The movie "Network" was released in 1976 or 1977. The best recalled line is the anchor screaming out into a thunderstorm "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" In the movie, the anchor goes insane and is eventually assassinated. He expresses outrage, he expresses confusion, he expressesa lot of FEELINGS, but he never DOES anything with those feelings other than to convince a lot of other people that they feel the same way too.
I thought about it today while reading an article about the Tea Party. The article explained that while on the grass-roots level the Tea Party is helping people articulate their anger/frustration/whatever at government in general, one of their weaknesses is that they have no platform, no program for dealing with the frustration. They do tell people to go out and vote, and at times impliadly, at times expressly tell them to vote out the incumbents.
However, when it comes to what the new members of the legislative bodies will do, are expected or anticipated to do or would please the Tea Party by doing, the silence is deafening.
The Tea Party, like the anchor in Network, is screaming "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" However, what they are going to do (and what is it they are not going to take) is never stated.
Unless they want to meet the modern-day equivalent of assassination (being forgotten and relegated to oblivion) the Tea Party needs to present CONCRETE objectives. They need to not merely express a desired result but to articulate definate steps to achieve those results.
They want less government? What do they think can be eliminated (and how much do they think such elimination would save?) Cut back the IRS? How will the government collect the tax monies to fund defense? Eliminate the Department of Education? With no National standards for math and science, how will the next generation compete in the jobs market? Eliminate the EPA? Who will force BP to clean up the next oil spill?
I am not saying that any of those aims are not achievable, or even not admirable. I just would like to know HOW they will be achieved.
Being mad as hell and not willing to take things might be a good starting point. However, without an idea of WHERE you want to end up, you are just running in circles.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Transitions
Just got back home from a week in San Diego (Spring Valley, to be precise) We moved my mother from independent living to assisted living.
We was myself, my two brothers, one sister-in-law, and one day; three cousins.
Mom has lived in this community since '02. She has been in independent living, with a two-bedroom, two bath apartment. Dad died in '04, and Mom has been on her own. She quit driving in '08, and gave her car to my niece.
We, (my brothers, my sister and I) had somewhat forbidden her from cooking for this last year. Three reasons: 1) her age, 2) here, she had an electric stove after 50+ years of gas; and 3) quite frankly, the stove was somewhat defective, as we determined when trying to cook things ourselves.
Cut down, cut down and delete! was the theme. Most of the furniture was already figured out. A few glitches occured. Her touch-turn lamps both failed during the move. We suspect that since they were roughly 30 years old, the only reason they were still functioning as designed was because they had not been moved in 8 years. She had sufficient other lamps.
My sister had done a crude layout for the furniture. She either over-estimated the space or under-estimated the size of the furniture. With four men present on Tuesday, we managed to re-configure.
We rented a storage space to store the pictures and decorative items my sister will arrive later this year to arrange. We rented a 5X5 space. It is not full. Because the stored items are mostly pictures and decorative items, they are mostly boxed, and my sister will have the delight of arranging them further.
We lucked out. We had called various charitable organizations about picking up un-needed items. They could not pick up while we were there. On Wednesday, I was running something between the old and new units. Saw a truck from the Rescue Mission picking up stuff. Asked them if they could stop by our place. They could, and took several large pices that we had worried about getting rid of.
Mom's next door neighbor (in independent living) has a daughter who has become a friend. Her church is having a rummage sale. She took a bunch of stuff for that.
I "scored" a tile-top table (mission style) that had belonged to Aunt Polly. In her will, I was to receive it. However, my mother got it from her before she died. Since it wasn't part of her estate, I didn't get it then. Steve and I have had a long-standing competition/joke about which of us took it. He let me have it. Steve got the silver service. I'm relieved. I don't have space to securely store it.
I got "the Rowe rock" This is a piece of black, only semi-crystaline tourmaline shot with granite that we picked up many, many years ago. I recall it as being on a truck-trail somewhere behind Lovelace damn. I could be wrong on the location. I do know that it was sometime in the early '60's, as I do remember it being loaded into the '57 Chevy wagon, which then hit bottom a couple of times on our way out of where ever we were. It is now in my front (xero-scaped) yard. As my husband noted, the New Mexico winds will NOT move it.
I took Mom's rain-guage, which is a frog with the rain-gauge tube in his mouth. It fits in my back-yard decor.
When we moved the folks out of the house in '02, it was very emotional. They had been ther for 50+ years. I was born after they moved there.
We knew that the house would be torn down, the orchard mostly razed, and four or five luxery homes built on the site. All four of us were there, and it was a major wrench.
This time, the wrench was cutting down on the memory items. I don't really mind the stuff I have bought since '02. It is the OLD stuff. I took several vases. Some of them were wedding presents in 1945. We stored the china that my grandmother painted.
Mom has moved from an apartment that was almost as big as the old house to a single room. Her memories have not shrunk. But her room for displaying them has.
We was myself, my two brothers, one sister-in-law, and one day; three cousins.
Mom has lived in this community since '02. She has been in independent living, with a two-bedroom, two bath apartment. Dad died in '04, and Mom has been on her own. She quit driving in '08, and gave her car to my niece.
We, (my brothers, my sister and I) had somewhat forbidden her from cooking for this last year. Three reasons: 1) her age, 2) here, she had an electric stove after 50+ years of gas; and 3) quite frankly, the stove was somewhat defective, as we determined when trying to cook things ourselves.
Cut down, cut down and delete! was the theme. Most of the furniture was already figured out. A few glitches occured. Her touch-turn lamps both failed during the move. We suspect that since they were roughly 30 years old, the only reason they were still functioning as designed was because they had not been moved in 8 years. She had sufficient other lamps.
My sister had done a crude layout for the furniture. She either over-estimated the space or under-estimated the size of the furniture. With four men present on Tuesday, we managed to re-configure.
We rented a storage space to store the pictures and decorative items my sister will arrive later this year to arrange. We rented a 5X5 space. It is not full. Because the stored items are mostly pictures and decorative items, they are mostly boxed, and my sister will have the delight of arranging them further.
We lucked out. We had called various charitable organizations about picking up un-needed items. They could not pick up while we were there. On Wednesday, I was running something between the old and new units. Saw a truck from the Rescue Mission picking up stuff. Asked them if they could stop by our place. They could, and took several large pices that we had worried about getting rid of.
Mom's next door neighbor (in independent living) has a daughter who has become a friend. Her church is having a rummage sale. She took a bunch of stuff for that.
I "scored" a tile-top table (mission style) that had belonged to Aunt Polly. In her will, I was to receive it. However, my mother got it from her before she died. Since it wasn't part of her estate, I didn't get it then. Steve and I have had a long-standing competition/joke about which of us took it. He let me have it. Steve got the silver service. I'm relieved. I don't have space to securely store it.
I got "the Rowe rock" This is a piece of black, only semi-crystaline tourmaline shot with granite that we picked up many, many years ago. I recall it as being on a truck-trail somewhere behind Lovelace damn. I could be wrong on the location. I do know that it was sometime in the early '60's, as I do remember it being loaded into the '57 Chevy wagon, which then hit bottom a couple of times on our way out of where ever we were. It is now in my front (xero-scaped) yard. As my husband noted, the New Mexico winds will NOT move it.
I took Mom's rain-guage, which is a frog with the rain-gauge tube in his mouth. It fits in my back-yard decor.
When we moved the folks out of the house in '02, it was very emotional. They had been ther for 50+ years. I was born after they moved there.
We knew that the house would be torn down, the orchard mostly razed, and four or five luxery homes built on the site. All four of us were there, and it was a major wrench.
This time, the wrench was cutting down on the memory items. I don't really mind the stuff I have bought since '02. It is the OLD stuff. I took several vases. Some of them were wedding presents in 1945. We stored the china that my grandmother painted.
Mom has moved from an apartment that was almost as big as the old house to a single room. Her memories have not shrunk. But her room for displaying them has.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
