Month: March 2012

Impending Fatherhood!

~ David McKay ~ 4 Comments

I am about to have a child.  41 days from now, give or take…

I suspect I will not be writing too much soon…

Not gonna start a baby blog, I’ll tell you that much.

However, if I do write soon, I believe that I might criticize the current power structure and what they are doing to ensure the well-being of the next generation — in regards to their health and education;

I might write about the lack of transparency in our government;

I might write about the lack of awareness that the majority of people have regarding the well-being of our planet…

Our Planet!

I am about to have a child.  I just turned 43 years old.

If you think I made this decision lightly, you don’t know me.  I know that there are whole races of people that have chosen to die rather than continue to live on this planet that we are in the process of fucking up.

________________________

The above was written nine days ago.  The countdown continues… 32!

And I think again of the future.  What parent does not consider the future?  I thought again of the seventh generation.  My blog has a search box, so I entered “seventh” and it took me to this:

https://beyondplastic.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/holy-crap-i-am-going-to-be-a-father/

“Our leaders were instructed to be men of vision and to make every decision on behalf of the seventh generation to come; to have compassion and love for those generations yet unborn. We were instructed to give thanks for All That Sustains Us.”

~ Haudenosaunee Faithkeeper, Chief Oren Lyons addressing delegates to the United Nations Organization, in opening remarks for “The Year of the Indigenous Peoples” (1993) in the United Nations General Assembly Auditorium, United Nations Plaza, New York City, December 10, 1992.

I challenge those parents out there that might be reading this: take a step towards making that seventh generation welcome on this planet, before it’s too late.

Baby steps are okay.  That’s how we all start out…

But we have to start.

It’s been a while since I added some music.  Here’s a parting shot: One Voice, by The Wailin’ Jennys…

Responsibility is not convenient — it’s necessary.

Rethink.  Refuse.  Reduce.  Reuse.  Reimagine.

Love.

Bag to the Basics…

~ David McKay ~ Leave a comment

I have been wanting to write something, and I just did not know what.  I thought I would get back to my blogging roots and do a little research via the internet on plastic bag bans.

Let’s start with this New York Times piece from Kate Galbraith in the Green Column: Should Plastic Bags Be Banned? from February 8th, 2012.  Austin is considering a ban on plastic bags.  Would a ‘wide-ranging ban’ on plastic bags really cause chaos and confusion amongst the customers of Austin?  Seriously, are we humans really that stupid?  Look around you, Ronnie Volkening, president of the Texas Retailers Association.  He called the proposal for a ban draconian and fears for the consumers ability to handle the loss.

That might help the therapists of Austin, though.  What about that, Ronnie?  Maybe there is grief counseling that is available for those consumers that will suffer from this bag ban.  Or not.  Maybe those suffering consumers might just adapt.  Because they’re human.  That’s what we do.

We screw with stuff, generally making a mess of things, then we adapt, make some more changes, and then we adapt some more.  Do we need to keep making things worse and adapting to that?  Why not turn around?

You know that if you turn around, and take a step, you’re still going forward?

So, instead of trying to fix a problem with yet another problem, or ignoring a problem in the name of profit, why don’t we just impose a ban on plastic bags and let the chips fall where they may?  Let’s move in a more positive direction…

I’ll adapt to that.

Thanks for reading.

Responsibility in not convenient — it’s necessary.

Rethink.  Refuse.  Reduce.  Reuse.  Reimagine.

Love.