We Are Here!

I've entitled this entry "blah blah" because, I really don't know what I'm about to say. I know that I don't want to neglect the blog, but frankly, my family has been coasting for a while. We are all sticking to our better water habits, without much thought. It's funny how you think something is gong to be such a big deal and then poof, it's not. It's just life. So really, I'm just going to blah and see if it amounts to anything. I did set aside the time to talk to you guys. So I might as well see what comes out of my brain. Maybe I'll give this another title once I find out what this is about.

After watching that 60 Minutes interview with the Governator (I'm new to Cal, so saying that still makes me chuckle...) there is something I really don't understand. He's talking about building levies and spending billions of dollars, and yes - yes, he should be doing all of that to protect our water. But I will never understand why he does not talk directly to the people and tell us - hey! Stop using so much water. Here's how - and then tell us all of the little things that we could be doing. I mean, how many stupid "The More You Know" psa's have I watched, and you can't put something on about how to wash your dishes in a way that uses less water.

Didn't they ask people to make sacrifices during world war II? Yeah...rationing. Here's what the American History Society nerds say about it:

During the Second World War, you couldn't just walk into a shop and buy as much sugar or butter or meat as you wanted, nor could you fill up your car with gasoline whenever you liked. All these things were rationed, which meant you were only allowed to buy a small amount (even if you could afford more). The government introduced rationing because certain things were in short supply during the war, and rationing was the only way to make sure everyone got their fair share.

So, why are we not being asked to ration water? I mean, Arnie said (nope, not as fun to say as Governator. Darn!) that we are in a crisis. Okay, sure they are telling us, save water save water. But honestly, I understand why people are going to stand here and say... uh, what does that mean, exactly. To me, saving water means shutting off the shower while massaging my head with shampoo. But to my father, who lets the sink run and run while he's on the other side of the kitchen scraping the dinner plates into the garbage, it might mean something totally different. Like... uh... freakin' simply not turning on the sink for absolutely no reason at all.

Has the US population grown into such babies that we can't do something for the good of the state, the country and frankly the planet? I say no! But, Schwartzy! (Still no fun) Tell us what we should be doing to fix this problem, exactly. We're tough. We can take it.

I recently watched the animated version of Horton Hears A Who - my son LOVES that book. There's this part where the Mayor of the town tells the council that weird things have been happening around Whoville and that maybe they should cancel the Who Centennial. Well, there is no such thing as bad news in whoville, so as soon as the mayor says these words, a big glass dome lowers over his head and they "discuss" (lots of chasing, arguing and funny funny stuff) as the citizens of whoville listen to nice calming music on the outside of the dome. Of course, while it was "decided" that the Centennial should go on, who was right? The Mayor of course. Their world was on a dust speck being carried around by a feckless elephant for goodness sakes!

Govvy (actually I like Govvy), we are being carried around by a feckless elephant right now. Stop making this your problem. The fact is that it's our problem. I know that you never asked for help in your movies, but this is the real world. Even if you get the 11 bazillion dollars your asking for, we the every day citizens are going to have to make serious changes. And guess what? I bet people would be willing to do it if you just tell everyone what exactly to do.

The fact is that we come from the tough stock of people that made it though World War II. Even the Who's knew when the time came to pull together. Now we're saying what they said when crisis hit: We are here! We are here! We are here!