I remember being embarrassed one time when she was visiting us in the Philippines. We were standing in line for something or other and a fellow near us asked if anyone minded if he smoked. "I should say so!" Grandma spoke up. "I am highly allergic to cigarettes!" This was news to me, and at that time smokers generally had the upper hand, never expecting their habit to be objectionable to anyone. She was actually far ahead of her time, but I rather think she enjoyed saying, "Not near me, buster!"
Some sources of my own impassioned irritation:
- Air travel. The security personnel who, despite being told I have an artificial hip insist on giving me the entire pat-down with metal detector wand and exclaiming, "There's something there!!" as they scan my right hip. Yeah, I told you already. Do you think I placed a gun inside my undies, or what? The extreme amount of time wasted going through the conveyor belt lines, the tiny seats, the inadequate carry-on luggage compartments, the inability to assume any position but straight and upright, the way they pour your soda into a cup and keep the rest of the liquid in the can and don't give it to you... It's just a horrible way to travel. I would love to see the world but only if I could do it as a road trip.
- The Utah Legislature. C'mon, folks! Can we elect anyone who is not a real-estate developer or of their ilk? Do ya' think they are going to do anything that curtails their own profits? Is it even possible for them to consider that more money for education would translate in more people buying their homes and storefronts and shopping malls--not to mention, of course, the real point of education--? Every January that rolls around makes educators cringe because the Utah senators and representatives with some notable exceptions begin their teacher and administrator bashing. Good old Howard Stephenson always has a boatload (I believe they are actually railroad cars) of bills "helping" teachers do a better job and increasing their workload, lowering their status and maximizing their frustration. He's not the only one. When will the voters come to their senses and elect people who are not just interested in their own special interests? Utah is probably the only state required to include public education in the State Constitution. It would have been horrible for those Mormons out west to have religious schools for the upcoming generation at the time of statehood. Well, now we have a state government intent on destroying public education. How can we keep on letting this happen?
- Walmart. Do I need to expound? All those sweet little mom and pop stores, hardware stores where you could buy 3 screws with no plastic and cardboard packaging, fabric stores with quality stuff, corner groceries like Skanchy's in Logan where you could buy a bag of marshmallows on the way up the canyon--am I dating myself?--five and dimes, shoe stores, book stores, small town department stores......gone. And that's not even mentioning the cut-throat pricing, the awful working conditions, the imports from sweatshops overseas, the acres of land they consume with their huge parking lots and lights and big box presence. Yuk. I pride myself on how few trips to Walmart I have made in the past decade. Maybe eight and I'm embarrassed about all eight of them. Yeah, they are cheap. But we all are paying the price.
- Light pollution. Our cabin is in one of the darkest corners of Utah and the United States. When we go there, I insist on a no night-time light policy. Because I am married to Mr. Technology, this means that we have to cover up the obnoxious light from the computer, the clock, the oven and microwave (all right, I really only cover up the lights in the bedroom), and turn off the security lights outside! At home, the HDMI cable has a blue light. Why? The stereo tuner (I don't even know what these things are called) has a green display. Why? The computer monitor, the various surge protectors. Honestly! I actually recognize the reason: so we will know whether the device is on or not. Isn't there a better way? I love the wilderness, partly because it is dark at night. There is a reason for both daytime and night and I want to honor those differences. I also keep my blinds open at night. When it's light in the morning I want to know it, to see it and to live by it. We are blurring the two--making it light all night and then having to darken our rooms so we shut out the light to sleep. But then I also believe we should abide by the solstices. Sleep when it's dark (longer in the winter) and get up when it's light. But that's a topic for another day.
- Governmental bureaucracy. Only one thing worse than one government is two governments, as we discover, waiting on both Chile and the USA to do their parts to give us a visa. We received a nice cross-stitched mission scripture, with our names and the years 2013-2015 several months ago. It's still accurate. I'm counting this time as "mission time," and trying not to be irritated.
Happy New Year, everyone, and turn down your lights ; )
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