Well, I don't know that I want to run, but maybe take a breather :-) We have so much here in this country and yet we have so little...
I do not think that I have the energy to dump everything off my back as off yet. I will do it in stages. So today is part number one ;-)
The events of the last week have proven to me that I do not need a satellite dish. Bye, bye - we are going to miss discovery channel only, but there are videos. To calm my mind I have been cleaning like crazy over the last few days. It takes a while to clean 5,000 square foot house ! Of course my house is way too big, but everyone here in the west has a house like that ! Will I be more content moving back to Amsterdam, living in a two bedroom flat and commuting using my bike? I might be, if the flat overlooks one of the canals:-)
Last Friday I was reading a piece in Popular Science about a cross country trip of two americans in a new Smart by Mercedes. Did you see that car? A tiny thing, just for two, extremely good gas mileage. I have seen this car a few years ago while visiting Florence, even took a couple of pictures. Too small for me at this stage of my life, as I still have two kids to take places, but in six years might consider. So I am reading the piece while seating in my midsize car outside of my kid's school waiting for the dismissal bell . In a few minutes a huge Toyota pick up parks to my left, Hummer to my right and a minivan in front of me. Could not see anything, had to get out of my car so my daughter could see where I was parked. There went my dream about the Smart, as I imagined myself driving it and being smashed by the Hummer parked to my right (nice, burgundy colour).
How expensive does the gasoline has to get in order for us in the US to realize that we do not need "houses on wheels"? (For the record, my second car IS a minivan)
There is no talk, and there isn't to be, about "gun culture" in US. But there was a talk yesterday on NPR about a woman somewhere , who is trying to prevent the practice of free wireless internet in cities from spreading . Her argument? Kids will have unrestricted access to porn sites. Well, as far as I am concerned I would rather have my ten year old see some naked bodies than to have a gun pointed at her . And I am not pro porn! I am just seeing a lesser evil!
Unlike Willa, the VT incident has not make me afraid to send my kids to school. Thank God! But I worry about living in country where we have so much and want even more, without realizing the destructive power of our society. I want my kids to view the world from a different perspective. How do you accomplish that?
Ania
