[WWO] For Pachinko

At times, I can't help but feel that if the suburbanite + self-sufficiency contingent had their way the cities would be festering holes of decay, sealed off by the National Guard and turned into real life versions Lud.  There's been an awful amount of hatred of cities thrown about over the past few months as every possible and imagined negative aspect has been highlighted and laid upon  the urban doorstep. That's not what this is about though.

Sure, property crime is up.  Yes, demonstrations in the streets are becoming more and more frequent as people demand solutions from their elected leaders.  People being evicted from their homes and having trouble making ends meet.  Losing their jobs because they can't afford gas.  Going hungry because they had to get gas or pay the electricity bill or whatever.  But you know what, that's everywhere and when, and if its more noticeable now, it's in part because we're looking a little harder and maybe a little more aware of the world around us.

That's a bit of what's been sticking in my craw during these past few months.  I recycle.  I specifically buy green generated power.  I walk to the grocery store, the local bar, the local restaurants, the library, and when it opens, the farmers market. I buy local and organic whenever possible.  Except for my job, I literally have nowhere that requires me to drive.   For gods sake, I've even used the same travel mug twice a day for a year to get my coffee from The Coffee Shop That Will Not Be Named (in a pinch), and whenever possible from the TWO local coffee shops that are in walking distance to me and that procure their beans from a local distributor. But nobody wants to talk about that.

Instead, there is this marked tendency to rush forward to embrace despair and fall over themselves to be the first to proclaim the apocalypse.  I can understand that to some extent.  Certainly, there have been nights where having gone out and witnessed the remains of someone's dreams that I've drank more than I should to numb myself to the plights of my fellow man.  But rather than continuing to focus on the negative, maybe it's time we as a community as a whole tried to re-focus on finding the positive and if there are problems focus on positing a solution or a way to deal with the problem rather than simply allowing ourselves to continue to wallow in our own destructive self-pity.  Falling into despair  is the easy part of all of this.  Hope is certainly more tricky.

* This originally started as a response to Pachinko_Chance and it got a bit lengthy.