Friday’s Odds and Ends

Political commentators are all projecting which Republican candidate has the best chance of winning the party nomination for president based on the amount of money he or she can raise. Very little is said about the qualifications that candidate would bring to the office. So sad.

Maybe we should all vote for the candidate who is willing to donate his or her campaign war chest to all the folks who have been without jobs for the last year – or longer – so they don’t have to lose their homes.

House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi say they will end the congressional page program, an initiative that brings high school students to Capitol Hill to work alongside elected officials. According to a report at Beliefnet. com this  decision was made without consulting most members of Congress.  Instead, it was made based on a recommendation by two private consulting firms that counseled Boehner and Pelosi that the program was no longer needed, in part due to “advances in technology” that have made having pages in the U.S. House less essential.

Perhaps pages are not as essential for transferring papers and information as they once were, but the opportunity for young people to experience government at work is…. Wait a minute. Do we really want our young people to learn that government is all about taking care of your party and your friends in high places? Maybe it would be better to keep the young folks home on the farm where they won’t be corrupted.

On a lighter note, I read a column recently by Ishita Sharma, a volunteer columnist for The Dallas Morning News, that focused on “balancing your tortoise and your hare.” Sharma suggests that we all rethink the formula that seems to drive so many people today: “More + bigger + newer + faster = better.” We need to find a balance between all the busyness that drives us and periods of calm and relaxation. Sharma mentioned having seen a sign on the door of a fitness center “Fast Yoga” and realized it was an oxymoron. But she also said that was a sad reflection on the kind of life most of us lead.

So let’s give ourselves permission to take fifteen minutes of our morning, and another in the afternoon, to just be, and not do anything. Close our eyes, take a few deep breaths, relax and….  Oops, almost fell asleep there.