Life Too Fast?
With a mid-week holiday on Wednesday, we hope that everyone was able to S L O W down and enjoy some reflective time. This is, of course, the continual pitch from our friend Chris Elms, who preaches the health benefits of living at a slower pace.
Certainly, that has appeal. Ah, would that it were possible! Our lives get so full that we sometimes hardly know where the days go. It can feel almost like shampoo directions: 1) Chores/work/shopping/spouse/kids. 2) Sleep. 3) Repeat.
One of our favorite sayings is from Franklin Fields, who says the dividing line between success and failure can be summed up in five words: “I did not have time.” In truth, we do. We each get 24 hours every day, and 7 days every week. It’s a matter of how we choose to spend them. If we let the “busy-ness” of life consume that time, so be it. If we choose to stake out some of that time for contemplation, so much the better. Or for family, or for exercise, or for any other thing that feeds our souls.
Poll Bias
Several letter writers have complained about the opinion poll recently sponsored by Don Sebastiani that it was conducted by a (gasp!) Republican polling firm and therefore was biased. Surely they weren’t suggesting that a Democrat polling firm must have less bias! While we acknowledge that Republicans probably tend to favor the same issues, so too Democrats presumably tend to favor their own set of issues.
Actually, as one of the letter writers points out, how the questions are asked can make a big difference in the results. Available through the city of Sonoma is the full survey document, running over 80 pages; it gives the sequence and wording of all the questions. When we reviewed them, and the way they were worded, they didn’t seem biased to us.
In fact, we like data, and we’re glad when anyone develops objective information on almost any question. The data itself is non-judgmental; it’s what we choose to do with it that invites judgment.
Why We Celebrate
We bet everyone enjoys something slightly different about July 4, and at times past we’ve been especially excited about the fireworks, or the parade, or the hot dogs. More recently, we enjoyed the chance to sleep in a little, not to mention a lazy morning walk to the Plaza, some shade from the mid-day sun, and the cool evening breeze. But the real reasons we should all celebrate our nation’s founding are found in our comments above.
If we want to live too fast, we can! If we want to slow down, we can do that, too. Our lifestyle in America is comparatively luxurious, and we are free to live as we see fit, so long as we don’t infringe on the similar freedoms of others.
And we can disagree with the prevailing powers, speaking our minds in opinion polls and on the pages of newspapers. For the true power in America is that of the ballot box. It may not be exercised very often, but that power is all too rare in this world.
Indeed, many of these things we take for granted are only dreamed of in other lands. We live how we want, where we want, and largely on our own terms, free from censure. We may not act on all those possibilities, of course, but simply knowing they exist is, as they say, priceless. And well worth celebrating, all year long.
