OT - It was 20 years ago today.

[Kevin E. Ramsey RPT]

Well put, my friend. At least I hope you will consider me your friend.
    I think that many of us are approaching political burn out this season.
I have never seen the country so divided, with people who are usually very
respectful of each other suddenly involved in heated discussions. Frankly,
I'm getting pretty sick of it all. Perhaps now I can go at least another
four years without being bothered by it very much.
    I respect your opinions, and your talent.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Delwin D Fandrich" <pianobuilders@olynet.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2000 8:53 AM
Subject: Re: OT - It was 20 years ago today.


> My what a lot of anger and hostility my little rant has raised.  Since
most
> if this has been directed at me, I'll give it one last response and then
we
> can all go back to our prosperity and complacency:
>
> Guilt.
>    I did not bring up the subject of guilt, although it, along with the
> hostility that frequently accompanies it, has been the focus of several
> subsequent posts.  Instilling guilt has not been the intent of anything I
> have written.  I do not have the power to instill guilt-nothing I write
can
> produce it.  Guilt comes to a person when they are either doing something
> they believe they shouldn't be doing or when they are not doing something
> they believe they should be doing.
>    No, the best I can hope for is that, with some additional information,
> some of us might make lifestyle decisions that are less damaging to our
> planets once-natural systems.  To find guilt, you have to look within
> yourself.
>
> Transportation.
>    Yes, I drive a car.  In general, I try to drive as little as possible
and
> I try to get as much use out of them as I can before replacing them.  I
also
> am active in promoting efficient and useful mass transit systems-none of
> them can yet be called 'rapid.'  No, I don't feel guilty about it.
>
> Energy consumption.
>    Contrary to implication, I live in a state that is a net energy
exporter
> of electricity.so far.  Nor do we import water.so far.  Unfortunately,
most
> of our power generation comes from hydro-electric sources which are
> dependent on relatively stable river flows, which can no longer be counted
> on.  For example, we normally receive between 85 and 95 inches of rainfall
> per year.  This year, unless something really radical happens, we will end
> up with less than 55 inches of rain.  Similar declines are reported
> throughout the northwest.
>
> General consumption.
>    To live, we are going to consume.  And, yes, obviously, I use a
computer,
> though it, too, is getting a bit long in the tooth.  Every person must
> decide for him/her self what level of consumption is appropriate.  There
is
> much we can do to reduce our current level of consumption and still retain
a
> good and comfortable lifestyle.  No, I don't feel guilty about my level of
> consumption.
>    Nor do I agree that one must live a totally ascetic lifestyle to be
> concerned about how one's own lifestyle affects others.  Just because we
are
> not personally responsible for someone's tragedy, does not mean we cannot
> feel compassion for them and help them.  I did not chose to live in an
area
> where hurricanes are frequent visitors, should my attitude then be, "So,
> your house was destroyed by a hurricane?  Tough, I did not build my house
> there, go fend for yourself!"
>
> Prosperity and social inequity.
>    It is not my fault, either, that some populations continue to do
terrible
> things to themselves and to others.  But then, neither did I play a great
> roll in the prosperity America currently enjoys.  (And neither did anyone
> else on this list.)  I've done my studies and done my work, but the
> groundwork for this nation's current prosperity was laid generations ago
and
> I cannot claim much credit for it.  I consider myself most blessed and
> fortunate to have been born into a nation which still has a reasonably
> stable and equitable government, with laws that still promises some level
of
> justice, albeit one without the promised equality for all.
>    That said, I believe we do have a responsibility to go through this
life
> doing what we can to help others along the way.  Barring that, is it too
> much to hope that we at least try to avoid making the lives of others
worse
> than it already is.
>
> Starvation.
>    I also did not introduce the subject of starvation to this discussion,
> but since it now been brought up by several, let's do the numbers -- this
> year approximately 35,000,000 folks will die of starvation and hunger
> related illnesses (see www.starvation.com).  I find it hard to be callous
> about this number, regardless of who or what is at fault.
>    I doubt that very many of those 35,000,000 people had a choice in where
> they were born, in the social and economic status of their parents, or  in
> the form of government that keeps them in poverty.  Nor are they
responsible
> for the once-productive farmland that becomes arid desert due to changing
> weather patterns.  But, what the hell, I didn't put them there so let them
> die.  It's just the planets way of balancing things out.
>    No, I cannot feed 35,000,000 starving people, but I can at least avoid,
> as much as possible, making their lives worse than they already.
>
>    Subsistence living does, indeed, "suck."
>
>    Merry Christmas.
>
> Del
>
>