Thursday, September 23, 2010

Musings: Time and Money

Last night’s moon-Jupiter show began with a swatch of blue like new day right along the horizon. Above it was a layer of bluish pink that gradually shifted to full on pink, which turned into a patch of yellowish clouds. That’s where the moon was hiding, peeking out every now and then, awaiting her debut, which occurred when she was well above the water. And all the while sparkly Jupiter was tagging along, below and off to the right.

They created a sparkle on the ocean that turned into a path of light that grew wider, brighter, shinier as the moon climbed higher. Watching it, I could see why a revolutionary movement with the name “Shining Path” would draw people. Who wouldn’t want to follow the kind of ethereal shimmer that stretched before me?

Unfortunately, human structures seem to fall short of natural models. Enroute to the beach, a friend noted and commented on an egret with a hefty chameleon in its mouth. That got us talking about how we humans are essentially working for our food each day, too. But unlike animals, whose search for food and shelter is their lifestyle and life, we humans have it all compartmentalized into job, home, recreation, social life, grocery store that leave us feeling disjointed, harried, out of step with the flow of life.

“And it’s all because of money,” my friend said.

I think what’s separated us most from the natural world, from all the other creatures, is our dual obsession with time and money, both human constructs that allow us to be controlled and regimented, and cause us so much angst.

If we really want to change the world, maybe we need to start by challenging — or at least questioning — the stranglehold of those two concepts.

Another concept that needs challenging is the whole idea of drug prohibition. Democracy Now! has a piece today on how a local newspaper in the town of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, published a front-page editorial directed to the drug cartels following the murder of a photographer:

"Explain to us what you want from us, so we know what to abide by. You are at this time the de facto authorities in this city because the legal authorities have not been able to stop our colleagues from falling. It is impossible for us to do our job under these conditions. Tell us, then, what you expect from us, as a newspaper..."

This is how bad things have gotten in Mexico because of American’s insatiable demand for drugs. Yet instead of legalizing them, which would end the illegal trade and its associated violence, U.S. officials continue to pretend that this problem can be resolved by continuing the utterly failed war on drugs.

Closer to home, the ongoing war on hunger got a small boost when the state Department of Human Services decided to change its administrative rules to eliminate an asset test for those applying for food stamps, or SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) as it’s now known. So effective Oct. 1, people will be qualified based solely on income, whereas before they used to take into account what sort of assets you had, including a car and even a wedding ring. As a result, more people will be eligible for assistance.

Judy Lenthall told me about the change when I was in the Kauai Independent Food Bank the other day. Seems Hawaii is the 39th state in the nation to change its rules, which were stricter than even the federal guidelines.

Yet folks will still need to fill out a 12-page application — unless they go through the pre-qualification that KIFB offers. But since DHS has cut so much of its staff, the agency is already lagging behind in determining eligibility, and a new flood of applications will likely worsen the backlog — even though federal law requires people to be notified of eligibility within 30 days, or seven days in an emergency.

Thirty days or more is a long time to wait when you’ve just lost your job and have hungry kids. Just another kind and caring legacy of the Lingle Administration. Still, the rule change is another step forward in getting more of the federal money that is already allocated for Hawaii. And when people can buy their own groceries with food stamps, it puts money into the local economy and gives them a little space and time to get back on their feet.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

War on obesity vs war on hunger. One groups eats too much the other not enough. These guys need to meet.

Anonymous said...

Lady, I'll take the angst of sweating through trying to end a 3 o'clock meeting in time to make my 4 o'clock tee time over the angst of sweating over whether the drought will end so I can feed my family or whether we will have to migrate again, every single time.

Anonymous said...

we humans have it all compartmentalized into job, home, recreation, social life, grocery store that leave us feeling disjointed, harried, out of step with the flow of life.

Maybe you're projecting your own responses onto "us". I certainly don't feel disjointed, harried, or out of step with the flow of life. On the contrary, my work and social life and family life as well as my day to day routine tasks for the most part make me feel good and productive and invigorated and connected with people and the world around me. That's not to say every day is a good one or that problems never arise but I'm sure people had bad days back when the "search for food and shelter was their lifestyle."

I understand that some people are more and some people less well adjusted in their relationship to the world and society, but I doubt those who resent feeling imposed upon by whatever aspects of human life they dislike would adjust any better if the search for food and shelter was their lifestyle or if our lives were somehow more in line with "natural modes."

Maybe people who blame the exterior world for their resentments or maladjustment should look within. It might be that "fixing" the world would do little to change their relationship to it.

Anonymous said...

Maybe you're projecting your own responses onto "us". I certainly don't feel disjointed, harried, or out of step with the flow of life.

Oh that's right, it's all about you.

Anonymous said...

It's a "super harvest moon" tonight!!

Anonymous said...

"Oh that's right, it's all about you."
If you can't take care of "me", you can't help them.

Anonymous said...

So, are you and your friend eager to be the egret or the chameleon in your uncompartmentalized "natural model"?

Anonymous said...

"Oh that's right, it's all about you."

Joan said "we humans have it all compartmentalized into job, home, recreation, social life, grocery store that leave us feeling disjointed, harried, out of step with the flow of life," so she made it about "us" and "we" and I think that is pretty clearly not the case. Some, maybe most, of us sometimes feel those ways, but most of us probably don't feel those ways most of the time. And if we sometimes feel those ways, is it because the world needs fixing along the lines of Joan's essentially neo-romantic shibboleth?

Anonymous said...

There is a disconnect between most humans and the natural world and it is evident in our youth especially. It has to do with our obsession with money and consumer goods. Its called the "rat race" for a reason.

I for one am all for a simpler way of living. We've screwed up the environment so badly living a more subsistence lifestyle may prove difficult. The fisheries are in bad shape and our soils filled with chemicals.

I hear you Joan. There were times in my life that I envied the simplicity of an animals life. Only downside are predators especially of the human species.

Anonymous said...

Drugs won't be legalized because too much money is at stake for the dealers, the cops, the prisons, etc.

Anonymous said...

what’s separated us most from the natural world, from all the other creatures, is our dual obsession with time and money, both human constructs that allow us to be controlled and regimented

Time is no more of a human construct than is nature. If an animal doesn't eat in a certain amount of time, it will die. Animals' and plants' lives are actually quite controlled and regimented by the constraints of time as well as other natural phenomena.

Breaking time into distinct increments such as hours and minutes is a human imposition, but so what. So is measuring water in litres or gallons. That doesn't make time, or water, any less real.

Anonymous said...

Life would actually be a lot more hectic without money. Money solves a whole bunch of problems that arise whenever we want to trade stuff with each other.

It takes no imagination at all to see how naturally such problems arise. Trading my mangoes for my neighbor's greens is no problem as long as my neighbor wants my greens. But if not, and if my neighbor instead wants a chicken, then I need to find someone who will exchange a chicken for mangoes, then take the chicken to my neighbor and exchange it for my greens.

It obviously makes way, way more sense for us all to simply adopt some stand-in measure of value and agree to accept it in exchange for things instead of spending so much time and energy engineering complex multi-party trades in order to get what we want.

Anonymous said...

"what’s separated us most from the natural world, from all the other creatures, is our dual obsession"

Obsessions?
I'd vote for death, gods and /or sacred stuff.

Anonymous said...

"what’s separated us most from the natural world, from all the other creatures, is our dual obsession"

Obsessions? I'd vote for death, gods and /or sacred stuff.


How about language, maybe. Or mathematics.

Anonymous said...

As the list grows maybe we're not of the "natural world"!

Anonymous said...

I thought it was the awareness that we are trapped in a prison of freedom that both distinguishes us from animals and causes the psychic discomfort Joan alludes to.