The Sublime Roundabout

Recent calls from the President to the Pope have highlighted the increasing disparity between the haves and the have nots. I recently read this article, which highlights some of the negative impact of this disparity: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wealth-gap-guide-why-matters-083657223.html What is unclear at this point, however, is exactly how to reverse the trend. It's easy to say that people should work harder, to become more educated, or to try to better their situation somehow. But with so much of the scale skewed in favor of the existing wealthy retaining their wealth, it's unclear how an education will help. Shucks, an education may be only what is necessary to survive, not get ahead. What we're seeing, then, is a trend towards an increased concentration of income in a few folks, at the expense not of the poor, but of the middle class. And as any good revolutionary will tell you, there's nothing more dangerous than an educated, disadvantaged proletariat who ...

Not with the speed of a lightning strike Does the sunlight rise on the world The darkness relinquishes its hold, slow-like And dawn's light is gently unfurled The eastern light, so golden and pure Stretches over the darkened night's sky Chasing the blackness, whose hold seemed so sure Until light covers the firmament so high The undersides of clouds glow Red, then gold, then white While across the heavens the light grows Filling up with radiant light And lo, what peeks over the horizon, there! 'tis the sun, so wondrous and fair!

Really? It's 2014?!? I know. It's been that way for a couple of days, actually. It doesn't make it any easier for me to understand. I will turn forty later this year. Yep. 40. That's weird to me. I sometimes don't feel like I am the actual age I am - and I know I embarrass my family when I don't always act the way a 40 year old ought to act. ;) But it's interesting. Life is interesting. On New Years Day, since I had the day off, we went for a drive down Highway 199, or Redwood Highway. It was amazing. We started out in our typical - if still beautiful - Oregon forest, mostly in the fog. Once we were past Cave Junction, however, we burst out into the sunlight. The highway goes through some very fun, twist mountainous canyons, which were very fun to drive through (for me, anyway). Then we entered the coastal redwood area, and it suddenly became a very unusual day. We didn't go exploring off the highway - we were just exploring at the time - but ...