TheBanyanTree: Keeping Up - Note: Contains some political commentary

[Jodene]

I couldnt agree more with what you said regarding the
Union and all it has done for us all.







Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 12, 2011, at 2:28 PM, "Margaret R. Kramer" <margaretkramer at comcast.net 
 > wrote:

> 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 ear 
> thquake.
>
> 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 remembe 
> r 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 eigh 
> t feet,
> shifted the earth’s axis, and also shortened our day by a second, be 
> cause
> with the shift in the earth’s mass, the earth is spinning just a tin 
> y 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 ex 
> changed
> 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
>
>