Yams

I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam. Thanks to those of you who have voiced your acceptance of that. I sometimes wish that I could accept it myself as easily as those around me.

As Dave pointed out, even without a car it is easy to outstrip the resources of the planet. It seems sad that our ability to live the way we do, car or no car, is predicated on the majority of the world NOT living the same way.

China's rapid development is something that I've seen change drastically in my lifetime. A truly remarkable change and one that will have profound future effects on the world. As I watch, I am inclined to have a modicum of fear about what will happen as the world's most populous nation develops. Having said that, I know that I am in no position to make any judgments. "Pot to kettle, pot to kettle. You're black." Easy for me from my life of comfort to tell others that their efforts to do the same will bring about the end of the planet as we know it. What I'm doing obviously doesn't have any effect. ;)

On an unrelated note, it's shocking to think that I'm old enough to have seen such changes in the world. Many momentous changes have come on my watch. The fall of the Berlin Wall (and the Soviet Bloc), wars in the Middle East. The list goes on, especially since "momentous" is in the eyes of the beholder. Many other things have been momentous in the past three decades but it is as easy to ignore them as it is to skip some of the small changes that could make the world a (slightly) better place. Of course all those changes are inconsequential when put in the context of the whole world. I mean, if everyone on the planet walked instead of drove then, yes, that would likely improve things. But, if everyone owned cars, just so they could walk instead of drive, then we'd be in much worse shape overall. Oh what a tangled, yet comfortable, web we weave.