Chris Herrington, Contributing Writer
I have recently had a few run-ins with Sears, and I am happy to report that we are doing better, because of the local team. It seems that Sears, and America in general, suffers from the illness of “Wedonthaveaclueandsowemakeexcusesitis.” This terribly debilitating disease maims relationships and creates awkwardness between customers and retailers, much like it does between citizens and the legislature. This disease, or malfunctional-malady, simply roadblocks otherwise normal relations by clogging up communication pathways with gobblety gook that may begin with things like, “The check is in the mail.”
We have blamed the US Mail for so many things that they have now lived up to our expectations of them. Over-costs have run them to the brink because we have learned to trust e-mails; just one more of the things “destroyed” by capitalism. Not that that is all bad. We simply don’t need the US Post Office any more. Things get destroyed, that is replaced, when they are no longer useful. The local team has made Sears useful for a while longer. They hurried up, made repairs, replaced parts, and made amends, through the US Mail. And I got it. No more excuses. Sears may no longer be God, but they are still on Mars Hill.
Occupying every space seems to be a thread in daily life in 2012. How about “Occupy The Spot Where You Are?” We’ve simply got to be present. “We can’t make a difference on the field if we don’t play the game,” one of my former superintendents told me. It seems that we need to make that stand, even if we only feel that we have no more to offer than did the last stage of “The Giving Tree,” a solitary old stump of understanding and the instinct to know what to do in a crisis.
All across America we have those who have given so much already and yet in their last years they have not lost their ability to see the horizon as it warms during the early morning and to be able to project where it will end up later that night. Pure experience is a powerful resource. Sears, the parent, may have lost sight, but Sears, the locals, understood the situation. The federal government does not get it, but the states have sized-up the situation, and they are rallying the troops at the grassroots level. America is in for a major transformation. We have seen the light, and it is time to get our hands on the main issues within our grasp.
No one owes you a job and the help you are getting will not continue to just be doled out like rain water. In case you have not been paying attention, even rain water isn’t just falling from the skies. The weather is changing and cursing the sky is not going to change that back. It is time for another American revolution; it is called “Paying attention.”
We can no longer appeal to the sense of right and wrong or the traditional values of America. In the world of relative values, even the standards of our standards have been given a twist. Since we have gained a new class of citizens, the corporations, we have seen that our old way of thinking about things has been replaced with a new way doing things. I don’t fight the idea. Corporations are people.
They are the new and improved human being, homo capitalist. They don’t sleep, they have voracious appetites, they leave debris all over the place, and they are potentially immortal. They do, however, have a major thing in common with homo sapiens: They have children.
Not just spin offs and IPO’s, they have franchises and subsidiaries. They have one issue that may show a huge leap in evolution: They are completely virtual. All of these locations and websites are completely expendable, and so then are the people who work at them and depend on them.
In science fiction, the robots take over the world, and they kill the humans. Drastic! Never happen! But let’s ask this question: Could a few or even just one company take over the entire planet? What would stop it from happening? Sci-Fi, the social files…
We need to have completion, local power over federal power, franchise over parent power…..there is a weird point of access where we need to stay connected beyond merely accepting what comes at us, right?
We can’t be far removed from staying in touch. We need those who are free spirits and those who are linear thinkers. In other words, we need conservatives and liberals. We can’t all live in Vegas. We can’t all live in New York.
I’m right here with my hand on the pulse of the mower problem: construction, manufacturing, service, usage. We all have our vision. The local guys are back on track; what is happening on your watch?
runningturtle87
“In the world of relative values, even the standards of our standards have been given a twist.” Well said. “Values” are too subjective to use as a measuring stick. “Principle” is much more reliable and consistent.
Imposing a set of values onto society will result in inconsistencies such as Republicans fighting for limited government in the economic realm, but then using the government to impose their approved lifestyle choices onto everyone. Similarly, the Democrats advocate equal opportunity and the right to chose – except when it comes to your own money.
The principles of liberty, individual responsibility, and freedom of personal choice in life (pursuit of happiness) are always the same. These unalienable rights should be our guiding principles. Freedom is always just, whether it is economic freedom or the freedom to marry who you want. Using legislation to take the wealth of one person or group to the benefit of another is always wrong, whether it is to give to the poor or line the pockets of fat cats. Neither of the old parties consistently stand for these principles, but instead use their own customized list of self-serving “values” to claim that their idea of right and wrong is superior.
I praise your call to action. I hope it inspires our fellow East Texans. I pray that they will stand for our founding principles, and not get sucked into the scare tactics of party politics.
I can appreciate a call for principles. Perhaps we might ask our politicians, on principle, to actually do something useful besides always clawing at each other like an annoying tooth ache. We’ve spent way too much time spinning our wheels and too little time not avoiding our responsibilities. I really dislike having to choose the lesser of 5 evils for President. Perhaps we could simply take all the money and give it back to the nice people we got it from, roll up the sidewalks, and tell the world that America has lost her vision. Man, I just hate to give up on a really good vision, on principle. runningturtle87
I guess I don’t have as much faith in politicians, or maybe my notion of America’s vision is different. I see the vision of America as a nation of citizens, free to choose their own versions of happiness, free to reap the rewards of their hard work, free to take risks, free to fail. I see the role of politicians and government as protectors of this vision, not agents of their own individual vision. We don’t need government to carry out America’s vision. We don’t need politicians to DO much of anything except provide for the common defense and protect individual liberties. Otherwise, just get out of the way and let her people be free to succeed or fail. America is kept running by its citizens, not its politicians. This is why I applaud your call to action.
We can leave the sidewalks, they’ll be ok without politicians.
I’m having a hard time finding you as an enemy combatant; maybe you need to write the articles, and I will chime in on your stuff. Here is an interesting twist on states’ rights: If the right wants the states to have the power now so often seen as being in the hands of the federal government, perhaps the locals will be able to take more power from the states because the capitol is so close. I can drive to Austin easier, so the thought of smaller government may be a case of, “Oh, No! Don’t throw me in the brier patch!” It might take 10 million protesters in D.C., but only 50, 000 in Austin……