Bleeding Heart

A few random thoughts about the things that make my heart a bit heavy these days. And then I really have to get some sleep.

• Sometimes it feels like people equate freedom with being free from having anyone tell them what to do with their money (and, I suppose, being able to vote for people who won't tell them what to do with their money). Sometimes it feels like money is the end, not the means to an end. Sometimes it feels like money is what we care most about and that it drives most of our decisions. I worry about what we're overlooking.
• I don't really understand why the very loudest cries in our quest for energy independence aren't for conservation (which, incidently empowers everyone to work toward solutions). Of course we need to become more self-sufficient and develop energy sources (oil and all sorts of alternatives), but the loudest cries are "drill, drill, drill." It's like the plant in Little Shop of Horrors crying "feed me." Do we not hear how consumed we are with consuming?
• I think it's a very good thing that the U.S. is a strong world leader. It's not about apologizing for our strength, but about being gracious and wise in that strength. It's about being an example and using our powers for good. It's about lifting people up, not steamrolling them. Sadly armed conflict is sometimes a part of that, but it should only be when we see no other way.
• It worries me when people equate diplomacy with appeasement and, as a result, dismiss diplomacy. And that we barely blinked when we turned into a country that would initiate a preemptive strike.
• Don't we, as Americans, believe that our constitutional rights are fundamentally derived from our rights as human beings? If, for example, it is unconscionable for an American to be detained for months, even years, on end without being told why, shouldn't that hold true for other human beings as well?
• We absolutely need to be aware of threats and smart about how we handle them, but we seem to be operating from a place of fear, which makes us turn inward, and I think that will hurt us more in the long run than anything we're afraid of. We hold so tightly to the things we're afraid we're going to lose, that we risk losing them and so much more. Imagine how much more amazing our country would be if we were generous and open in spirit rather than fearful and protective. If we're smart about it, we wouldn't lose our way of life, we'd enlarge it.