Hi This is a yet published column - couldn't wait to hear what you thank/ I am doing better - still not a whole man, but my strength is coming. love you, Dad
Sour Grapes and Saddle Sores
George Hirst
Conscious / contact September 10,2009
Living in the present time takes effort, we either live in a remembered past or we look toward better times ahead. Politics in today’s society seems to deny that there is a present. Change is the by-word of the day. I believe that "was" is the word of the day. We must remember that the time ahead will not be the same as yesterday. Events and ways of living are taught by the lessons of a present time.
Lets look at the apple orchards ripening in Tanner’s Orchards this fall.. Each day as we drive past, the blooms change from little green apples to green apples to ripe apples. Here is our model for the by-word, "is" just as an apple cannot go back after turning golden - neither can we go back to a place where we used to be. The application is an apple becoming ripe fruit, then into pies and sauce and juice and the last place, seeds when planted and nurtured to become the new crop. Each day in an apple’s life is a new day and seen in a different form.
You may not like it, it may make you angry, but there is not a doubt in my mind that growth in a person, a state or a nation (or an apple) is found in forward acts. Tanner’s do not grow an apple. They grow apple trees that produce apples year after year. The crop of each year is a new crop. It is not the same in bushels, or taste or quality. Every year, we as citizens live in a new year. There are differences, all sorts of differences. We keep some things, but we change others. We find better ways to do things, we decide not to keep some rules or we write a new rule. (If you don’t get that, that is what lawyers are for!)
This is not about "lawyering", this is about being citizens, voters, Republicans, Democrats and how ever else we divide these days. We desperately need all those "brands" of things. Just as people’s taste in apples is different, which is why Tanner’s produce sweet, tart and all sorts of tastes in apple, so also we need differing living styles and thinking.
After thinking about why I believe in forward thinking and new practices I have decided that it keeps me honest - just honest - and it makes me believe in equality. I understand that it is comfortable to keep things as they are. It keeps our lives secure. Our citizens are, however, not all secure, not all equal and we are not comfortable with that. I really believe that we need to look ahead, find those places where people need help and be about the business of a nation that cares for all and looks after all even when some of us have to run risks. You don’t grow Golden apples on a tree that produces red apples.
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