Thats a good question, I think about that as well. I used to pay more attention to things that were going on until my own personal battle became a real issue for me. I really had to be careful about what I watched and read about the condition of the US and even things going on in the world. It wasn't that I didn't care, I did care and I had to be careful because I was already battling so many anxiety issues already.

Other than writing letters and voting there is no way on a grand scale to make a difference, I have seen the younger crowd often getting overwhelmed by it all and quite frankly I can't blame them. The only way to personally make improvements is to start in places you can make a difference on a small scale and by doing that, it can form a wave of people that add to that contribution where a postive change can take place. It can be something as simple as not buying products or services where big companies outsource and yet enjoy the benefits of our society and tax cuts and so on. They stopped may of the sweet shop type situations here but it did not stop the inhumanity of them, they just moved them somewhere else. And in reality the one thing we all are is consumers and that is where we can make a statement in a small way and expand.

And one could say that doing that will only hurt us, well, we are already hurting here there and everywhere. I dont know about you but I have an old computer and cell phone. I manage fine, I don't have to have an Iphone and all the other things available now. Oh I am sure these items are very useful but I would rather eat and consider the necessities. There is sooo much to ponder, any one of us could get very easily overwhelmed. But to some degree we do have to pay attention.

I often think of the troops that come home so weary and all the breaucracy they deal with and how their needs don't often get met and I really think that is sad and totally unfair to them. Often these men are afraid to make their needs known and continue to suffer the system that does not meet their needs. So the only way there can be any improvement is to have them find courage to speak up and be heard so that many civilians also know and finally something get done, some of that has already taken place, but continues to become an issue that still carries a lack and still should be addressed. That is another small area that can be a place to start. Talking is often a powerful tool and it is important to hear certain voices and add to those voices until there are enough voices that can embarass a government into taking the right course of action.

And the other issue that one has to consider while reading the news is that much of the news is an opinion and often things occur and different people/news media/ politicians to just name a few, give these conspiracy therories that are really based on hypothesis more than reality. Often that lends to accusations of a group of people verses the few that are corrupt and create bad situations. I tend to be very careful when it comes to those situations because often the whole point is that a few bad people want many people to grow angry and hate another country or those who truely do not have anything to do with the decisions or actions that created a very bad situation.

When someone talks to me like I am a bad American and Americans think and do this and that I get upset because on my level of existance I have little to do with some of the very poor decision making that effect that other person or their country. And I don't just assume the same of them either. However, I am well aware that when someone does do that, they are only falling into a trap, that is often how we end up having a group of common citicizans hating another group. That is what often is needed to create a war. After all, where would one get the troops to fight that war? Too many innocent people lose lives in wars. Maybe we are created or designed to do that to assure a population control, sometimes I wonder.
I have always hated war personally.

Open Eyes