TheBanyanTree: Keeping Up - Note: Contains some political commentary

[Margaret R. Kramer]

When I went to go work out on Friday morning, I saw black smoke billowing on
a TV screen near the reception desk.  It looked like 9/11 all over again,
and then I read the captions and found out it was a massive earthquake in
Japan and a devastating tsunami which followed it.

I watched the news unfold on the screen as I worked out.  I’m always in awe
of what our earth can do.  And earthquakes are truly awesome in their
destructive and unpredictable power.

The Japanese will handle this catastrophe, just like they handled two atomic
bombs.  Just as they built up from the almost total destruction of World War
II.  

Think of the US after Hurricane Katrina.  And that natural event was
predicted – Japan had no lead time in dealing with this powerful earthquake.

Looting.  Murder and mayhem in the Super Dome.  Lawlessness.  Dead bodies
being found in homes months after the disaster.  Total confusion and almost
anarchy.

And New Orleans is still struggling to recover from Katrina.  Katrina is not
a very proud moment in American history.

Ray spent his whole Army career stationed in Japan.  I can’t remember where,
because obviously I wasn’t listening, but he had a knack for picking up
Japanese, and the Army trained him to be a Japanese interpreter.  He not
only learned to speak fluent Japanese, but he could also read and write in
Japanese.  He could understand conversation even years after not using
Japanese.

He always had a special affection for the Japanese people.  His first love
was a Japanese woman.  I asked Ray once if he wanted to travel to Japan, but
he said no, because he wanted to remember what the country was like when he
was there, just after World War II, and not the technological powerhouse it
became.

Joe also was stationed briefly in Japan while he was in the Air Force.  He
told me he was stationed on a base between Nagasaki and Hiroshima.  He loved
Japan.  He admires the Japanese people to this day.  He would love to go
back and visit.  Maybe we will.

According to news sources, the earthquake shifted Japan’s coast eight feet,
shifted the earth’s axis, and also shortened our day by a second, because
with the shift in the earth’s mass, the earth is spinning just a tiny bit
faster.  Can you imagine that kind of power?

And here in the United States, in Wisconsin, there is a similar kind of
power shift.  Workers in Wisconsin lost their power for collective
bargaining.  Governor Walker, who obviously is in the pocket of rich
conservatives based on that famous prank call, used political tricks to pass
this law, which had nothing to do with the budget or saving money.

All workers lost their rights through this action.  I’ve never been a union
member, but I do enjoy protections from harassment, discrimination, and
being wrongfully terminated.  Earlier in my working career, I too, enjoyed a
pension, and will have two small pensions available to me when I retire.  I
had inexpensive health care insurance and other benefits.  Union workers
blazed a path for better working conditions for all workers.

Yes, union leaders abused power and unions got out of hand, but they still
protect workers.  My pay was reduced and my 401k match was eliminated during
the recession.  Today, I have a great paying job, but I have to provide my
own expensive health and disability insurance.  I contribute to my own Roth
IRA.

For whatever reason, and the only reason I can see is greed for a few, our
country is eroding away the middle class.  The middle class has struggled to
hold on during the recession and a lot of us have lost our homes, our
ability to educate our children, and our own self worth.  Governor Walker
decided to put another nail in the middle class coffin.

Ray’s older brother died on February 27.  I never met him, but we exchanged
Christmas cards each year.  Ray’s brother and wife didn’t come to Ray’s
funeral, because of age and difficulty traveling (they live in Milwaukee),
but they sent me a card.

Ray told me his brother smoked three packs of cigarettes a day, but Lon
lived to 83 years old.  I sent Lon’s wife, Shirley, a sympathy card, and she
sent me a nice note.  Yes, Ray and Lon are there together now.

Finally, it’s still winter here in Minnesota.  We’re still buried under snow
piles, although they did start shrinking a bit this week.  The days are
getting longer and when we shift to daylight savings time tomorrow morning,
the sunlit evenings will begin to extend into night.  

It can’t stay cold and snowy forever, right?

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
www.linkedin.com/in/margaretkramer

Yoga is the practice of quieting the mind.       
-Patanjali