WE NEED FORTUNE TELLERS, AND TO BELIEVE IN THEM:

There are two times when I meditate most, coming up with insights: When I'm out taking a walk, and when I'm riding along in the car... (driving OR a passenger). This morning on the way home from breakfast out, my great idea was, "Why is it we don't have fortune tellers anymore." Of course I know that no one can see the future, but when fortune tellers made it their business, they at least looked at the facts of what was going on at the time; what had happened historically during like periods; and predicted a like outcome. If anyone ever said History doesn't repeat itself he was wrong. The fact we record history should make each of us into our own fortune teller. What is wrong with this human race is that we have a very low attention span. We blindly seem to be going out for instant gratification without even a thought as to the outcome. How did human-kind ever get to this point? I believe it is because we used to rely on fortune tellers instead of looking ourselves for the signs of the future outcomes based on the past and what is happening today.

From my perspective--one who has lived through a past oil shortage, and even earlier was brought up by parents who had managed to survive the Great Depression and learned the hard way about what happens when a society doesn't watch what is happening to the economy until it is too late--I could see this coming for a long, long time. From Ronald Reagan's presidency on. I thought it was going to be the National Debt which would do us in... living in a nation operating on a deficit as a way of life.

People my age and older also went through the economizing on gas with the smaller vehicles during the last big oil shortage, and I just couldn't believe it when less than 30 years later, people living in cities thought it cool to get a Hummer. Only on the unpaved roads of the Ozark mountains or in urban neighborhoods with drive-by shootings could I see the necessity of some car that looked like it could survive a war zone.

So... Now the United States is suffering a HUGE surprise, like, "I never saw it coming!" ... Come on! How Could We Not Have Seen This Coming?? We were a nation in denial. And, I'll bet if we had fortune tellers, people would only be going to them to get insider information so they could get more instant gratification in their wallet, or driven off from a showroom. This whole country has to either straighten up and fly right... or to GROW UP. Enough is enough. The stupidity is like mass thinking: down to the least common denominator. We seem to want the government to do all the thinking for us, not realizing that WE ARE the Government. We have to think ahead. Was IBM's slogan just "THINK"? or "THINK AHEAD"? We have to do both.

I remember taking a walk in the woods way above Rock Road in Vestal, NY--a little road along a creek that through the eons had carved a deep canyon. From above, I heard the roar of an auto and looked down at a noisy sedan full of teenagers one of which had chosen to spread eagle face down on the roof holding on to the gutter above the front doors, while the car was driven way too fast for this little road where there was barely room to pass an oncoming car. They had absolutely NO forethought of what would happen if they met another car. The one on top would be killed for sure. They were lucky. No one was coming, they joy rode without incident. Crazy, wasn't that. But, teens will be teens, and some will die because of their lack of forethought, or their want of the thrill of doing something life threatening and surviving. But, to be adults in this world, a CEO or President of an automotive company without any forethought is like strapping everyone on the roofs of the cars they are building, hoping that there's nothing bad coming from the other direction... just around the bend.

WHEN OBAMA WON:

I hope my family doesn't mind if I share with you the message I sent to them the morning after the night before which was Wednesday ... following my thrilled reaction to Barak Obama being voted in as the next President of the United States of America. I agree with the slogan people are now picking up on, "It's Cool To Be An American!"

Sent Nov.5:

Hello All,

I am so thrilled! I hope you all are too. This is a remarkable time in my lifetime. I'm talking about our new president, of course, President Barak Obama.

Wow! It had been really touchy for me for over a year now... When the fight began, I was only thinking I didn't want another Republican in the White House. But when I heard Obama speak, I realized that he was of the people, with the people, a uniter of people, and a hope for our nation. I liked that he couldn't be rattled. He couldn't be riled up. A steady as you go kind of person. But I wouldn't pick up this flag and wave it yet. (I'm such a Wuss. I'm realizing that over and over: Not so much a diplomat, but a wuss.) I kept my feelings bottled up, but spoke up when I had to ...especially to your father/stepfather when something which just didn't make any sense was being promoted on the Internet and he'd believe it.

I don't think I truly knew how I felt until I heard McCain concede, and realized that Obama had, in fact, taken the race! Suddenly I was gloriously relieved and happy!

NEVER have I seen a dirtier presidential race (And dirty on the GOP side, not on Obama's). It really scared me. I worried that something untoward would happen to Obama along the course, and especially if he was elected. If anyone follows my blog, you know how I felt, though I took down those blog entries, as I am not usually political. I don't like politics, but I detest unfairness. And I HAD to let Tom know why I thought that Republican slurs, the pushing suspicions of his background, of using anything they could get their little nasty manipulative hands on to tear this person down without saying the "n" word against him, and, c'mon, folks, for the most part the Republicans are WASPs. (Good name for them as they'd circle and come in with new venom with which to sting!) The Good Old Party[Poopers] in Washington wanted things to go on without change, and along comes, of all things, a black senator from unpolished roots, not long in DC thinking he can take on old tried and tested GOP candidates. They were so out to discredit Obama they didn't see the forest for the trees. They let a maverick lead their side, and tried to push and pull McCain until they pushed too far, and McCain realized that the Republican machine was out to blow Obama out of the water. [...At least I felt:] ... The GOP didn't want to just defeat him, they wanted to throw so much suspicion on him that some crackpot would feel he or she was doing their nation a great service by getting through the cracks and taking a pot shot at Obama... and then NoBama. I saw the True McCain come out, and what a good maverick is, when he took that microphone from the woman who called Obama an Arab... someone she previously said (because of all the mudslinging rumors and innuendo's) she "...couldn't trust." McCain saw what was happening, and his true self came through. He may have lost the election that day, but he won something greater, as he no longer was a puppet for the GOP when he called Obama a great American who would make a good president and that they just differ on the issues, that's all. Although Obama won, I couldn't admire anyone more than I admire McCain for who he really is. As for the pouring on the negative ads at the end... Well, at the VERY end he had one hell of a concession speech. I didn't even hear Obama's acceptance speech, but I heard the important one. McCain knitted up a broken campaign with a pledge to support our new president in every way possible and to heal this country with all the help he could give and wanted his supporters to follow suit.

I think Obama is going to be a great president, and I hope and pray he continues to gather support from even people who voted for him despite their saying that his color made a difference when interviewed at the exit polls.

I am just so pleased I could do a silly dance!

AND... as for your father/stepfather... Well, he showed hardly any signs of disappointment. I was really suprised. He did say that he was disappointed in the percentage of Republicans who voted. That, in fact, surprised me, as I didn't know up to that point when he said it that their vote percentage was especially low. I guess it was disillusionment on their part, and their lack of vote was a way in itself of expressing that. So, don't be too hard on Tom, nor worry about talking about Obama around him. I think he'll even come around to supporting him....

Well... another book from Mom/Mary Jo. Sorry. I just had to write. I'm so thrilled!!