The Nose on Our Face

The human nose is an interesting appendage. Unless it is broken, unusually large in comparison with the rest of the face or is runny, we don't notice the nose all by itself when we look at someone. It is part of the full landscape of a face. If someone didn't have a nose, we would certainly notice that, too. Its placement on our face usually means we can't see our own; not without looking cross-eyed. But we know it's there.

Recently, my work with a local non-profit organization has left me judgemental and angry with the local, regional and national population at large, primarily because of their choice to not see the noses on their faces. Generations of good intentions have led people to support all kinds of causes for humane, moral or religious reasons. My train of thought leads me across the borders and oceans to developing countries where famine, war and other disasters have affected large populations. I am proud I am a member of a nation that is ready to lend a hand; I am proud that we have the means; I am proud... pride, well, we'll have to come back to that.

In the recent economic downturn, but also before when it was not as noticeable, our communities have had needs that government cannot meet, that organized religion refuses to meet and people choose to ignore. Instead, they give money to send missionaries over seas to build more churches. Nevermind the kids right next door that need food and clothing. Nevermind the homeless, the uneducated, the unsaved, their fellow citizen down on their luck. Americans have become duplicitous, unforgiving of our own neighbors and fanatical. People give money to a cause across the ocean before giving any to one in our hometown. How does that make sense?

Why do we worry about someone half way across the world before making sure our own community is safe, secure, educated, fed and protected? If people have money to do more than just give locally, by all means, but give locally first. Support the people around you first. Make your own community better first.

Some give the excuse that they don't know about local problems. They're right in our face everyday! News stories about abused children, homeless being run off from vacant buildings and local crime soaring run almost on a loop - only the minor details change on who and when.  Those problems are as plain as the nose on OUR face.

But as I think I have this wrapped up, I remember my own judgements, harsh and myopic. People here are given every opportunity; they're just lazy.  It is easier to view the poor, uneducated and starving native from a deep jungle as more worthy of our help then the rebellious teenage trouble-maker seemingly heading to a life of crime and prison.  Yet, we should have a vested interest in making sure the teenager is taken care of early in life, kept out of trouble, educated and given tools for a life of productivity.  A good citizen values the progress of all citizens, not in the sense of socialized government, but in the sense of doing good and right by one another. 

Okay, Pollyanna will sign off for now.

Do we need Daylight Saving Time?

Benjamin Franklin suggested Daylight Saving Time (DST)  a round about way in his essay, "An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light," first published in the Journal de Paris in April 1784.  This humorous treatise from an ailing Franklin soon to return home to his new America from Paris for the last time gives us simple observations and exact calculations on how Parisans could save over 64 million pounds of wax and tallow each year to equate to a broad estimate of $960,000,000 if they utlized morning sunlight. 

But it would seem the suggestion of the 18th century was based on the fact that Parisians would not wake until nearly Noon.  With half the day's light gone, Franklin suggested extending the "waking hours of light." 

Once war and production schedules of the 20th Century needed more light at the end of a winter day, Western Civilization did indeed make the sun stay up later.  Now our clocks know what day to fall back or spring foward and do so without being told.

Do we still need DST?  Do we really save energy and money?  According to The California Energy Commission, we don't all save energy equally.  With some states using more energy in winter to stay warm than in summer to stay cool, Daylight Saving Time is actually Daylight Wasting Energy.  DST does not save me any money.  I burn the same bulbs, use the same appliances and have the same routine no matter what the sun is doing.  I would add that I probably have more clothes to wash from a dirty kid playing outside thanks to DST.  

Whether we save energy and money seems to no longer be the question in maintaining DST. It is now a matter of culture and lifestyle.  People like DST because after getting home from work, they still have daylight left.  But, some get home, close the shades to better see their HD TV.
Matters not to me as long as I get that sweet hour of sleep back on November 1st that I lost in March. 

Learning to Appreciate

So many things in my daily life I take for granted and I don’t even wonder how they got there: people, conveniences and dust-bunnies. One of the most significant conveniences in our lives and the history of mankind is electricity. There is so much we cannot do without electricity and life would be a great hardship without it.

Rarely do we take note of electricity until it goes out in a storm or brown-out. Worse yet, as if from the deep blue ether of the cosmos, a flicker of the precious juice comes, snuffs out a file not yet saved, sends a bit too much to a power supply and overwhelms the machine that runs our lives or resets all of our digital clocks to 12:00am! Our world is turned upside down for what seems like eons or at least invaluable minutes of time. The computer is down; the server is down; we are down!

When at work, being “down” means idleness, unproductive time, isolation and worse, time to file the stacks on my desk. But then there are people out of their offices, talking in the hall, taking time to communicate face-to-face instead of by email. How wonderful! How novel! What is this new approach to social media?

At home, the TV is off, laptops may operate for a short while, and if it is past sundown, how to I find the flashlight or candles in the dark? I can’t get any chores completed and dinner will be cold, unless my husband remembered to get the gas tank on the grill refilled. Then with the darkness, some quiet comes. I can hear my cats purring across the room.

Even a minor blip in electricity delivery can be very inconvenient, but I’ve learned to appreciate the break. I see people’s faces, get some filing done and realize what I take for granted.

Anyone got a deck of cards in case the electricity goes out?