Good News...

On three fronts really:

1. My saber has been returned. No harm, no foul.
2. I read this article today and it gave me hope. If someone could make that much of a difference, just one person, working within the system, then maybe I can too. I know anyone else who has been dismayed by "the system" has often considered bucking the system entirely; move to Tibet or East Timor...do a lot to help a few instead of a lot to help no one if you try and change things here. Well, this guy seems to have figured it out. Then again, it's not much different than what I do here. Sometimes, if people see you as being a part of the system, they don't realize that what you're trying to do is exactly what they are fighting happening from those who are considered "outsiders."
3. My roomate and I were just talking about the environment. He, as I've written, is a very conservative person. I was reading to him an article from treehugger.com about how the amound of synthetic smells and chemicals has doubled in the Great Lakes since 1990. Being a very practical person who believes very strongly in the rule of law, he said that if it's dangerous and harms the environment, why not just make them illegal. I explained that without them, our homes would no longer smell like fake lemons, our floors like pine forrests and our hair unlike a fresh spring field.
   
   He asked if we could make the cleaning products without the smells, with more natural ingedients. I sent him a link to some really cool natural and organic sites where you can buy cleaners, soaps and other household good which are mostly natural. He seems shocked and asked, "So...we use things which are more harmful to the environment even though the smell serves no purpose and there are more ecologically friendly alternatives?" He was incredulous...but, the face he "got it" is good news to me.

Class starts monday. Should be fun.