Monday, June 04, 2007

Our Trip to Bainbridge Island


We took the ferry to Bainbridge Island on Memorial day, and then rented canoes and paddled around the marina there. It was pretty cool. I hadn't paddled a canoe since I was a kid, yet I could still do it pretty well. We saw sea life, and got to peek into places that were homes of the leisure set. Lots of cool boats, including old tugboats, too. It was very relaxing, and serene.

The only bad thing was that I lost my wedding ring and diamond engagement ring. I am now ring-less! My hand feels kind of naked without them. We haven't gotten around to shopping for a replacement -- we kind of decided that I should probably just get a wedding band, since the engagement ring was so darned expensive, and since most diamonds are used to fund war (blood diamonds). Besides, diamonds are overrated. Their prices are kept inflated artificially by a cartel, a lot like oil. If I had the coloring, I'd wear 18 carat gold like the Indian women I've known, but it washes out my pinkness.

Visualize World Peace -- how would it look?

You know the bumper sticker, "Visualize World Peace"? My mom probably had it on her car, at least at some point. Anyway, what do you think it would look like? What would a world without war be like? Where would we be spending our time, energy, and money? Would countries use just the United Nations (expanded greatly, to deal with the increased use), or would there be smaller bodies around the world for conflict resolution? What would the groups that are currently at war with another do with their time? How would they relate to one another?

What would our government look like if it weren't constantly fighting wars around the world? Where would the money be going instead? Would we be coming up with alternatives to fossil fuels? Inventing new ways to communicate? Open up your imagination and set up some expectations to demand of our government. We have to start somewhere, and it makes sense to me that we should be solving our problems, like health issues (increasing allergies and developmental disabilities, illnesses like AIDS), energy sources, food sources, and clean air and water.

The next Manhattan Project should be about creating a better world.