Ignorance

A friend of mine has a daughter who attends the Tea Party Movement meetings here in this town. She is a writer like myself but more successful in that a few of her books have hit the best seller list. Her daughter went to college but dropped out after one semester and has been going from one job after another. Her daughter and grandchild lives in one of her houses she owns. My friend who I will call Mira agreed to go to one of those meetings with her daughter.

Mira is about ten years younger than I am and she said many of the people there were in her age group although all age groups were represented. There were no people of color but Mira is white and again she did not stand out. But Mira who has a tendency to write books about romance and relationships was appalled to the lack of education everyone seem to have. Many spouted ideas in stereotypical phases and few had picked up a book or watched some of the documentaries that are on PBS. All yearned for a time in the past that never existed. If any emotion ruled the meeting she attended, it was fear of change.

I have never been to a Tea Party meeting although I have heard many of them talk. All of us have been exposed to the speeches some of them have made and I am not writing about them here. I am certainly not in a position to know. Mira admitted to me that she was like them afraid of change as much as they were except she thought she had more facts.

The older I get, the more I see change as more challenging. It is more scarier. It seems to me that change is happening without my input. When I was younger, I was on the front line of culture and social change. I felt a part of it. Now, I feel as if I am standing alone as it happens around me. I can understand the confusion and anger I see in seniors. I am a senior and I have to ask my grandchildren about different things.

Not all change is new. The Tea Party stuff is not new and it reminds me of the John Birchers of years past. Other things happening that are similar to that movement are happening that are not new either. There are hearings being held in Washington on Muslim Americans here in this country right now by a Senator King. I remember hearings on Communists here in America by a Senator McCarthy in the 1950's. If you lost, you could lose your livelihood which many did. In the early history of this country, there was the Salem Witch Trials of Salem. People lost their lives in those trials. In Europe, there was the trials and hearings of who was and wasn't a true Christian in the Middle Ages f you lost that one you could be burned at the stake or boiled in oil.

I figure there will always people who will resist change and the one thing that will always happen is change. That is a given. Some of it I really like. Many people don't like the Internet and I happen to love it. I like all of the innovations although I am running as fast as I can to keep up with it. I love my cell phone and my new one plays the kind of music I like and it does 24 hours a day as long as I keep it charged up. I am going to buy a extended battery so this will help. I love Facebook and Twitter. I love the fact that I don't have to depend on the three networks for my news. I can go elsewhere. I love the fact that I have choice on the books I read. I don't like electronic readers although I have one. That makes the paper ones cheaper for me to buy.

That does not mean I like it or love it. Life is what it is. Sometimes it scares me too. The earthquakes in Japan is completely uncontrollable but what is happening with the atomic energy plants isn't and it can effect all of us. That is within our control although not right now. I don't like that. Riots in Egypt, Bahrain, and other places of the Middle East and here in Wisconsin, Michigan to name just a few. There are times I don't want to read the news unless the news is happening here where I live.

To remain healthy, I have to read the news. I have to see what is happening out there although sometimes the unhealthy stuff might not be something I can do anything about such as what is happening in Japan. I can help when asked if I have it and keep up on what I can do. Keep doing what I can locally and personally. Meditate on my cushion and hope I can keep my toes dry.