A new report on the welfare and well-being of children in the world was released by the United Nations recently. Not surprising is that all of the articles I read talked extensively about Britain's failure to it's children while little if anything was mentioned about the fact that the USA scored little better than Britain.

What is fascinating is that the children experiencing the worst treatment are predominantly the children of rich societies. What the research found was that the circumstances of the children were not related to the economic standing of the country. Some of the poorest countries were more successful in raising happy, healthy and educated children than the so-called advanced societies. Cited was the fact that technologically advanced societies work so hard at their jobs that their children are considered an annoyance. Parents have to commit so much of their lives to their work in these wealthy societies that they literally have no time for their families.

This is the major block between corporations and the people. In all my years of working, my employers constantly insisted that my responsibility to them was paramount and that the very reason I worked had nothing to do with the equation. In other words, from the corporate view, we live to work, not work to live. Imagine a society that believes the eight+ hours per day spent shuffling papers or serving meals is more important than the living, breathing human beings we have birthed; and who by the way, are the future workers. It's not too difficult to imagine reality..this is the nature of our lives in 21st century America.

In my opinion, anyone who believes a person can do two full-time jobs, one in the world and one at home, and do the kind of job that needs to be done - is dreaming. We seem to have forgotten that human beings also need to eat, sleep and relax and that we are not designed to function 24/7.
From my own personal point of view, working full time and trying to raise my children as well led me to become seriously ill and incapable of working at all!

At the other end of this spectrum are adult workers who, in becoming unable to produce, have been literally thrown away. Myself and many others live in relative poverty after working for years and years and becoming ill through no fault of our own! I feel I have been worked to death and now I'm watching the next generation get ground up in the machine. Where is it going to end? Are we bringing children into this world so that they can be a cog in a psychotic machine that will use them up and then spit them out? Will it take the destruction of modern society by natural or man-made issues to relieve us of what is no less than slavery? It does not appear that we have the ability to change much about the way we live. Do we even have the capacity as a society, to recognize the fact that our general behavior is not sane? That the normal, acceptable lifestyle we have adopted is essentially self destructive? I'm not even sure anyone cares...but I do.

So here I am again...opinionating...sheesh, and I said I wouldn't. Jane Fonda said it though, "I can no longer remain silent", and I feel the same way especially about children. Whether offering my thoughts on a subject actually accomplishes anything, I do not know. At least I get it out of my heart where I can't help but burn with passion over things that are WRONG.
And that is Pye in a nutshell!...or maybe nuts in a Pye shell??
Thanks for reading - you are brave!

I realize that I keep cycling through life's lessons and relearning things over and over again. I have to ask myself...am I a slow learner or what?
The first lesson in February for me was regarding opinions. What's that old addage? Opinions are like...um.., sphincters? Every one has one". (How's that for diplomacy?) I have not only been swimming in the stream for several months, but I have also been playing the opinion page game. Most sites designed for people to comment on news stories are wastelands of television news junkies and obnoxious behavior. Beyond the fact that so many of these opinions are actually personal attacks with finger pointing and name calling; I have realized how little people in general, including myself, actually understand the issues at hand. No, I don't mean little people...I mean people understand little of the..oh never mind. (language, what a concept)
But seriously, what is going on in the world cannot be grasped in a 30 second blurb shown on CNN or Fox, etc. It requires reseach, reading and thinking! Well, I do think a lot..but that is not to say I have a deep understanding of what I'm talking about. I guess I tend to look at the world from a black or white perspective, yet absolutely nothing is that cut and dried. When I do delve into an issue, the complexities are so dynamic that I have to wonder if there are answers for any issue! Certainly, there are no easy answers, and that's why I'm trying to think a bit harder before opinionating all over the place.
That kind of brings me to the second February lesson. There's an old addage for this one too; something about a grain of sand irritating an oyster. Essentially, nothing of value is ever gained easily. Of course most adults understand that concept very well; but even so, I am not the only person who has striven valiantly to find an EASIER WAY! In observing this curious human behavior, it occurs to me that we end up working even harder trying to find the easy way out! The problems we face everyday would most likely be done and gone if we just tackled them. It's like my dishwasher; by the time I rinse off the dishes, load them into the machine, run it, unload it, wipe the dishes off and put them away, I could have had them all washed and stacked three times! What's the point? Well, this is not a discourse on whether modern technology actually makes life easier.
What February's second lesson means to me, is that when I am faced with something difficult, I wish to rise above my natural inclination to shy away from it and remember how much there is to be gained by just jumping in and doing it! It isn't laziness y'know, it's fear. Fear is the only thing that stands between me and success...holy cow...there's lesson number three.
Now if you'll excuse me, I will return to my remedial educational process and wash the dishes!

Lately I have been disagreeing with myself frequently. There was a time that I was silly enough to believe I could look at an issue and immediately understand my opinion on it. It's gotten so now that I don't even want an opinion, because I DON'T KNOW...anything! Global warming...I don't know. Terrorism....I don't know. God talking to George Bush...I don't know! (all I will say about that one is, if God is talking to GW...I need to re-evaluate my opinions on religion entirely)
When I really start researching and investigating an issue, it becomes so entangled with every other issue that it's like a Celtic Knot. There's no beginning and no end and trying to follow it leads to nowhere! Am I suppose to stop thinking? How does one stop thinking...? Isn't that kind of like trying to tell your brain not to dream while you're sleeping? Of course the Buddhists talk about that thought-less state...I wonder if that's what they are talking about when I get so lost inside of myself that I sort of forget me. Consciousness becomes just...well, consciousness. There is no directed thought...no self to direct it...it just IS. In that experience, there is no time...minutes may pass, or hours...I never know until I remember to pay attention...but absolutely nothing would ever get done if I stayed in that state of mind! One must pay attention and organize the mind to manage day to day life. I mean..eventually, ya get hungry, right? I'm tellin ya, awareness is a weird thing and so is this world. One would think that with every passing moment...with each new experience there would come a higher level of understanding...of knowing. That is not my experience. The only thing I have really learned and begun to understand is that it is unknowable. It is an ever-changing, multi-faceted jewel which can only be beheld momentarily when "I" cease to exist.

It's cold in central New York; so cold my brain is frozen and therefore I apologize in advance for this post. I imagine my writing sounds like ice cubes clinking together in a highball glass or the chattering teeth of one who has spent too much time making snow angels. The frigid air is pouring into my apartment from around the back door, which is also the only place for light to come in. I don't want to seal out the sunshine, so must remained cocooned in a blanket to sit in my living room.
Life has been kind of exciting though, in spite of the icicles hanging from my nose. Last Sunday we went out to my brother Wayne's for dinner and to watch the Superbowl. His wife Mary prepared an excellent feast with turkey, ham, gravy...all the accoutrements of a country-fied homecoming....yum. Everyone was sitting around, relaxing with full tummies, watching da Bears and the Colts...when suddenly the back door opens and a voice rings out over the din..."did I miss kickoff?" Standing in the doorway in his Floridian duds and Buffalo Bills jacket was my brother, Wild Bill, who decided to just hop into his truck and drive north to surprise us during Superbowl...HA! What a brother! We are not at all a family concerned with restraint, and the entire neighborhood could probably hear our hootin and hollerin and roars of laughter. What a fantabulous day! There is little in life that warms me or tickles me as much as spending time with my fam. Yes, we drive each other crazy...sometimes we get so angry at each other we don't even speak for months and months..but the fact is, there is not much else in this world that can even make me that angry because one must care pretty passionately to get that mad in the first place! And we do...
on the happy side, the crescendo of laughter and banter can shake the rafters! Maybe it's the Irish blood running through our veins, but celebrating loudly is something we seem to take rather seriously. I'd say it's a good workout because my stomach muscles are never more sore than they are after spending time with the gang.
Even though my being is so frozen in this arctic blast that I'm only about half conscious, it's been a heck of a lot of oblivious fun for the past few days. I must admit though, it takes a lot of strength to go against Mother Nature and the thousands of years of spending the winter months in a semi-hibernational state...I argue with the medical community that this is a disorder. There is no such thing as SAD, seasonal affective disorder...feeling sleepy in the winter is NOT a disorder, it's nature. So in between the giggles and jokes while Billy is here, I will be curled up into a ball under a quilt dreaming of warmer weather.
I will attempt to crawl out a little more often and say hi to all of you! Hope everyone is surviving the season and staying warmer than I am!!
My best wishes and love to all!