OT - It was 20 years ago today.

[Brooks Weisman]

Del
Thank you for putting this into words.  I agree with you wholeheartedly!

Brooks Weisman RPT
Arcata & Napa, CA
brooksw@jps.net


----- 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
>
>
>
>