Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Some random thoughts in the middle of the night.

I went outside to walk the dog, long after the rain had stopped and the sidewalks were halfway dry.  The very first thing I noticed was the faint scent of a rain forest, which to be honest, is one of the biggest benefits from living a mile from an urban forest -- Forest Park.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable walk as I tried to take in as much air as I could, like a stranded survivor on a tiny island, thirsty for water and hungry for food.

After I got back, I checked my RSS feeds and saw a Groupon for paintball combined with an overnight stay in a yurt -- odd combination I thought.  While checking it out on Google Maps, I started wandering around the surrounding geographical area.  I was struck by the cute houses strung along a river that flowed from a reservoir.  With the scent of a forest still in my mind, I realized that I could visualize myself living in one of these tiny homes, more or less making a living off doing consulting work and otherwise chopping wood and growing stuff, etc.

How very typical of the internalized struggle within me: domesticated, rural living, or an urban lifestyle replete with the comforts of four Starbucks and seven cafes within six blocks.  I'd easily accommodate the rare black bear, deer, and elk spotting, and tolerate the frequent raccoon and squirrel raids, to wake up every morning to the scent of a forest, mixed in with coffee percolating.

While visualizing what it would be like to live in one of these small, rural communities with a Grange Hall, I began examining the political narrative that, by definition, Conservatism is the attempt at preservation, a way of life.  Progressivism, while not necessarily contrary to Conservatism, does naturally affect the way of life of rural communities, by the imposition of rules that may seem detached from their standard ways of operating and living.

For someone who has found a routine in their lifestyle that they enjoy, it can be incredulous to them, that a politician, fully detached from their livelihood and neighborhood, has determined that there is something within their lifestyle that needs to be necessarily changed.

And yet, if you are not concerned about global warming or worried over protecting the environment, your future lifestyle may be permanently altered by neglect.  Progressivism needs to frame the argument away from abstract ideas and generalities, and demonstrate, in concrete examples, of how failures have permanently destroyed lands and ways of life.  That is why Fukushima matters so much to many environmentalists -- think of all the animals that were abandoned, the land that may no longer be tilled, and the towns that remain to this day, ghost towns.

Anyway, random thoughts.

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