Save The Planet

“When constitutions of granite can’t save the planet, what’s to become of us?”

Wow … when we decide to talk about stuff, we really go for it.

While I wish we had a transcript of the evening’s discussions (for review later by a group counsellor), there was too much to give you a play-by-play, so I’ll just sum up.

• Earthquakes suck, especially the ones in Japan
• Wearing jeans and using electricity, while nice, can make you feel really guilty, if you think about where they come from
• Pear vodka is delicious
• Babies are adorable
• It’s wrong that we exploit other countries for their natural resources
• My daughter is the smartest baby EVER
• We are a society hell-bent on success, but too afraid of failure to do anything about it
• Sin-Eaters … fact, or fiction?
• Who brought THIS guy along?
• Lovers’ quarrels cause some people to feel nervous and other people (me) to poke the bear
• Mothers don’t like it when you swear in front of them, no matter how old you are

See?

On the Menu: Baked Ziti, Nectarine and Raspberry Cobbler

Boil pasta.  Make cream sauce. Combine in a casserole dish.  Grate three kinds of cheese, finely chop one white onion, chop herbs, toss together.  Sprinkle on top of pasta.  Cover in foil.  Bake for … an hour? … –ish? … at 180 degrees Celsius.  Uncover.  Bake for longer.  Enjoy and be grateful you have food, you capitalist swine!

Sorry.

After recounting the lovely images that our friends had posted on their FB profiles this week, we took turns denouncing our decadent lifestyle and rebuking ourselves for not doing anything about it.  Rene got very touchy about Cara getting emotional over the tale of a native Brazilian weeping for the loss of his village when a dam flooded it.  Megan got very defensitive (sensitive and defensive at the same time) and yelled at Rene.  Rene decried the fall of Western society.  Rene’s mom took umbrage with his choice of expletives. Rene acquiesced that he may have come on a little strong.  I made shit-eating comments from the peanut gallery.

The baby was in bed and the monitor on, so we sat around the kitchen table discussing the world in which we lived.  On the one hand, it is a beautiful place to cuddle and romp.  On the other, many have to suffer for the enjoyment of the few.  While this was not a new realisation for any of us, it was one of those nights where you can’t help but ruminate on the truth and ugliness of such a reality.

All in all, a fun night.

Also?  Baked Ziti is cheese-tastic.

Wine: AlTozano, Finca Constancia, Tempranillo, Vino de la Tierra de Castilla, Spain, 2009, $105 MXN
Rating: One Bottle

Spicy and fruity.  Peppery.  While not a bad bottle for engaging in discussions of “What’s To Become Of Us,” this wine was a little … meh.  In a pinch, this wine would do, but it just didn’t really … DO anything for any of us.  Just when we thought we’d like it, what we thought we liked about it would disappear and we’d be left wanting.

Kind of like the world in which we live.

Then Cara had a thought which I will I call from now on …

Cara’s Thought for the Week:

“We reward success but we punish failure so harshly that we have set up a society that is afraid of risk.  So: few people try to do anything beyond what they can easily accomplish.”

I think that’s true.  We DO reward success, but so little, and for so short a time, that we tend to dwell on the failures that surround us instead.  Look at our celebrity culture.  Sure, we love Brad and Angelina, but we love the Lohans and Spearseses more.  I think we’re even going further than just gawping at public disgrace now.  I think we’re actually setting up a culture that seeks it out.  Jersey Shore being but one example.  And the endless stream of competition-style television programming … do we really want to see who wins, or do we get off on seeing the losers parade themselves across our small screens every week?  Are we just a culture of Dignity Vampires, sucking self-esteem and dreams down like plasma from a virgin’s throat?

And why?  Why are we so titillated by failure?

Let’s face it: more good has come from our mistakes than has ever come from our achievements.  Were it not for our misses, we’d have no hits.  The most successful people in the world were often reeking failures for the better parts of their lives.  Imagine what a world it would be if we rewarded our children equally for trying, no matter the outcome.

In that spirit, I would like to say to all the below Two Bottles wines we’ve rated in the past: Keep it up!  You made … wine!!  Yay for you!

Wine: Lucky Duck, Tempranillo, Spain, 2009 (?), $60 MXN
Rating: One Bottle

Okay, so the girls wanted to try Lucky Duck again.  I don’t mind this wine if you don’t want to have to think about what you’re drinking, but I find it flat and sans personality.  It’s a fine wine for sitting around and arguing about the better parts of the human psyche, but for an aspiring wine enthusiast, I find it pretty blah.  That being said, for a four-dollar bottle, it doesn’t disappoint.  (And it’s a far cry better than some thirty-dollar bottles we’ve tried.)

In conclusion, love your neighbour, don’t be a jerk, donate to more charities, recycle, compost, use less electricity, use less fossil fuel, be less judgemental, remember that everybody is somebody’s kid, be a better citizen, and never trust anyone over forty.  Thirty is the new twenty.

Cheers!