I've got mine!

He's huge, maybe almost as old as I am (almost 71!). These gopher tortoises are iconic in my life. I see them out in the fields and in the yard between eleven and five o'clock most days. They are eating the grass and just moseying along enjoying a peaceful life in Central Florida where it rains all summer and it's not hotter than usual. He doesn't worry about his pension or social security in old age. He doesn't vote.


It might be better not to read the papers or connect with the news. Drought, fires, tornadoes, starvation, floods, extreme heat, economic distress, people drowning in the Volga River, people shooting and torturing each other. So, I've got mine: an amazing and beautiful life surrounded by green and growing things, considerate family, good friends, and enough prosperity. So far, we don't worry about not having enough to eat or how to pay the bills.

I see a bleak future for our country if we continue on this road of "I've got mine, and the rest of you be damned."

I heard Paul Farmer talking about his latest book, "Haiti, After the Earthquake" on Fresh Air today. So much terrible stuff happening there, such abysmal poverty, so little hope. And we see such tragic photos of the drought and starvation in Africa, and the ongoing violence in Afghanistan and Iraq. No doubt people are starving elsewhere and doing unspeakable violence to each other. In the U.S. there is not a day when we do not hear about folks who torture and abuse their children and each other.

I am frequently asked on surveys if I think this country is headed in the wrong direction. I think the whole globe is headed in the wrong direction!

So we do the little things we do to help out and we know it is never enough. Probably even Warren Buffet or Zucherman or Gates with all their billions cannot do enough.

What I can do is put my energy into good works for kids and community, support for my grandchildren, affirmation for the natural world. I've got mine. And I bear the guilt of the survivor.