i get it

i'm not a fan of politics. maybe if greedy, dirty people weren't involved it would be a different story. but there's so much trash to wade through to get to the truth (ha!) of what one's political agenda is, that i would much rather not deal with it. though i suppose that is an issue for another day. so, just a disclaimer that it's not a lack of interest or desire to be involved. i just have other things to process in my world, that figuring out the convoluted mess that is politics...um, no thank you.

so, on to what inspired this little tirade. a friend of mine sent me an article about a 14 year old boy who started building windmills in his village in africa. 14 years old! he found a book, looked at the pictures and started constructing a windmill for electricity. people mocked him, and even his family thought he was crazy. like, literally crazy...off his rocker. it wasn't just, 'oh, he'll grow out of this phase.' (i couldn't help but think of noah when he was building the ark.)

anyway, the last two paragraphs really caught my attention and i feel the need to share them.

Kamkwamba is part of a generation of Africans who are not waiting for their governments or aid groups to come to their rescue, according to the author.

"They are seizing opportunities and technology, and finding solutions to their own problems," Mealer said. "One of the keys of his success is ... he's never wanted to rest on his laurels."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/10/05/malawi.wind.boy/index.html

as americans (rather part of the human race), we have a tendency to use whatever scapegoat we can find for our problems. and in american society, well we sure do like to blame whoever is 'in charge' for the state of our bank accounts, debt, and quality of life. i have a hard time not wanting to shake people and say, 'look! the common denominator in your problems is YOU!' no matter where you are, where you work, who you spend your time with (or how bad they screwed you over) you're still stuck with you. (p.s. stop blaming mommy and daddy for all your problems. seriously.)

so, anyway...back to the inspiring story of a boy who built a windmill. i really hope to see a group of people who take control of their own lives, instead of depending on a government who is full of flawed and imperfect people to fix the problems of human society. i'm not supporting anarchy or any kind of revolution or anything. just saying, 'hey. if you know what your needs are, what are you doing about meeting them?' easier said than done. and you know, i get it. i'm unemployed and it's not a walk in the park. but it's up to me to deal with it. and i promise you i'm not making all the perfect and right decisions, but i'm certainly not sitting around twiddling my thumbs expecting the government (or anyone else really) to come knock on my door and make it all ok. what matters is what i'm doing about it.