Politics, Crap, and the Price of Cheese

There are my three girls on Halloween! An angel, Sleeping Beauty, and The Little Mermaid. Yes, 2YO actually did let me spray her hair with the coloring stuff!

Has everyone voted today? I'm going to....our polling place is actually 5YO's school, so I will pick her up and cast my ballot then. I try not to share my views on politics (and religion, for that matter) because they are MY views and nobody else's. I will vote my conscience, however. I just get so sick of seeing all the hateful venom spewing from so many blogs. Such hatred and venom being spewed in the face of all who disagree. It doesn't need to be that way. Some of my favorite blogs have given me a knot in my stomach when I read them. I will continue to read them when all the hoopla dies down. I will still enjoy those blogs, but so many are tainted with anger and bitterness right now.

It probably doesn't help that David lives and breathes all this stuff right now. It's on the tv at home, the radio in the car, it's everywhere. And depending on which channel you're watching, you can get a totally skewed view of the issues at hand. I know which party tends to watch which channels, that's for sure. So basically, people are directly feeding themselves more of what they want to hear by watching the right channel for them. And they are more and more convinced that they are right by all the the people on the channel who agree with them.

I vote. I keep up on the issues. But, I want no part of all the crap that comes along with it. I realize that I want the world to be a certain way because I feel that it's best for my family's future. However, someone else may feel completely differently, but for the same reasons. And that's why we have this system to begin with. I also realize that a big part of life is not always getting what we want. For me, what I don't want is a bunch of people who are regsitering to vote for the first time because they can choose from an African-American man or a war veteran and his female VP candidate. I really hope that people are looking at more than just that.

We just have to have faith, I guess. Faith in a higher power, faith in the system. Just faith. And I wonder how many people will come out of the woodwork and say that they'll leave the country if one person or another gets elected. I mean, isn't that what Brad Pitt said he'd do if Bush were elected four years ago? Granted, a lot has changed in his life, but he seems to be bringing children from other countries now so that they can grow up here.

Couldn't be all that bad, is it Brad???

I just can't help but think that all the extra problems this country (and world, for that matter!) are having is for a reason. Maybe gas prices had to become ridiculously high in order to force people to find a more efficient way to get around. Maybe we were on the verge of something really awful happening if we didn't start emitting less garbage into the air or stop going through our fossil fuels like they were a bottomless cup of coffee at Denny's. Maybe we, as a country, are just so spoiled that we take too much for granted.

I, for one, feel like I have benefitted from things getting so tough. I take our finances much more seriously than I had in the past. I am more efficient when it comes to time, money, and tasks at hand. I don't have less now, I just work a little harder to get it. And I appreciate it so much more.

But what do I know? I'm just a stay-at-home mom of three who lives in the middle of California. Most of the decisions I make are whether or not I'll let 12YO get those jeans that everyone else is wearing or if I'll spring for actual ricotta cheese or just use cottage cheese to make the lasagna.

My world is small, yet the future is partly in my hands. GO FIGURE!