A few more hours out

And after a day of life in the actual world

Whew, got a little philosophical and wishy there, thinking alllll the bad in the world can go away. I have to say.... a bit unrealistic. Nothing wrong with a little hope -- and I guess if you take on HOPE as your major theme and become a crusader for it, aka Bono, you have to speak it unceasingly and not falter from that. He had me going, too. I like having hope, I really do. Unfortunately, poverty isn't something that we can eradicate in the real, real world. (Which Bono says he would like to do.) How come no? Well, what if all the people in the world were somehow, rich. How nice that would be! But, umm... how rich? 'Cause you'd have to figure that out. You'd have to establish some common denominator, or common currency. The difficulty of just that, spanning all the languages and religious differences and government systems, I think, would end the whole project before it ever got started. And then if all the currency isn't equal, then there WOULD be some people who ended up with more cash than others. It's just the sad way things are. So anyway... yeah. (But the music still kicked ass.)

I did hear a news story today about the poverty that actually exists IN this country. Strangely, the family they profiled as rural have-nots lived near Saltville, Virginia, which is where AJ's paternal great-grandparents grew up, so it hit home a little. The wife in the report said she had to "save up or roll pennies" to buy toothpaste for her 5 little ones. Those were her options. She'd lie to her husband, telling him she "had a big lunch," in order that there was enough dinner to go around her evening table. So it made me feel pretty bad that when I passed the Mexican restaurant, I looooonged to eat dinner there instead of having to make my own. Selfish me. Just being able to whine like that -- thinking I don't have the OPTION, when really, I totally COULD afford it -- is something to be extremely thankful for. And I am.

P.S. You have sucessfully endured my Morality Essays. We now return to our regularly scheduled anecdotes of the most precious little toddler-boy ever. And, my everyday whining. Aren't you glad??