The best laid plan of mice and men... I had hoped to get good miles in under my belt this week and Tuesday I got 3 at 9:20 per and I had a good 7 mile run at 9:27 per. Then, my achille's heel and foot decided NO MORE. A debilitating pain would run through my foot whenever I would even think about moving it started late Wednesday night and continued through Saturday morning. I was able to move around with a significant limp and it feels a lot better today, but since I still have about 7 months to go, I am going to take this week off from running. I'll try to get 2-3 miles a day walking back and forth to the U of I athletic center to do lifting and maybe some stair master/stationary bike, but NO RUNNING. I guess this is another reminder of my being a little too optimistic having reality come up and hit me in the face...
This brings me to my next physical failing... I had to get reading glasses this week! Heavens to mergatroid, NO!!!!! I have not been to an optomitrist, just got them at the local CVS, but the fact that I had to get eye help flies in the face of 46 being the new 35! Oh well, I'll just use them to read things and look contemplative/distinguished and stay in pretty good shape. I am taking in stride changes in circumstances (eyes, longer recovery time to recovery, social relationships, etc.) and am working hard to accept things as they are and make the best of things. Now, if only other people would just do the same.
Which brings me to the continual decline in the level of civility shown in our public discourse. Democracy is one of the hardest forms of government because it demands participation from all of us. Now that works when people care and want to take the time to understand issues (18th and 19th centuries), but it centralizes power in a world where the guy with the biggest soap box wins, regardless of the voracity of his arguments. Democracy requires, nay I say DEMANDS, people to leave their egos at the door and to have an open mind to differing points of view, as long as those different points of view are anchored in the reality based world. It is ridiculous to expect that the administration (the Bush administration) can have an energy summit without including the Sierra Club and consumer groups to help forge a long term solution. How can the Democrats actually expect to get health care reform through without bringing insurance companies, AARP, small businesses and healthcare professionals to the table? Then, when people do not get their way, cries of Death Panels, Government Employment of Doctors and Rationing (all bald faced lies) fill the airwaves. Honestly, we all agree that these things (energy, healthcare) are issues and that no one has a monopoly on all the good ideas (well, I do, but that's a discussion for another day), but we need to look at fact based solutions to our problems. In some ways, it would be better to have economists in Congress than lawyers. Economists (monetarists and fiscal doves, demand siders and supply siders) often look at things a little more impartially if the math and thought process is logical.
I guess what I am saying is that you can't govern a nation of 300 million people and be the leader of the world by living by the 15 second sound bite. What once was reasoned debate has turned into political parties saying NO just because of who proposed the idea. And that helps no one. When people defend their right to spread lies (birthers, tea baggers, etc.) by wrapping themselves in the 1st amendment to the Constitution, no one is helped. In the long run, Beck, Limbaugh, Savage and the rest will be proven for the traitors of truth that they are. The problem is, America won't take the time to actually find the facts. Again, Democracy is hard. The re-set button that Rep Boehner is talking about with respect to health care should not be to scrap work that has been done, is should be to re-set the divisive rhetoric. Once we can respect each other, truly respect each other, then we can get to work. That's my soapbox.
This brings me to my next physical failing... I had to get reading glasses this week! Heavens to mergatroid, NO!!!!! I have not been to an optomitrist, just got them at the local CVS, but the fact that I had to get eye help flies in the face of 46 being the new 35! Oh well, I'll just use them to read things and look contemplative/distinguished and stay in pretty good shape. I am taking in stride changes in circumstances (eyes, longer recovery time to recovery, social relationships, etc.) and am working hard to accept things as they are and make the best of things. Now, if only other people would just do the same.
Which brings me to the continual decline in the level of civility shown in our public discourse. Democracy is one of the hardest forms of government because it demands participation from all of us. Now that works when people care and want to take the time to understand issues (18th and 19th centuries), but it centralizes power in a world where the guy with the biggest soap box wins, regardless of the voracity of his arguments. Democracy requires, nay I say DEMANDS, people to leave their egos at the door and to have an open mind to differing points of view, as long as those different points of view are anchored in the reality based world. It is ridiculous to expect that the administration (the Bush administration) can have an energy summit without including the Sierra Club and consumer groups to help forge a long term solution. How can the Democrats actually expect to get health care reform through without bringing insurance companies, AARP, small businesses and healthcare professionals to the table? Then, when people do not get their way, cries of Death Panels, Government Employment of Doctors and Rationing (all bald faced lies) fill the airwaves. Honestly, we all agree that these things (energy, healthcare) are issues and that no one has a monopoly on all the good ideas (well, I do, but that's a discussion for another day), but we need to look at fact based solutions to our problems. In some ways, it would be better to have economists in Congress than lawyers. Economists (monetarists and fiscal doves, demand siders and supply siders) often look at things a little more impartially if the math and thought process is logical.
I guess what I am saying is that you can't govern a nation of 300 million people and be the leader of the world by living by the 15 second sound bite. What once was reasoned debate has turned into political parties saying NO just because of who proposed the idea. And that helps no one. When people defend their right to spread lies (birthers, tea baggers, etc.) by wrapping themselves in the 1st amendment to the Constitution, no one is helped. In the long run, Beck, Limbaugh, Savage and the rest will be proven for the traitors of truth that they are. The problem is, America won't take the time to actually find the facts. Again, Democracy is hard. The re-set button that Rep Boehner is talking about with respect to health care should not be to scrap work that has been done, is should be to re-set the divisive rhetoric. Once we can respect each other, truly respect each other, then we can get to work. That's my soapbox.
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