Yesterday, multiple bombs were sent to high up democrats---powerful people that President Trump has castigated and bad-mouthed and accused of many horrible things.
His latest bit of pure terror-creating rhetoric involved 7000 "criminals and middle eastern terrorists paid to invade our country" by those above mentioned powerful and wealthy democrats.
The lie made no sense.
Why would the democrats sabotage their own chance to take back majority in congress. Everyone knows that immigration is a mixed bag with both parties' constituents.
There are videos of those about 7000 individuals caravanning up through Mexico; they have been interviewed ad nauseum. They are mostly men, but some women and children from the Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. They are fleeing their countries due to crime, unemployment, gang violence, poverty and hunger. Their countries have much corruption at the government level. (It would seem, so do we, instead of hating them, maybe we should work on not becoming them)
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/honduras/overview
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gt.html
http://theconversation.com/why-is-el-salvador-so-dangerous-4-essential-reads-89904
This is not the first large caravan of people from Central America---not even the first this year.
https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/arts/he-joined-the-migrant-caravan-then-gave-it-an-anthem/
The trip is more than 1000 miles long. Many will fall out long before they get here. They then apply for asylum.
The last group, at the first of this year started similarly to the current caravan, but it was down considerably when it got to the border and 3---THREE!--received asylum.
We didn't hear about it at the time BECAUSE OUR PRESIDENT DIDN'T TURN A BUSINESS AS USUAL EVENT INTO A TWITTER FRENZY LEADING TO A MEDIA CIRCUS.
So there is no doubt that Trump uses the media.
He just wants to control them completely.
That is how fascists work. (a corporation with a dictatorial, authoritarian owner/CEO is legal, you can always get another job, but in a country---well, where ya gonna go)
Spoon feed those followers to rev them up, turn them into angry, on-fire mobs of mindlessness.
Most of us do not want to hurt people no matter how much we disagree. But there are those, those that are easy to sway and are prone to resorting to violence when their own problem-solving skills fall short of the goal. Those that just want to be a part of something powerful. Those that would really love to have power over others but are not actually very impressive, therefore locked out of the group of movers and shakers---and they will do anything--A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G-- to please their hero.
Trump has become the hero of a lot of people out there.
He says all that crap that they want to say but don't want to lose their friends or their job or their position in the church.
And, he regularly goes out and "fans the flames" of righteous indignation and hate at his rallies and on twitter with his 5 am poop.
He is a real releasor of the CRAZY.
So, we get bombs in the mail, within days of him blaming CNN (fake news) and "Crooked Hillary" and Obama ("that wasn't even born here") and George Soros, who is a huge supporter of world democracy---I can't decide if Trump(no longer on the forbes 400, as he is now the 716 richest in the world) is jealous of his giving away more money than Trump has, or if he just really hates democracy.
The flip side is the crazy feeling the rest of us get listening to Trump spew hate and rail against the things our democracy (republic, electoral college--whatever) values like freedom of speech and a free press and equal rights (even for nonwhite, nonmale, nonrich people).
So some of those flip side people (non-republicans) are accosting politicians in restaurants and pulling up political signs and punching the people that try to stop them. We even had someone shoot at a group of republican congressmen at the beginning of crazy-man's presidency and the majority Whip was shot in the hip.
And why are people doing this crap?
In America, land of the gun, land of fighting for our beliefs, a land built on people moving here to get away from persecution, and being brought here against their will to make the lives of others easier, and being sent here to empty small prisons, we all expect that we might have to get a little dirty. We worship our soldiers and police for their fighting skills.
Why did we not expect this turn of events?
Why did we not foresee that this highly charged environment could take us here?
You would think we all thought that the USA was too stable for a revolution or a civil war or even riots and assassinations.
Get real.
We have done all those things before.
Sad that one loudmouthed liar more concerned with raking in the money from his well-placed real estate by the patronage of diplomats and CEOs, is going to show the world how crazy we as a nation still are.
My advice. Talk all you want, but be aware that while we have freedom of speech, we do not have the right to stop someone from talking by physical violence. If you know someone prone to losing their sh-- over a verbal disagreement--don't poke that bear.
Dangerous times.
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Monday, October 15, 2018
So, How many people does it take to change the world to make it better.
We are also see population changes---and the age of modern man saw a huge increase in man's own ability to survive and reproduce.
Note that the red line is the growth rate, and it levels and begins falling about the same time that birth control methods become available and falls more as those methods become more available globally. Yet, the population will continue up through 2100-taking the 7+ billion people here now and increasing it to over 11 billion. Picture your neighborhood with almost twice as many people. Humans in that number can not help but impact the world, but we can do things that positively impact our human effects on the world.
Next, we have a graph of the carbon dioxide parts per million in our atmosphere. Note that once again we see an upcurve similar to our population curve but it is also related to the new use of fossil fuels to increase our productivity and speed up all our work. (industrial age, move to cities, increase in automobiles.)
Then we see the relationship between carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere and our planet's surface temperature. Same upward curve. Below shows it with the 5-year running mean, a nice way of leveling any one time quirks.
At current rates of temperature change and without our intervention we can expect to raise drastically by 2100.
Yet, most of us don't think humans are causing these changes or don't know what the whole subject is about.
Amazingly, developed Asia, Latin America, Canada, Europe all know more about it and understand and accept it due to human activity. The people of the USA are most likely to consider these changes natural. The countries that don't think humans are causing it, except for the USA usually have not even heard of the theory.
So what will the temperature changes do to the world? Think glaciers and the ice caps at the north and south pole. Massive amounts of water have been stored in those since the last ice age. (think cavemen and Mammoths.) If current sea level is ground zero, then any increase in water in the ocean from melting will raise sea level. Below is a list of places that currently exist below sea level.
Not every place that is below sea level will be immediately affected by a change in sea level, just as the water table in every place will not be immediately affected. But coastal areas will be changed and while an increase of 1 foot in 125 years (least case scenario) doesn't seem like much, the worst case, will make where we want to build much more important.
Plus, let us look at the flooding caused by hurricanes and torrential rains. A foot of rain can cause flooded streets, swollen rivers that take out bridges and flooded homes.
But, did we humans do this? Did we affect it at all?
This curve definitely mimicks the curves of population growth and industrial growth. But it also is related to the wealth of a nation and the unfettered use of fossil fuels and just plain denial that anyone can tell them anything.
So can we do anything? Let's look at what our human efforts did to the growing Ozone hole once scientists identified it and a plan to decrease the problem was initiated.
It is not like we fixed everything, but by decreasing the Ozone depleting substance consumption to zero we stopped the hole from increasing in size.
A journalist has written a book called the Sixth Extinction. It's timely and scary and worth taking a gander at.
Ultimately, humans will either wake up or they will go the way of the dinosaur. That will most likely eventually happen anyway, although we will probably leave remnants of ourselves---sort of like those modern dinosaur descendants--the chicken. If we don't want to be a rather rapidly extincted species, we might want to wake up today.
Earth is a planet and like all planets it has an atmosphere. Currently, Earth is about 0.03% carbon dioxide, but it was much higher before plants existed. The plants used the CO2 and gave off O2. Until the Plants existed, oxygen breathing/dependent creatures were not possible. Plants needed sunlight, water and CO2 as well as a diverse elemental stew to sink their roots in. (dirt).
The greenhouse effect was what we heard about back before anyone talked about global warming or climate change. Venus is an example of the Greenhouse effect in action. (nope, nothing about plants or glass buildings, just CO2 levels and temperature.)
460 degrees Celsius is 860 degrees Fahrenheit. Not hot as the sun, not hot as a cone 10 kiln, but hotter than an oven on broil. If you look at the graph below, you will see that it is much hotter than any other planet, including Mercury and way out of line with what you would expect the temperature to be based on distance from the sun. It is over twice as hot as Mercury, the planet closest to the sun.
Below is a diagram showing the layers of Earth's atmosphere. The point is, the Troposphere is where the greenhouse effect occurs, the narrowest layer closest to the earth. The next layer contains the Ozone which absorbs ultraviolet light, but none of the others affect convection, and convection is the thing related to heat.
The last chart has to do with the actual composition of the Earth's atmosphere. It's mostly nitrogen in the form of N2, two atoms of nitrogen bonded together making a stable molecule that usually exists as a gas. We rarely worry about nitrogen until someone changes pressure to quickly and the N2 in their body causes "the bends". Think deep sea diving.
Oxygen, the one we humans and most "animals" require for metabolism is the second most plentiful. It is normally considered to be 21%. There is some evidence that this has actually decreased over the years, not from us breathing too much, but because when you increase other gases, you dilute the ones not being added as rapidly. The ones in blue on the chart are the ones most likely to increase in proportion and thus decrease the percent of oxygen in the atmosphere.
In healthcare, we frequently give people higher percents of oxygen or O2 because either they are have a hard time getting enough of the gas through their lungs or their metabolic needs have increased beyond what normal breathing can provide. If O2 levels sink much below 21%, people predisposed to difficulties with their lungs---asthmatics, Cystic fibrosis, COPD, CHF, or people acutely ill with sepsis, pneumonia, acute myocardial infarction will need supplemental oxygen faster or all the time just to be where they currently live.
We decreased the Halocarbons by changing laws and human practices after concerns about increased ultraviolet light and an enlarging hole in the Ozone.
Both Carbon dioxide and Methane are increased by human activities.
We know how to decrease both of those right now.
Some rich people will lose some money when they have to change what they are making and selling.
Some people building cars and trucks and other petroleum based vehicles will have to learn some new things to build electric vehicles.
The coal miners and petroleum workers will need to learn about solar panels and wind energy.
Other changes could be needed.
Humans are currently the most prolific thing on the planet. It is the human Era.
We are not the biggest.
We are not the toughest.
We are not the longest lived or healthiest animal on the planet.
But, in the past, we were the most capable of adapting to change.
Time to choose that change before our adaptability is no longer enough.
Sunday, October 7, 2018
Power and Ethics.
I'm not sure I understand why politics here and world wide are now and have forever been full of corruption.
I do know that Power and Ethics do not seem to make good bedfellows.
Look at Jimmy Carter. A man that seems to be an ethical man, a good man, and a loving man.
While a few people have praised his presidency while he was president, and a lot of people look back and wish they had grabbed him for another 4 years---blinders were on so many back then; and now most people look at him, his return to his family and his work with habitat for humanity and his plain and simple wisdoms---most people thought of him as forgettable. What did he do for me? What did he do for the good of my group?
And there lies the problem.
Most of us only want honesty, goodness, fairness, justice, and ethics when they will personally benefit us. We want to get a raise, but don't give a crap about other groups getting a raise. We don't want the possibility of making massive money in the stock market made safer but less profitable, if we have money in the stock market. If we have health insurance, or paid family leave or 4 weeks vacation through work, then why doesn't everyone get a job like mine. And, if everyone that can benefit from college can go to college, the competition for the job I studied for just went up. How does that help me?
We are living in the time when all the progress made by the suffragettes at the turn of the last century (100 years ago--OMG!) all the progress made by the civil rights workers over the last 150 years, all the progress made regarding women and brown people and children could prove not to have been progress at all but more of a rosy hiccup of the universe that is currently ending.
I could list corrupt world leaders or corrupt local politicians or corrupt judges and district attorneys and officers of the law.
I could list people whose jobs give them power over others that have used that power to ensure sexual favors, bribes, forgiveness for their illegal activities and getting their backs scratched by other's in power in exchange for their own favors.
I could list people who have abused their own power so badly that they have left trails of bodies, piles of destroyed careers, rumors of abuse buried in police reports.
But those lists would be so long, and so depressing that I can't touch that.
Ethics is defined as a moral philosophy or code of morals practiced by a person or group of people.
Ethical leaders all have some things in common. They do not compromise their stand on ethics for the benefit of themselves or their group.
Ethical leaders understand that they must be the leaders of all those under their wing and not just their buddies or some elite group that they are also part of. They do not make deals to benefit one group under them while ignoring or hurting another group under them.
Ethical leaders do not seek yes-men, they seek genuine experts in their fields to help them see the full, long-range picture. They expect collaboration on decisions instead of just impulsively saying something and then trying to make it happen whether it makes sense or not. Ethical leaders are not ego-driven.
Ethical leaders do not deny the leadership abilities of others, but instead work with them respectfully.
Ethical leaders are not dictators, fascists, the supreme being, the king (or queen) for life. They never abuse their power.
A short list of ethical leaders includes:
I do know that Power and Ethics do not seem to make good bedfellows.
Look at Jimmy Carter. A man that seems to be an ethical man, a good man, and a loving man.
While a few people have praised his presidency while he was president, and a lot of people look back and wish they had grabbed him for another 4 years---blinders were on so many back then; and now most people look at him, his return to his family and his work with habitat for humanity and his plain and simple wisdoms---most people thought of him as forgettable. What did he do for me? What did he do for the good of my group?
And there lies the problem.
Most of us only want honesty, goodness, fairness, justice, and ethics when they will personally benefit us. We want to get a raise, but don't give a crap about other groups getting a raise. We don't want the possibility of making massive money in the stock market made safer but less profitable, if we have money in the stock market. If we have health insurance, or paid family leave or 4 weeks vacation through work, then why doesn't everyone get a job like mine. And, if everyone that can benefit from college can go to college, the competition for the job I studied for just went up. How does that help me?
We are living in the time when all the progress made by the suffragettes at the turn of the last century (100 years ago--OMG!) all the progress made by the civil rights workers over the last 150 years, all the progress made regarding women and brown people and children could prove not to have been progress at all but more of a rosy hiccup of the universe that is currently ending.
I could list corrupt world leaders or corrupt local politicians or corrupt judges and district attorneys and officers of the law.
I could list people whose jobs give them power over others that have used that power to ensure sexual favors, bribes, forgiveness for their illegal activities and getting their backs scratched by other's in power in exchange for their own favors.
I could list people who have abused their own power so badly that they have left trails of bodies, piles of destroyed careers, rumors of abuse buried in police reports.
But those lists would be so long, and so depressing that I can't touch that.
Ethics is defined as a moral philosophy or code of morals practiced by a person or group of people.
Ethical leaders all have some things in common. They do not compromise their stand on ethics for the benefit of themselves or their group.
An ethical leader is always fair and just. They have no favorites, and treat everyone equally.
An ethical leader shows respect for all by listening to them attentively, valuing their contributions, being compassionate, and being generous while considering opposing viewpoints.
Being humane is one of the most revealing traits of a leader who is ethical and moral. Ethical leaders place importance on being kind, and act in a manner that is always beneficial to others.
Ethical leaders foster a sense of community. When an ethical leader strives to achieve goals, it is not just personal goals that they’re concerned about. They make genuine efforts to achieve goals that benefit the entire group– not just themselves.
In ethical leadership, all decisions are first checked to ensure that they are in accordance with the values of the group. Only those decisions that meet this criterion are implemented.
Under an ethical leader, everyone thrives and flourishes
Ethical leadership is not just about talking the talk, this type of leader also walks the walk. The high expectations that an ethical leader has are also applicable on the individual level. Leaders expect others to do the right thing by leading by example.
Ethical leaders set the standard for truth--both with their words and their expectation of honest bookkeeping/record keeping and reporting. There are no memos to shred telling assistant number one to make sure no one finds out about that problem that we had. Honesty is transparent.Ethical leaders understand that they must be the leaders of all those under their wing and not just their buddies or some elite group that they are also part of. They do not make deals to benefit one group under them while ignoring or hurting another group under them.
Ethical leaders do not seek yes-men, they seek genuine experts in their fields to help them see the full, long-range picture. They expect collaboration on decisions instead of just impulsively saying something and then trying to make it happen whether it makes sense or not. Ethical leaders are not ego-driven.
Ethical leaders do not deny the leadership abilities of others, but instead work with them respectfully.
Ethical leaders are not dictators, fascists, the supreme being, the king (or queen) for life. They never abuse their power.
A short list of ethical leaders includes:
- Socrates (possible fictional character--but who can say for sure)
- Jesus
- Mahatma Gandhi (but not perfect)
- Mother Teresa (mostly perfect)
- Jimmy Carter
- Calvin Coolidge
- James Monroe
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Che Guevara
- Mark Twain (ok, that is not even his real name, so maybe not)
- Will Rogers (if he wasn't, he at least knew what one didn't look like and could make you laugh while describing him or her.)
It's a tough list. Nobody is perfect.
But currently, we seem to have lost our moral compass at the top. Our leaders are mostly self-serving, backscratching, hedonists that just want power so they can do whatever they want.
Time to find some ethical people to add to this crummy mix we currently have.
I may love a good historical novel or western movie, but prefer not to find myself living in either.
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Gullivers Travels in 2018
Eminent Domain. The power to take private property for public use by a state, municipality, or private person or corporation authorized to exercise functions of public character.
If you google that, there are multiple examples of lawsuits by landowners, large landowners, businessmen that are in the middle of fighting eminent domain lawsuits. Whatever "public good" was expected to occur when the current owners had their property taken is on hold.
Eminent domain is not just used for taking property to place prisons or jails, schools, county hospitals, or parks, it is also used if a wealthy corporation decides to talk the local politicals into a project that will increase property taxes, attract tourists, make the area prettier. No one ever mentions that it will also make the wealthy corporation buttloads of money, also.
While prominent businessmen, large landowners, and large groups of uppermiddle class residents can hire someone to squash such ventures, the poorer communities are frequently just walked all over.
We call that gentrification.
As in "Anti-Robin Hood". Steal from the poor and give to the rich.
I realize that when an area looks poor, is full of liquor stores and crappy apartments, empty buildings, and dollar stores, it does not bring in big revenue. Poor people don't have big revenue. But, they have to live somewhere. Getting rid of every place that they call home doesn't make them middle class, it makes them homeless.
I have read in a few books where the poor in feudal times were called little people (not at all the same as fairies, gnomes and brownies).
I have heard those few rich and powerful families referred to as "giants among men."
As a regular human, every time I walk outside, I may--or may not be squashing ants and other bugs. The front of my car proves that I kill much more than ants every time I drive, but especially at night when they are attracted to my headlights. If I glance at the side of the road, I realize that our vehicles create a lot of roadkill, also.
And most of us never think about that at all.
I think those "giants among men" do a lot of that to the "little people". "Well, what was I supposed to do, they were in my way." "They breed like cockroaches, they won't even be missed." "I am doing important work here, what are they doing."
Well, they were living their lives. AND, they weren't easy lives....some of us humans have multiple houses, the best-of-the-best food, never have to worry about their children longer than it takes to call a lawyer or the Doctor on speed-dial, never have to worry about the electricity being off longer than it takes the generator to kick on during the storm. BUT, a lot of us have a certain familiarity with the basic needs---pay the bills on time, how to prioritize the use of the money coming in so that A) everyone eats, B) The rent or mortgage is paid, C)The Utilities stay on, D) the car is not repossessed, E) everyone has the clothes they need to not be suspended from school, not be sent home from work, and not freeze in winter or burn in summer.
There are plenty of "little people" that screw up periodically and miss a beat that causes them some problems: the woman that thinks that better clothes will get her that better job, then finds it doesn't pay her more and now the kids school clothes are too tight and---inappropriate. The family that does everything right till the baby gets sick and mom or dad has to stay at home for a week. IF they knew about FMLA AND did the paperwork, the jobs are still there, but the pay is not guaranteed and now something has to give---will it be the food? the rent? or the utilities. They ride the bus, so nothing to cut their, but also, not much saved while off work not riding. Hopefully the landlord will understand, the rent being late is least likely to make a sick kid worse.
Little lives can be dangerous lives. Fraught with hard choices that those giants among men never have to face. Some of the small things can be a mom or dad that works in health care or was in the military choosing to make butterflies to hold a wound shut that obviously needed stitches. Or throwing a child in a cool bath when their temp spikes to 105 degrees F--to avoid a copay to the ER that is bigger than they have. Choices like feeding the family nothing but processed foods known to cause cancer because the fresh food is too high for the budget. Choices like living in a car when they have to choose between the job and the rent.
Life is full of choices for the "little people".
But rarely full of the kinds of choices that they want to make.
If you ask a 12 year old whether they would rather be the CEO of the bank or the Teller, they aren't dumb, they say CEO. But in the next 6 years, when they should be preparing for their future, they are doing what middle school and high school students have done for generations in public school. They are trying to get the classes they want--based on how easy it is and whether their friends are in it. We have a lot of AP classes anymore, and by 3rd grade, kids in small communities know who in their class will be taking those AP classes and who will be stagnating in boring, minimally helpful classes that have them memorizing pointless facts, filling out worksheets, reading the state approved books (or finding a good report on Google), trying to figure out the new math---and there is always a new math, because how else do you sell all those textbooks on a subject that is set in stone and never needs an upgrade--except maybe to make it less white bread in the story problems.
Most kids like school till third grade. Then, we stop worrying about everyone's self-esteem and start trying to push all the kids into the mold that will build the future workers of America.
We are currently all about STEM or STEAM, depending on whether or not they put art in there to make the name look more recognizable.
But, do we really need an entire population of scientists, technologists, engineers and Mathematics?
Reality is, most of those giants among men, don't want the little people getting any closer to their STEAM moneymakers than clerical work, data entry, and working in the warehouse once they get their next little widget made to sell.
We aren't trying to turn everyone into scientists and mathematicians, we are trying to identify talent early and the rest of them are welcome to go right back to being C students that can apprentice to their plumber father and carry on with their lives.
Maybe, we should start helping all the children of the "little people" identify their special talents and aptitudes and then help them hone those for their entire public school life. Let the musical focus on music and the person with great fine motor skills focus on things that use that.
Let us all, even us little people, live our lives to our best ability, using our strengths for our own success and enjoyment instead of having a government that is busy trying to help the giants groom us for their own business success.
Once upon a time, the lord of the manor would ride out, see a 12 year old girl that looked like she would be a nice addition to the manors servant quarters, and there she would go--her life no longer her own. Or see a big strong 10 year old boy, grab him up and apprentice him to the blacksmith. It didn't matter what they wanted, it didn't matter if they had dreams.
Because the dreams of ants don't matter. Their lives are short and meaningless to those that can't see that small.
Don't misunderstand, I would have loved the STEAM program when I was a child, but we had 2 tracks, college and vocational. For the girls that was further narrowed into---girls to college for teaching or nursing, and girls to secretarial or home economics.
Boys were great athletes to college, nerd boys to college, and all the other boys to shop class.
We haven't changed much. We kill the love for school for many children by third grade. That is a sign that school is not for the good of the children. Right now we have laws requiring IEP's for "special children". It's time that all children were special. Unfortunately, we don't really like to pay for educating the children of "the little people" unless we can mark it off as a business expense.
Just remember, ANTS ARE PEOPLE TOO!
If you google that, there are multiple examples of lawsuits by landowners, large landowners, businessmen that are in the middle of fighting eminent domain lawsuits. Whatever "public good" was expected to occur when the current owners had their property taken is on hold.
Eminent domain is not just used for taking property to place prisons or jails, schools, county hospitals, or parks, it is also used if a wealthy corporation decides to talk the local politicals into a project that will increase property taxes, attract tourists, make the area prettier. No one ever mentions that it will also make the wealthy corporation buttloads of money, also.
While prominent businessmen, large landowners, and large groups of uppermiddle class residents can hire someone to squash such ventures, the poorer communities are frequently just walked all over.
We call that gentrification.
As in "Anti-Robin Hood". Steal from the poor and give to the rich.
I realize that when an area looks poor, is full of liquor stores and crappy apartments, empty buildings, and dollar stores, it does not bring in big revenue. Poor people don't have big revenue. But, they have to live somewhere. Getting rid of every place that they call home doesn't make them middle class, it makes them homeless.
I have read in a few books where the poor in feudal times were called little people (not at all the same as fairies, gnomes and brownies).
I have heard those few rich and powerful families referred to as "giants among men."
As a regular human, every time I walk outside, I may--or may not be squashing ants and other bugs. The front of my car proves that I kill much more than ants every time I drive, but especially at night when they are attracted to my headlights. If I glance at the side of the road, I realize that our vehicles create a lot of roadkill, also.
And most of us never think about that at all.
I think those "giants among men" do a lot of that to the "little people". "Well, what was I supposed to do, they were in my way." "They breed like cockroaches, they won't even be missed." "I am doing important work here, what are they doing."
Well, they were living their lives. AND, they weren't easy lives....some of us humans have multiple houses, the best-of-the-best food, never have to worry about their children longer than it takes to call a lawyer or the Doctor on speed-dial, never have to worry about the electricity being off longer than it takes the generator to kick on during the storm. BUT, a lot of us have a certain familiarity with the basic needs---pay the bills on time, how to prioritize the use of the money coming in so that A) everyone eats, B) The rent or mortgage is paid, C)The Utilities stay on, D) the car is not repossessed, E) everyone has the clothes they need to not be suspended from school, not be sent home from work, and not freeze in winter or burn in summer.
There are plenty of "little people" that screw up periodically and miss a beat that causes them some problems: the woman that thinks that better clothes will get her that better job, then finds it doesn't pay her more and now the kids school clothes are too tight and---inappropriate. The family that does everything right till the baby gets sick and mom or dad has to stay at home for a week. IF they knew about FMLA AND did the paperwork, the jobs are still there, but the pay is not guaranteed and now something has to give---will it be the food? the rent? or the utilities. They ride the bus, so nothing to cut their, but also, not much saved while off work not riding. Hopefully the landlord will understand, the rent being late is least likely to make a sick kid worse.
Little lives can be dangerous lives. Fraught with hard choices that those giants among men never have to face. Some of the small things can be a mom or dad that works in health care or was in the military choosing to make butterflies to hold a wound shut that obviously needed stitches. Or throwing a child in a cool bath when their temp spikes to 105 degrees F--to avoid a copay to the ER that is bigger than they have. Choices like feeding the family nothing but processed foods known to cause cancer because the fresh food is too high for the budget. Choices like living in a car when they have to choose between the job and the rent.
Life is full of choices for the "little people".
But rarely full of the kinds of choices that they want to make.
If you ask a 12 year old whether they would rather be the CEO of the bank or the Teller, they aren't dumb, they say CEO. But in the next 6 years, when they should be preparing for their future, they are doing what middle school and high school students have done for generations in public school. They are trying to get the classes they want--based on how easy it is and whether their friends are in it. We have a lot of AP classes anymore, and by 3rd grade, kids in small communities know who in their class will be taking those AP classes and who will be stagnating in boring, minimally helpful classes that have them memorizing pointless facts, filling out worksheets, reading the state approved books (or finding a good report on Google), trying to figure out the new math---and there is always a new math, because how else do you sell all those textbooks on a subject that is set in stone and never needs an upgrade--except maybe to make it less white bread in the story problems.
Most kids like school till third grade. Then, we stop worrying about everyone's self-esteem and start trying to push all the kids into the mold that will build the future workers of America.
We are currently all about STEM or STEAM, depending on whether or not they put art in there to make the name look more recognizable.
But, do we really need an entire population of scientists, technologists, engineers and Mathematics?
Reality is, most of those giants among men, don't want the little people getting any closer to their STEAM moneymakers than clerical work, data entry, and working in the warehouse once they get their next little widget made to sell.
We aren't trying to turn everyone into scientists and mathematicians, we are trying to identify talent early and the rest of them are welcome to go right back to being C students that can apprentice to their plumber father and carry on with their lives.
Maybe, we should start helping all the children of the "little people" identify their special talents and aptitudes and then help them hone those for their entire public school life. Let the musical focus on music and the person with great fine motor skills focus on things that use that.
Let us all, even us little people, live our lives to our best ability, using our strengths for our own success and enjoyment instead of having a government that is busy trying to help the giants groom us for their own business success.
Once upon a time, the lord of the manor would ride out, see a 12 year old girl that looked like she would be a nice addition to the manors servant quarters, and there she would go--her life no longer her own. Or see a big strong 10 year old boy, grab him up and apprentice him to the blacksmith. It didn't matter what they wanted, it didn't matter if they had dreams.
Because the dreams of ants don't matter. Their lives are short and meaningless to those that can't see that small.
Don't misunderstand, I would have loved the STEAM program when I was a child, but we had 2 tracks, college and vocational. For the girls that was further narrowed into---girls to college for teaching or nursing, and girls to secretarial or home economics.
Boys were great athletes to college, nerd boys to college, and all the other boys to shop class.
We haven't changed much. We kill the love for school for many children by third grade. That is a sign that school is not for the good of the children. Right now we have laws requiring IEP's for "special children". It's time that all children were special. Unfortunately, we don't really like to pay for educating the children of "the little people" unless we can mark it off as a business expense.
Just remember, ANTS ARE PEOPLE TOO!
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