Rain, Scrillas and Politics

It was yesterday, about 4 pm in the afternoon that I sat outside for a few minutes and watched the sky move around me. I wouldn't say it was windy out, but a lethargic breeze appeared to be gathering storm clouds from around the valley; slow was the activity and steady as if the draft were pacing itself for a long night of work...

Just before I headed back inside I remember thinking to myself, at this rate it probably won't rain till tomorrow...and here we are in the tomorrow of yesterday (a very complicated way of saying today)and it's raining, well sort of. Raining for the valley at least, but it's quite lovely... and I look forward to the clean air that will result.

So I'll go down to the sea and breathe the air, take back your piece of me..."

I am looking forward to the weekend only because I'm really worn out from work this week. Things have been picking up, but sales have been slow, this translates to business without the excitement of scrillas in my pocket. Yeah, I said "scrillas" funniest colloquialism ever? quite possibly.

Politics. During my commute to work this morning I was thinking about my disinterest in politics as of late. Now, I hold the strong conviction that legislation is of vital importance, our government directly affects our lives and we have this unique amount of input in choosing our policy makers and sometimes the very policies themselves...and it all changes our lives, whether short term, long term, in direct or indirect ways.

But it's also become this big, dramatic game and I have to wonder if there's something wrong with that. Elections are like the Superbowl; we rally behind our team, buy bumper stickers, t-shirts, and buttons and we get together to celebrate victory or mourn the loss of our side, on the big game night(s). It easily becomes this huge "us vs. them" fiasco, but in the most childish sort of way. I was sucked into this hoopla the year our current President was re elected, i had the signs and stickers and we even tried to crash the "other sides" party at one point...and now I look back and think it was all kind of silly and that it felt like it was all of a sudden ok to be mean to another person because they didn't agree with my value system.

I'm not saying there's anything intrinsically wrong with celebrations, or rallying for a candidate or even bumper stickers, I'm just saying electing our government officials is heavy stuff and yet it all comes together like a competitive sporting event (which mind you we watch for entertainment) and maybe it shouldn't. Maybe we lose sight of the weightiness of everything and maybe we can easily get caught up in the game and the idea of winning...maybe most of the debates sound to me like chickens squawking and I've just grown disinterested in how every candidate talks about how great they will be for the future of our country...I think the whole thing just makes me really, tired.