Don't Know Much About . . .

Currently I'm reading a book called "Don't Know Much About History" which is a brief synopsis of American history, with a rather humorous spin. I will admit that I have had, in the past, a rather blase attitude about history in general. It has often been the history of white men, the history of the winner of the war, not my history.

I really just didn't care all that much about the subject. But the more that happens in today's world where politics and foreign policy is concerned, the more attention I find myself paying to our past. George Bernard Shaw says "We learn from history that we learn nothing from history." As Americans, we have fallen into this cycle of electing presidents who promise to take our country along the path where it is already going, even if those promises come with the word "CHANGE." We cannot do an about-face as a country, it is impossible.

Nor do we need to. I believe that what is most important is that we look at where we have come from and learn from it. I believe that the planet is facing a crisis of environment which we have never before had to face, and thus, we do not expect what is coming. We can only hypothesize about global warming, about environmental contamination, about the effects of recycling. These things will play themselves out over time, but it might then be too late.

What would happen if we had a radical transformation that made it easy for people to be environmentally socially conscious? If we didn't charge $100 for a monthly bus pass so more people would ride? If we didn't hear the unbelievable excuse that it costs too much to grown CORN which is why the alternative hybrid fuel is being delayed. Currently, gasoline is averaging $3.50 a gallon. We paid over $6 a liter while vacationing in the Czech Republic this past winter. And you know what? There weren't a lot of cars out there. People walked or rode their bikes.

We shouldn't have to punish our planet for our mistakes. We should be able to have the forethought to anticipate what our lives are doing to the only thing we have to survive - the Earth. We can't fight it, the planet will always win. She will eventually shrug us off as though we were fleas.