It seems today that you have to be one thing or the other, particularly in politics. What happened to the individual? To nuanced thought and gradations of possible stances? Why are things so all or nothing?
I, personally, am sick of the rhetoric on both sides of the aisle way over there in Washington - but at least there are two sides of the aisle there. In Hawaii, the politics tend to be all one-sided.
But, what I am really thinking of is the ideas surrounding self-sufficiency and homesteading. This - dare I call it a philosophy? - isn't firmly on one or the other side, is it? For me, it's about a stubborn wish to be independent, and it appeals to the inner frugal-person in me. It's less about oil or the environment - but the more I can see what I can raise myself, the less I want to waste the gas it takes to go buy stuff that I don't really know the origins of. For others, the wish is focused less on the idea of self-sufficiency and more on the need to "tread lightly" on the earth. Similar aims from very different starting points.
Some of the anti-small farmer laws and policies out there contradict the push to make policies to address climate change. It makes no sense.
I am blogging here, on a computer, and dearly desire a good smartphone so I can take pictures and upload them without the humbug having to pull out the SD card or wires; I even teach (and love it) in a school which has a 1:1 program (each kids has the use of a laptop during the school year). And at the same time, I farm in the most chemical free way I can, mostly because I am too stingy (and broke) to afford chemicals, and also because chemicals just don't seem like a great idea.
I don't know where I fit - and I hate the idea that makes me feel like I actually have to fit somewhere.
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