Value: 1+ ?

More than a months worth of ramblings and catching ups to do here. I finally had to convince myself that I had something worthy of writing. Worthy of remembering. Of course, it has less to do with that, than the waxing and waining of my own confidence that this journaling practice is of any value at all.

Of "value," I've been reading GONZO MARKETING by Christopher Locke, which has shed some light on my own personal definition of what is valuable vs. invaluable.

The link I've chosen for the above mentioned book is a reflection of a point Locke makes in an effort to point out how customers are the best experts of "demographic" or "niche." Amazon.com features it's characteristic "Customers who bought this books also purchased these titles..." catagory, which allow new customers to network with what others are reading, digesting and paying for. I wish this was a feature in the grocery store - on every product. Instead of flashy cartoon charicatures of sports and movie starlings - let's find out what is proven through practice and use, let's find out what holds it weight in $$$ outlayed.

Speaking of valuable, time is an essence that never stops pushing forward, dragging us from instant to instant into the unknown cycle of now, now, now. I'm done with this concept of time. By defining time as a product or material "thing" I begin worrying of how much of it I'm wasting, how little of it I have, and how expensive it can be. (I lay out upwards of $100 per week to a local pre-school, to care for my daughter, so that I have the "time" to go to work) A few weekends back I took the family to a saturday night gathering called Food Not Bombs, where we met many wonderful folks, all of whom want to give of their time and money and efforts to provide food for the local homeless and hungry community in Tucson.

This is something that I have been thinking about for months now, how through my family's struggles we have risen out of total poverty to a place where we can afford to eat, we can afford to "entertain" ourselves with the trivialities of materialism. What I don't want us to do, is to continue to fall into the cravass of American materialism which consists of working hard in order to entertain ourselves to the fullest. Seems no better that cultural masterbation. A lifetime of bought pleasures. No Value.

Food Not Bombs is the closest thisng to what I want to involve my family in localy, an effort that can be seen from beginning to end, in which my kids can begin to clearly see how this world works, and what it means to be an American, a human, a person. We don't need to buy happiness when we live it.

Well, now I've spent the better part of my morning writing when I probably should have been working. Until next time.