HELLO - We Are All In This Thing Together


One of the current trends that just bugs the crap out of me has to do with the pretense that what happens in location A really does not have any effect on those of us in location B-Z. Or that somehow we can build a wall or withdraw from our neighbors in order to "protect ourselves" from THEM.

As the Great Philosopher once said, "Them is Us."

On a global scale, the fact that the Olympics are being held in a Zika hotzone, to say nothing of the conditions of the waters down there, scares the crap out of me. People from all over the globe are traveling to Rio and then they go back home. "Who cares about the mosquitoes in South America?"

That kinda thinking had traction when folks walked and rode horses - today not so much.
Here is a cute little graphic with some airline routes to make my point.


Speaking of Zika - on a national level we are ignoring Puerto Rico in a big way.
We seem to have some kind of a weird relationship with PR - one that I am only
beginning to understand. Cut to the chase, they are American citizens and the virus is going
hog wild over there and Congress is acting like it has NOTHING TO do with us.

What does all this have to do with the 86th District of Michigan? My point is that this type of small thinking is seeping down to the state level. We can PRETEND that a pipeline full of sludge 
under the Straits has nothing to do with us. We can IGNORE public schools systems that are in crisis in Detroit - did you know that there are FIFTY school districts that are currently facing deficits?

Ignoring and pretending that the problem belongs to someone else seems to be the rule in Lansing. The PAC men/women are there to pressure legislators on behalf of Big Money. Big Money has a goal to make more money, they don't care about the consequences or potential consequences.

Did anyone at Enbridge oil lose any sleep when their pipeline wrecked 25 miles of the K-zoo River?
Do the Charter School folks (several of whom are MAKING MILLIONS) give a rat's patoot about schools in Detroit or the other 50 Districts? Their focus is on profits and little else.

Does Nestle care about draining our freshwater aquifers? Not as long as their cash registers are ringing up insane profit margins on what is fast becoming the world's most coveted resource.

Being a part of the community of Lowell for over a decade has shown me there is a better way.
We recognize that when a family is hit by hard times it has an effect on all of us.
When cancer whacks someone we know there are community wide repercussions.

That is why you find Pink Arrow Pride and Flat River Outreach in our area. I maintain that the same principles can be carried out on a State level. 

Some of it involves simply IGNORING the lure of PAC men/women, but some of it involves thinking outside the boundaries of our district. Believe it or not, should pipeline 5 fail or several school systems grind to a halt - THESE EVENTS WILL AFFECT all of us.

Our bodies are made up of millions of cells. We can pretend that the cells in our big toe sending a distress message don't mean diddly, but we do so at our peril.

It is time to turn things around.
It is time to elect people with a larger vision and a sense of compassion for others.

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