Marrianna and I were out Wednesday evening and stopped at a chain bookstore so she could pick up a book she had ordered. I decided to go in with her, though I know that it is always a bad idea because going into a bookstore equates automatically with spending money.
I had just written a blog article about an interview with Janine M. Benyus in The Sun magazine. I looked up Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature [1997, Harper Collins, reissue paperback 2002 by Harper Perennial] on the bookstore's computer, and they had a paperback copy of it in-store. It was on sale, and with Marrianna's regular customer discount, I bought it for less than $11.00. I've been reading, putting it aside to consider its impact, and reading more since. Biomimicry is important, not well understood, and necessary, I am beginning to believe, for the future of this world. I'm only deep into the first chapter and have already become a believer. I am a reasonably fast reader, but when I'm stopping regularly to consider what I've just read, my rate declines sharply. This is an excellent book, well written without scientific jargon, and I'm very glad I bought it and am reading it. I know I should complete, or at least be further into the book, before writing this in terms of objectivity, but this morning it seems to be the subject on my mind. Even this early in it, I recommend the book without reservation.
The book comes at a time when other aspects of life today are very discouraging. I need its positive perspective when faced with the political realities, or rather completely fabricated politicized lies, of today. I can't help but believe that we are approaching a dangerous precipice, one that once we step over the edge we will be unable to recover stability. When our President cannot even speak to the nation's children about the importance of education and staying in school without an uproar that he is trying to indoctrinate them to a socialist world, the edge may not be upon us but it is surely within sight.
I've recently read articles that contend that the source of this schism in politics and willingness to listen or compromise is that President Obama is black, that there is a racist core to the entire discussion. So far, I am unwilling to make that an accusation, but I do wonder. If President Obama were caucasian, would the enmity be as deep? Would the positions be as rigid?
On the other hand, I have found myself slipping into a trap of fear that I don't want to believe is true about myself or our immediate world. I have been, and once in a while still am, very tempted to purchase a handgun and have both Marrianna and I take lessons in its use. The fear is that the economy and politics will be such that social structures deteriorate rapidly and we will need to be able to defend ourselves. This is ridiculous I know, but I've seriously considered it, and continue to waver.
Looking back at what I've written, It is interesting that it has progressed/deteriorated from a positive review of a very good book through concern and finally to fear. I really don't want to end with fear, but once it has sneaked into the conscious it is difficult to purge. The best purge for me is the quilting table, and I hear it calling.
There are them on voyaging yachts who have guns and them who don't. I consider it unwise because it is an early escalation of a human situation into a violent one. Look at countries like Gambia where so many people rely on each other in a tentative net of co-operation that very little opportunity to use such power as a handgun arises apart from if one is hunting for a living and even then it would have tio be a rifle. Another poiunt is what could you achieve with a hand gun? Could you hit a car at fifty metres?
Posted by: Clarissa Vincent | September 08, 2009 at 07:25 PM