THE SATURDAY SNARK

"That's not fair." I can still faintly hear my childhood voice shouting that trite line repeatedly. My father always came back with, "Not everything in life is fair." Equally trite, but true. Naturally it was infuriating. Our ongoing push/pull over the inequities that life parceled out played like an operetta into my pre-teen years. I suppose that one day I got tired of it and the dance simply stopped. Of course, my feeling about life and its fairness, or the lack thereof, carried on. However, I sounded petulant to my own ears and that simply wouldn't do.



I had no name for it, but I became aware of what I would eventually call "the balance." Opposites. Yin. Yang. This balance fueled my love for superheroes. If there was a balance, I really wanted to tip it in the right direction. Of course, there was a part of me that knew that the bad would always continue to come. That was part of the balance. I could rattle off a whole bunch of television shows and movies that have grabbed me and not let go; they involve either superheroes or people just being super, fighting the good fight. They are weighing in on the good side of that balance scale. Same goes for books (of course!).

Chances are I'm not going to pick up a superpower tomorrow. The odds are not good that I'm going to get bit by something, struck by lightning, or touched by a magic wand, and all of a sudden be able to save the world. It's probably not going to happen to you either. Sorry if that burst your happiness bubble. That good and evil business, unfortunately lives in all of us. It's like everything else. Once you make a choice, it builds on itself. If you choose good, and keep choosing it, well that is your foundation, and what you build on. Does that mean that you don't still have the capacity to make a bad choice? Nope. Evil still lives in there and we sometimes pull it out and make terrible decisions. It can go the other way, too. A person can choose bad or evil and keep building on that. I think it makes it really hard to choose good once you've been building on that long enough. Honestly, those are your sociopaths, serial killers, and basically really bad ass scary people.

Where was I going? I feel like the world is tipping on the bad end of the balance scale. Can you feel it? The people in high places are not making good calls, and it continues to lean further onto the bad side. The world is just standing and watching it tip. There are no superheroes to rush in and save the day. There are only people, and I don't see anybody jumping up even trying to be super. The President is recommending that we all run out and buy our seafood fresh from the Gulf because it is safe to eat. That man has clearly lost his mind. I know he would not serve that to his family, but he wants us to eat it???? Pleaaaase. Right now, I wouldn't trust him to balance my checkbook, more less run this country. Where are the experts in this sort of crisis? Where is the Calvary? Every time I turn on the TV I see pleas for Haiti. HELLO. If Mrs. Obama doesn't get pulled from making pleas for Haiti, I am going to start throwing things at my TV set. How about making a plea to help out your own country for a change?

I borrowed this from another blog. Two actually. It is somewhat soothing, but I am not convinced that being soothed is what this country needs. This has gone on too long. We have been soothed so long that if we continue on this track, oil might still be pumping into the Gulf two months from now. People need to get angry so that Obama takes action. That's where the buck ultimately stops. Being President isn't all about perks. When oil companies blow up and spew oil into the ocean off our coast, the President can't just sit back and watch them muck it up further. If they aren't getting the job done, the President has to step in and kick some asstake over the situation. Oh yeah, don't forget to turn off my idiot music box at the bottom of the page.





Take a few minutes to email (or snail mail) your governor, congressmen, and senators. Let those people know that you are not happy with the way that this situation is being handled. Remind them that they represent you - and you expect them to put pressure on the President to take some REAL action on cleaning up this mess. We may not be superheroes, but we do have the power of the pen. Let's start using it!