need to be so caustic? There was a time when we not only feared someone taking a fist to us if we opened our mouth without thinking - but we also feared being seen as some sort of whack job. We feared having our professed beliefs discarded because we presented them disrespectfully.

Civility and consideration for others does not require us to abandon our views or our principles. It does not make us disingenuous regarding our own beliefs, to listen to others - if not to consider their argument - at least to respect their right to hold the view they have and afford them the same courtesy and respect which we expect them to have for us. I'm not talking about radical views whose goal is to injure others - I'm talking about our counterparts on the other side of an issue.

I'm going to make an effort to do this.

Our survival as a nation may well depend on it.

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Always look in your trash bin first.

I had awakened this morning to a bright, sunny day. Given the holiday this week, my town's trash collection day moves back a day and given I'd gotten up late, I decided to get the trash out to the bin lest I miss the collection.

So I collected my small bag from the kitchen (it may have weighed all of 3 pounds) and went to the driveway. There, sitting with the remnants of last night's rain adorning it, was the new supersized trash bin my town had left for me a few weeks ago. Well, they actually left TWO of them....one for trash and the other for "Recycle-ables" (their word, not mine...)

State of the art, these wheeled bins. The town provides them and they were purchased via my real estate taxes.  Nice big wheels on them, a handle to use to roll them out to the curb, and a steel grab-bar installed so that the trash truck can simply reach out with a hydraulic arm from the curb, pick it up and dump it into the truck. what could be simpler? Nice hinged lid on the top, all plastic, and the town says that if i ever sell the house, the bins go with it. Each has a serial number. I am now, officially, responsible for their welfare. I have an official government-granted trash bin - purchased "for" me, I might add, by Obama Stimulus Money (OSM).  More on that later.

The first thing one notices about these, is that they are huge. VERY big. They stand about 4 feet tall, are about 30" wide and around 20" front to back. Ginormous. A typical government purchase - with typical overkill. I've been using the new bins (not yet "fully" used the recycling one which is even larger) for 3 weeks now. I have yet to put more than one kitchen-sized trash bag in it. In the transportation world, what would be said is that I am "dead-freighting" about 76% of my cargo cubic capacity.  In other words, this cargo vessel I paid for runs 76% empty - not a good thing on the economics side - but worse, it means I (via OSM) purchased a cargo vcarrier about 4x the size I really need. Think of it as a single person with no dependents renting a 4-bedroom apartment.

OK...so there are families in my town and they need a big trash bin and what a great thing for them. I'm guessing a lot of people will use them to give the local neighborhood kids fun rides on these big-wheeled bins. Others will find them useful for storage and other purposes. So, yes they are gross overkill but at least 30% of the people in town can fill them every week - so let's move on.

The recycling bin is even bigger. It is 2" wider, an inch taller and 2" deeper. A not so subtle reminder by the government to recycle more. Given we can just put all recycleables in it without sorting them, it is convenient. The town providsed a handbook for use with the bins. After all, government's job is to teach you how to live.

The bin marked "TRASH" is provided for garbage and materials that cannot be recycled. It has a green lid. The bin marked "RECYCLE", has a yellow lid and is for the disposal of materials to be recycled."

What a faux-pax. Shouldn't the RECYCLE bin lid be "green"?...lol :) 

Anyway, 3 weeks into it I have maybe a pound of cardboard, shopping bags, soda bottles, etc. in the RECYCLE bin. At this rate, it will be ready to move to the curb for collection, sometime next July.

Up until the town government graciously instructed me regarding the disposal of trash and bought for me (with my money) a nice set of oversized bins - and provided me with an instruction manual - I had apparently lacked the needed skills to dispose of trash. The trash barrels I had dutifully set at the curb for decades, with covers on them - were simply, wrong.  Because I purchased them and paid for them they of couse were tailored in size to the amount of trash I produce and instead of wasting energy creating the plastic needed for the typical government "one-size-fits-all" mega bin, I employed a barrel 1/3 the size. No matter...they were provided as the town says "free" to town residents (...apparently they have the typical attitude that taxes fall from heaven...) and I am just an ungrateful lout.

Oh...by the way....the town purchased some 2,300 of these bins at $74.00 each for a total of $170,200.00  -  and in so doing ended the residents patronage of local hardware and home stores for the purchase of trash barrels and the like - small loss to the business community they say - but then all big losses are the sum of small ones. But no matter....I finally am being taught how to properly put out the trash.

Yes, yes...more efficient....the trash truck only has one worker on it, and his life is easier....however I did notice the truck has to rev his engine to get the hydraulics to work every time he lifts a barrel as opposed to only every so often when the truck was manually loaded. So there is more fuel consumed....but oh well....

Epilogue....

I heard some odd noises coming from my "RECYCLE" bin.....and found that a squirrel had somehow gotten in but was unable to get out. So perhaps by winter, entire families of squirrels will be living in these wonderful condos?.....