Pulling the Weeds
I was thinking earlier about the whole “Go Green” thing. I’ll start with what triggered the thought.
Yesterday, after picking up my daughter from my mom’s house, we were in the car and my daughter mentioned that her pinky finger hurt. Naturally, the next question was why? Did you fall? Did someone hit you? All of the motherly questions that tend to stream out of my mouth whenever she tells me any part of her body hurts. I did not expect her answer though. She explained that Earth Day was coming and that Student Council (under guidance from the Teacher Advisor) decided to weed the grass field for the school.
Pause for a minute and grasp this scenario. The school’s “grass field” is actually a City park and it is very large. My daughter and other students were trying to do a good deed no doubt, but I was not thrilled about the idea of her pulling weeds in a City park (I think the City has landscapers for this) – and most especially without the right tools (such as gloves maybe?).
I explained this to my daughter, to which she replied in an exasperated tone, “Moooooom, it’s for Earth Day.” I asked her what weed pulling had to do with making the Earth a better place. Silence. I proceeded to explain to her that I was glad she was doing a good deed, but that whenever you take an action you have to know why you’re taking that action. She then explained that the teacher asked them to do it, and how could she question the teacher. Uh-huh – red flag going up – most definitely.
I had a long talk with her about her right to question teachers and things that she is told. I told her the only way to learn is to ask questions and not just follow instructions. I’m sure the teacher might have had a good explanation (like we’re planting new plants) or whatever, but the point is my daughter should have asked why she was being asked to pull weeds.
Anyway, that’s how I got to thinking about Earth Day and global warming and “Going Green.”
Here’s what I’m thinking, liberals take this stance of protecting the earth, saving the planet, global warming is going to kill us all, and then try to legislate the solutions, i.e. tax breaks for Hybrids, and strict fines for leaving carbon footprints – we must offset our prints, etc., etc. Why do we need to have government dictate to us what should be common sense?
Growing up in a poor Mexican family, we were “going green” long ago – before it was a hip new term. My mom always recycled aluminum cans that we either a) used, b) picked up from the streets, or c) she brought from her job. The money was used to buy milk, bread, or whatever else we needed at the time. Before it became trendy to buy “vintage” clothing, my mom was shopping for our family at Goodwill and Salvation Army. This is evidence by my 3rd grade school picture where I’m wearing a yellow T-shirt with the name of a middle school I had never heard of (it’s true people).
I’m sure it is not just poor Mexican families, but rather people with common sense. People that know it’s not good to throw trash on the street, or people that just know that reusing items is better, or people that prefer to bicycle places instead of drive all of the time. Why do we need the government to step in based on a THEORY. Yes, I said it. Global warming is a theory – it is not proven fact. Just because there are many scientists out there claiming it as a fact, and Al Gore has made tons of cash promoting this theory, it does not make it fact. If people cared enough to read they would find many scientists who state global warming is just part of the Earth’s many climate cycles.
It’s funny that Obama just said something, when justifying his stupid decision (this will be a topic for another day) to fund embryonic stem cell research with taxpayer money, that relates to this. He stated “we base our public policies on the soundest science,” and appoint scientific advisors based on expertise and “not their politics or ideology.” Right.
I don’t think anyone is asking people to stop caring about the planet. The problem is that liberals are forcing people to “care” by imposing laws and fines on things that should be common sense. To make it worse is that liberal logic (oxymoron?) is way off – maybe there is just no logic. For some things they claim they want to let science work (stem cell research) and for others like global warming they cannot accept that it is scientifically only a THEORY.
I’m finding that liberals are inconsistent – they want others to pay while they play and they will say whatever it takes to make it happen. Conservatives work and weed the fields, while liberals have fun and then come and pick our flowers.
