mistakes happen

Morning walks are a great place to solve the problems of the world.  We "world problem solvers" know that lots of actions that are taken are based upon inaccurate or false information. We question why certain things aren't done the way we would like to see them done, and think the path is so clear "if only."

We discuss "if only they," the imperial "they" would do this, that, or the other thing, society could move ahead and avert further crises.  We discuss our personal problems in the same manner and find ourselves mystified by other people's failure to "see clearly."

Mistakes happen, we all agree, its just how they are resolved that causes the most anxiety. 

This morning we were talking about the ramifications of the Gulf Oil disaster, the fact that the Atlantic ocean is hotter than it has ever been, that conditions are brewing for an active hurricane season and Sahara Dust might be making us all sick. 


i was lamenting the lack of a topic for today's blog when my friend admonished me and said it is your task to point out the positive.  Why are we talking about all these dismal things she said, coral bleaching, food chain disruption, death and destruction in the gulf, wars, and STOP this we need something good to think about.

So i've been thinking, thinking about mistakes, how mistakes happen because of the choices we make. Choices we make collectively.

Last week i talked about our oil addiction.  A lot of times when people make mistakes they have an uneasy feeling before the fateful event.  Misgivings are strong but a semi disturbed state of mind may be the driving force behind wanting our luxuries and failing to admit to our destruction.  We don't want to think about what we are doing we just "want."  The sense of scruples, honor and the future are discarded in an ever increasing enjoyment of risk taking or just plain "need." 

Afterwards the elation over getting away with the process without too much grief can bolster further instances where making a huge mistake just causes monumental mess.  In the 1970's we had a perfect opportunity to change our ways, but the end of the oil embargo and easing prices led us all back to our complacent, thoughtless lives.  We enjoy being addicts, we love our conveniences.

Today that mountainous marine mess is the place where my friend asked me to find the silver lining.  Well, there are still people out there with enormous vision, people who don't give up on us addicts.  People who, not only think, but know we can do better.

Today people all over the world are e-mailing in containment ideas to BP.  Whether they read them or just pretend they are reading them is irrelevant.  The solutions are out there and we will find them.

Focus on the environment and how it sustains us all has become much more prominent in the news media.  People are talking about our addiction and how damaging it is to the whole world. We can now see right in front of our eyes what we have done.  We have climate change, which not everyone acknowledges or can "see";  but now daily we view horrible images of our addictions destructive ability.  We have come face to face with the dichotomy of "need" versus "protection."

Conversations and ideas are coming fast and furious concerning "free market economies" that function without enough regulation.  Corporations that only deliver "profit" and not sustainability are being looked at in a different light.  Why has the profit motive meant destruction instead of "trickle down?"  Why do unregulated markets and economies breed chaos, profits, and greed, not jobs for all?  Why does our system of free markets wreck havoc on our environment?  Today all these questions are being asked and more in ways unheard of only a few months ago. 

All of us are taking a new look at what our "needs" mean.  We can't go on raping the earth and expect it to recover.  We have to change.

This is a wake up call folks, the silver lining is there if we can only grasp the ring on the merry go round.  The good thing about mistakes is that if you take responsibility for making them a whole new world of possibilities opens up.  We don't have to be addicts and kill the earth too.  We can do better, we can find another way.

Our addiction has created this disaster but we can make damn sure that through more forceful planning(renewable in the future) and regulation we can try to avert another disaster.  The silver lining is the chance to wean ourselves off oil, the chance to change our consumptive habits and not make our environment expendable. 

i see this spill as a whopping, humongous, positive opportunity to create a better world. We are all focused on what we have done, the massive mess we created.  Republicans(those who want to drown government in a bathtub)Democrats and Independents are all clamoring for the government to do more.  Now is the time to point out that we all need government.  We need government that can function, not government that has spent the past decade being drowned.

Think about the future, think about our addiction, and think about the positive outcome we can create if we get out of our small minded boxes.  It is not about self, it is not about being self sufficient, it is about all of us and the sooner we realize it the better our world will be. 

And folks that's a positive!