thoughts on any monday

I really can't believe how quickly the days go by. I thought it was maybe just ten days since I had last written, but it has obviously been longer. We have done quite a bit since my last entry.

We had our first post-adoption meeting with our social worker Donna. It went really well and was encouraging to hear that most everything we are experiencing is normal and that she thought we were doing a wonderful job. It is so nice that our kids are friendly, and comfortable enough to be friendly with other people, too. The meeting was quick and painless and left us feeling good about how things are going. We are required to have two more meetings (one in three months and another in nine) and then we will be done with our post-adoption meetings. It is nice to have people who have seen/been a part of this kind of stuff before.

It is also nice to have wonderful friends who have been helping us in a variety of ways since we returned from Colombia. The kindness and generosity of our friends is tremendous and humbles me beyond description. I don't want to name names and embarrass people, so to those who have been integral in our lives here and who have helped us out in innumerable and immeasurable ways: thank you for your friendship. . .your love radiates beyond that which you will ever know.

Last weekend we also got the chance to take a trip out to Antelope Island (north of our abode by about 45 minutes). We carpooled in two vehicles with our family, Brad, Traci, and Joel, Josiah & Jill, and Mr. 7-UP himself, Josh (Becky was working out of town) and headed out in the morning for a day of fun spotting animals, birds, and enjoying the beauty and fun of the ranch. We packed picnic lunches and ate in the shade of the lush picnic area while playing with the kids and enjoying good conversation. It was a very relaxing day that everyone enjoyed. The kids, especially, had fun looking at buffalo, horses, antelope, owls and other stuff. It is always nice to take the kids out to see the beauty of what God has created. I hope that is always a part of what we do with the kids.

We finished a large portion of our work at my job site (which I can't really talk about) recently and have cut down to one crew. I am one that is staying, but it isn't really getting any better. I enjoy this particular job, but with the cut down to one crew I am now getting more hours and have a lot less flexibility than I had when we were two crews. I am disappointed with the outcome (especially that one of the guys taken out was one with whom I really enjoyed working) but am willing to stick it out for the time being. My eyes are always open for new opportunity, but have yet to really locate anything that looks like anything for which I am educated or interested in doing. In cutting down to one crew it actually raised my hours by about 5 per week. I am disgusted with the time I spend working.

One benefit to working is meeting many different people and discussing issues from a variety of points of view. I have met a socialist friend (whom I always refer to as my socialist friend when I am discussing him) with whom I have lengthy conversations regarding politics, social sciences, economics, etc. He is from Venezuela and has found it to be his cause to challenge my communist sympathies, even though we agree on much regarding the faults of the current system of government/society/economics. It is obvious that it is no system that is absolutely correct of absolutely corrupt, and I believe my sympathies are a direct result to what I view as shortcomings and inconsistencies of global capitalism (in which the ills of our society are not even necessarily viewed or considered because of the adage: out of sight, out of mind). So now I try to keep my house greener...less energy...more carpooling...we try to not shop at places that have evolved into morally bankrupt centers of commerce (yeah, you, Wal-Mart) and have joined a local food co-op to try to support locally-grown, organic food. We also participate in having a local dairy operation provide us with their non-MDMH injected milk and cage-free eggs. I have also started buying my coffee from www.groundsforchange.com as another way of supporting fair-trade and ecologically sound growing methods. I say this, not to brag, but to maybe offer some small ways in which we can all make a difference. The global market is one of exploitation, but it will continue to exploit as people continue to buy at places that propagate such practices. We can help to administer change by changing our economic habits, by becoming more educated on the products we buy, the places we shop, and by starting out one step at a time. Can we shop locally? Do we need to continue to administer a get out of jail free card to corporations who continue to produce cheap products via cheap and unfair labor practices in other countries? Can we begin to walk in way that promotes humanity and not just a global market that benefits the consumer in the western world? The question I often hear is "what can I do?" when this discussion ensues. My answer is always the same: What are you willing to do? There are so many ways in which we can propagate change, but we have to be willing to do these things, we have to be determined, because they are not always easy. Look into it. Shop locally for as many products as possible. Avoid mass chains as much as possible. Look into greener living.

Memorial Day. It really takes on a different meaning to me, and probably to most Native Americans. I understand why the U.S. desires to honor its fallen soldiers, and I understand why it was instituted following the Civil War. But one has to at least admit that there are vast differences in opinion on what should be celebrated, in what way, and in what venue. We should also admit that there are differences in opinion in the conflicts or wars or whatever that we should recognize when discussing the politics of such a day that honors the fallen military men and women. Can we really say that our involvement in World War II should be treated the same as our involvement in Vietnam? Or what about the Civil War? Or our current conflict in Iraq? Are these fought for the same circumstances? Should they be discussed with the same sense of patriotism regardless of the varying circumstances? I personally don't think so. And then, as was so graciously pointed out to me in a church Memorial Day service (which made me want to vomit) yesterday, there were 1000 fallen soldiers in the "Indian Wars" which lasted about 80 years in the 1800's. Okay. 1000. That is a big number. That is larger than my hometown. It is nothing to laugh at. 1000. So how do I reply when in the most conservative estimates there were over 2.5 million Native Americans wiped out, many during this time? The largest estimates are closer to 10 million. How do I react to that? More Native Americans were killed than the sum of all the fallen U.S. soldiers in battle since 1776. And then to list the "Indian Wars" as part of this memorial day celebration? Honor that? I can't do it. My apologies to those who have served or are serving, but I can't do it. My memorial day looks very different. There are no flags flying at my house. The destruction of peoples and cultures is no reason to memorialize those who participated in such acts. Which brings me back to looking at the circumstances of our involvement in the multiple wars in which we have been involved since 1776. Are they not different? Are they not for different reasons? Do we really believe that we are protecting our soil by setting up garrisons (over 700) in the world? Or are we protecting our economic interests, or at least the economic interests of those who are involved (I don't care by what degree of separation)? Can we say that WWI is the same as Desert Storm? That WWII is the same as Operation: Iraqi Freedom? I am not anti-American at all. I don't mean to diminish or insult soldiers at all. But how can we not ask these questions? How can I not ask these questions, when I am not anti-American, but when what I see what America should be to look so much different than what it does right now? 2.5 million, the lowest estimate.

And back to this Memorial Day service being a part of our church service (actually, the whole service). It's absolutely ridiculous to propagate such things in a church service. Any memorial day in a service that does not mention remembering the story of God or discussing the building of Bethel as a monument in remembrance as to the direction that God has led us is not a memorial day service that I want to be a part of. It seems like a conflict to me that there is a pronounced separation of church and state in our nation, but in actuality the evangelical church often acts as if they are one in the same. So are we a part of a theocracy or do we have separation? I am not getting it. What do we want? Freedom to worship or prayer in schools? We really can't have both. It is logically not cohesive in a non-homogeneous society. So we deepen the shaded areas in the division of church and state by placing a flag on the power point and we sing nationalistic songs as hymns to God. We do this with children of immigrants, granddaughters of Japanese descent, and the lone Native American sit in a service that strangely did not even weave back and forth between God and nationalism, but strictly hanged itself in the realm of nationalism. Separation of church and state, indeed. I think I am going to be sick.

I am not an ingrate; I am a free-thinker.

Join your local library. Buy fair-trade. Consider the implications of less oil-production in an oil-based economy. Stop using Styrofoam. Re-use plastic bags. Tupperware instead of sandwich bags. Consider renewable energy. Change your light bulbs to compact fluorescents. Enjoy free public spaces. Make an impact on the way we treat the earth, not the earth itself. What are you willing to do?
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