Category Archives: One WORD (Current Events)

January 13, 2010 · 3:00 AM

Paralyzed Chicken Feet

I am disturbed.

Disgusted.

Annoyed.

I just watched Food, Inc.

I’m obviously grossly behind the times, since the movie came out in 2008, but still.  It’s awakening.  It’s upsetting.  I’m itching to get to a grocery store just so I can buy organic even though my freezer is already full of food.

And I’m no naturalist.  I’ve always felt that the organic movement was just a ploy by grocers to make me spend $3.99 on spinach when I only wanted to spend $1.99.  Don’t act surprised; you already read this; is my behavior really a shock?

Anyway, it’s pretty hard to get excited about a sale on frozen chicken after seeing chemically-altered chicks hobble around on their enfeebled legs from the “enhancements” farmers give them.  How’s that for too long of a sentence?

I’m literally the last person on Earth to care about where my meat comes from.  But something clicked when my sister-in-law Rachel, who was watching this for the first time with me, turned to me and said, “Yes, God gave us dominion over the animals.  But this is not how He designed them, and we’re abusing them.”

How can I argue with that?

The hard part is when I’m standing in the poultry section of the grocery store, and I’m looking at one price versus another much higher price.  I’m thinking about my wallet, but I’m also thinking about that chicken: that chicken who can’t walk because his butt-head farmer feeds him hormones that make his muscles grow beyond what he can bear.

So I guess I’m going to start paying more for chicken.

Here’s the thing: I tend to find heated political documentaries (read: Michael Moore) to be nothing more than a slanted agenda.  But this seems to affect everyone.  Who among us doesn’t eat corn?  Oh, you don’t?  I bet you eat hundreds of things made with corn syrup, considering virtually everything is made with it.

Ugh, I sound like one of the documentary directors.

Mike and I have always been very on-the-fence about locally grown and organic food, because we weren’t sure that paying more for something meant that we were causing change in a corrupt system.

Now I know that’s because we didn’t realize just how corrupt that system is.

It would be wrong to say that this movie is the ultimate authority on meat and corn; it certainly isn’t.  But at least they’ve done more research than I have, and have spoken with some experts on the matter.

I don’t know if they’ve utterly convinced me never to buy regular meat again; what I do know is that they’ve sold me on doing my own research.  They’ve shown me that ignorance is anything but bliss.

My mom once asked me if I’d like to buy a portion of her cow.  Mike and I laughed.  What?  Your own cow?  What are you, a farmer?  She looked at us like she was speaking to 5-year-olds and explained that you can buy an entire cow from local farmers and the meat will last you a year.  I was grossed out at the thought of all that meat sitting in a freezer for months on end.

Now I’m shuffling my feet around as I sheepishly admit to my conservative mother that her liberal idea was actually…brilliant.

So our brother and sister-in-law may join us in buying a cow.  We think it’s the best approach for an enormous problem that seems beyond repair.

Well, maybe half a cow.  It’s not like we eat beef five nights a week.

But I do eat beef.  Here’s a secret I share with very few people: when no one is around, and I’m out to lunch by myself, I like to visit Taco del Mar.  Or Taco Time.  But never Taco Bell…I do have some dignity.

I love the Mexi-fries and the crispy beef tacos, the shredded lettuce and the diced tomatoes.  I especially love the anonymity of the drive-thru.

But then I had to go and watch Food, Inc., and ruin all of that.  They essentially convinced me that I’m eating dog food, beef fit only for dogs, and I’m sickened…but slightly sad.  Is that weird?  Is it OK to mourn the loss of food that is repulsive but delicious?

I’m not likely to tell people how to eat better or more organically.  I think everyone is entitled to their own choice — all I can do is inform people to watch Food, Inc., and see what they find.

When your conscience won’t let you order a burger after watching this film, I would not be the least bit offended if you wanted to punch me in the face.  In fact, I cry the same crocodile tears about my loss of Taco Time.  The pain is real.

But then, so is the cost.

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December 30, 2009 · 3:00 AM

My Homeland Security

After handing the gate agent our boarding passes at LAX, Mike and I headed down the little gangway for the plane.  There were still 50 people ahead of us, so we had to wait in the tunnel until the line moved along.  We were small talking, the kind of talk when you know everyone around you is listening to your every word.  All of a sudden, the gangway jolted.

Jolting is not a preferred feeling when boarding an aircraft, particularly when it’s a mere 48 hours after a near-major jolting over the Atlantic.

We gave each other a worried look, and then looked at the other passengers who were just as bewildered as we were.  One midde-aged Chinese-American woman turned around to face us.

“Did you feel that?” she asked, somewhat panicked.  “I felt that!  I saw the plane move too!”

“Yes, what was that?  Why did this tunnel just move?” I asked in reply.  “Like we really need this sort of alarm after the scare on Friday.”

Apparently I thought it would be smart to remind everyone of the danger we were surely encountering.  I’m sensitive like that.

Neither Mike nor I gave much thought to flying despite the thwarted Christmas day terrorist attack.  We both have a very practical, somewhat unspoken agreement that we won’t live in fear of the things we can’t control.  Do I have control over the odds that I will board the same plane as a terrorist?  No;  I am too busy controlling the hyper-increased security check to make sure none of my orafices are searched.

It was all the more surprising then that the lady in front of us told us she DID have control over the terrorists.

She replied to my statement, “They’re not taking ME down.  We fight back,” she said assuredly.  “If there is a terrorist on this plane there is no way he would get away with his plans.”

Suddenly I felt a surge of love for this woman, this small person who was in no way small, who represented the collective anger and strength the US has endured the last eight years.  Here she was, knowing in all certainty that no person hell-bent on hurting her would ever succeed in doing so.  She was ready to give her life to prove a point.  She would go down fighting.

Her “FEAR NOT!” stance didn’t look anything like our “fear not” stance.  We choose to assume that what will happen will happen, and we’ll deal with it as it comes.  This lady has a battle plan laid out, practically daring a radical to be assigned to the seat next to her so she can show him what’s what.  That is courage.

This lady is one reason why I board planes without trepidation.  I know there are hundreds of thousands of people like her, people who would never sit in fear while an extremist lights a fuse in front of them.  Just last Friday passengers saw smoke and pounced on the offender before any harm could occur.  Why?  They’re angry.  They refused to be treated like sheep hunted by wolves.

Me?  I’d like to believe that I would leap from my seat and attack a terrorist with whatever I could get my hands on, and if nothing, then just my bare hands.  But when I’m honest, when I really picture a large man yelling at me in a foreign language with explosives in his hands, I hesistate.  I fear.  I see a more accurate picture of pulling myself under a seat so I can just pray or escape being shot.

And that’s not a pretty picture.

After all, since I know my soul lives eternally, why do I fear death?  I considered this for some time, and realized that it’s not death that I fear.  It’s much more that I love my life.  I love my husband and family, and I would hate to see this rich adventure come to an end so soon.

I never learned where the jolting came from, and the flight proceeded smoothly.  I was able to obsess over my glossy People magazine without worrying about my safety, and that’s exactly how every flight should be.  But unlike every other flight I’ve taken, this one reminded me of my God-given right to demonstrate courage.  Thankfully, I didn’t have to; we made it home safely.  But that initial shake-up did serve a purpose — it jolted me awake.

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November 4, 2009 · 3:00 AM

Respecting the Non-Voters

Normally I avoid politics on Words Become One because I do not want to polarize readers.  However, with all the election craziness today and yesterday, a non-partisan issue spoke to me above the din.  Don’t worry…we’re nowhere near soapbox territory, and you won’t catch me shouting at you in all caps.  This is just an interesting topic, and I would love your opinion on it.

For the last two weeks I’ve felt inundated with TVs and billboard advertisements touting “Get Out the Vote!” or “Don’t Forget to Vote!”

This makes sense because most people are extremely offended by informed citizens choosing not to vote.  I am one of those people.  But I am also offended when uninformed citizens blindly cast their vote.

Consider: voting is a right that should never be taken for granted, but sometimes voting is a privilege we shouldn’t employ.

Why?  Sometimes we aren’t informed.  And voting when we’re uninformed disrespects that right.

Voting is the every-man’s power to affect change, and when involved citizens know the issues and vote to elect chosen representatives or approve initiatives, that is American democracy at its best.  It’s enough to make you want to set your alarm clock to “America the Beautiful” and wake up beaming every morning.

However, if we haven’t researched issues, read statistics on candidates or listened to debates, our vote has the same power to affect change.  Imagine the impact of millions of people skimming through a ballot and half-mindlessly filling in bubbles; those votes count just as much as the person who spent hours learning the referendums and initiatives.

Scary, right?

While some will say that choosing not to vote is akin to letting the right to vote be taken away, I am convinced that many voters are uninformed, and therefore dangerous behind the lever.  An article in the Democratic Strategist quotes data that approximately a third of the public is largely uninformed (for instance, they can’t name one of their own senators).  If I’m a part of that third, choosing not to vote could be the most responsible handling of my rights.

NPR reported yesterday morning that since Seattle has switched to voting through mail-in ballots only, people are delaying voting until the last possible minute (this most definitely includes me; I mailed my ballot on its due date…it still counts).  They reported that this shows a rise in voter consciousness, because citizens are changing their minds on issues and candidates as news about each emerges.  This is good news, because it seems to show people are paying attention.

I am as guilty as the next person.  I remember being 18 and so excited to vote, but I was too preoccupied with college applications, social activities and sports to pay attention to the details of what I was voting about.  I pulled out my ballot at the kitchen table and hollered over to a parent to ask what the issues were and how I should vote.  Clearly I didn’t appreciate the privilege.

This is why MTV’s “Rock the Vote” and “Vote or Die” campaigns tend to freak me out.  To be fair, they claim to provide access to information on the issues on their website.  But they are speaking to millions of 18-year-olds just like me (at the time), and while many of them are far more informed than I was, there are just as many who will vote just because P. Diddy told them to.

diddy

Fast-forward seven years and I am doing my best to watch mayoral debates, read my voter pamphlet, and read news articles and endorsements before I grab my pen to vote.

Yesterday I was stuck in 520 bridge traffic and I looked up to see about twenty impassioned people holding picket signs with names of their favorite candidates and “Vote Yes on Ref 71” (it passed) or “Vote No on Ref 1033” (it did not pass).  At first I was encouraged at the sight of such activism, but then I stopped to consider: what about those who do not know what Ref 71 or 1033 are about?  It’s possible the picket holders are convincing uninformed voters through word recognition.  Later, someone might look at their ballot and say, “I’m not sure what this is about, but I remember all of those people holding “No” signs…”

zhallsigns

An LA Times opinion article suggested testing voters before allowing them to vote, to ensure they understand the basics of US government before they decide how to change it.  I am not supporting that idea, but I applaud the concept behind it (and I really hope I would pass it.  Otherwise I would have proved my own point, and I will definitely be staying home next election cycle.)

There are only four types of people when it comes to voting.  To prove that point, take the following quiz:

Did you vote yesterday?

A.  Yes
B.   No

Were you informed about that which you were voting?

A.  Yes
B.   No

Answers:

— 1. A and 2. A = Informed citizen who voted
—  1. B and 2. A = Informed citizen who didn’t vote
— 1. A and 2. B = Uninformed citizen who voted
— 1. B and 2. B = Uninformed citizen who didn’t vote

When it comes to voting, the first and last results are the only choices I respect.

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