We’re Watching the Politicians

(I’m addled by the furious wrath of the sun, but I’m determined to get out a blog post before the heat stroke takes the last bits of my reason and intellect. I don’t think I’ve gone mad yet, but you’re always the last to know).

There is an experiment discussed in the personal improvement book “The 4-Hour body” that really caught my interest. One of the volunteer test subjects decided that his method of weight loss would be to keep an accurate record of his weight several times a a day, every day. That’s it-no diet changes, no new exercise, just weighing himself and writing the number down every day in the morning and at night. And he lost weight.

I don’t think this is some kind of miracle cure for obesity, and it’s doubtful that this guy was going to see a dramatic long-term loss through simple observation, but it highlights an interesting feature of our human behaviour. Quite simply, we behave differently when observed. One of the best ways to ensure that people straighten up and keep flying right is to watch them and to let them know you’re watching them. No, I’m not advocating round the clock surveillance.

Let’s look at a specific situation. Last week, our city council met for what was promising to be a cavalcade of poor decisions that sacrificed long-term progress for rash penny-pinching. The council members were greeted by a full gallery of citizens who were ready to watch and comment on all of the goings on. There were a fair number of attendees who were focused on a very specific issue (the closing of a tiny but beloved library), and you can always count on that type of focused group to come trooping out to complain, so I imagine they are fairly easy to ignore. But along with these special interest people, there were a large number of citizens who were there to keep an eye on the general business of council. And as they watched, they took notes, and they tweeted each vote and comment. I followed along at home and it was fantastic to have real-time access and reaction to the goings on, and I was able to join the conversation.The next day, I reviewed the council decisions, and I was pleasantly surprised to notice that most of the decisions that had been made were the right ones, even if it contradicted what the earlier committee work had recommended.  It was almost as if the councillors had noticed they were being watched.

Oh, what a digital age we live in.

Did I ever think that I would hear my dear wife say “I miss your blogging”? No sir, I did not. It’s painfully true that blog production has crawled to a standstill here at Me Industries, and I blame the economy, taxes, and the possibility of zombies.

Okay, okay, fine, I’m the cause of this lack of blog. No need to drag the economy into this, and I like paying taxes. No really, I do. I do not want to pay for my own road when I want to go somewhere. I’d start paving it, and then I’d realize that I was paving over the vegetable garden, and then I’d get yelled at. And if we are brutally honest, the zombie threat is at exactly the same level it was before I started blogging.

It’s not that I don’t have topics to blog about. The issue is that some of these topics are highly passionate and I’m afraid that I’m going to creep you out with my fiery rhetoric. Plus, a lot of it will be politically related, and I’d hate to cheese any of you wonderful readers off by waving my politics in your face. On the other hand, the things that I’m passionate about inform the rest of my life and influence the decisions that I make, so if this blog is about my journey as a dad, my politics come into play. So I guess I should just let ’em rip.

Also, I take everything too seriously right now. It’s the perilous side-effect of paying attention to the world around me. It’s all well and good to have informed opinions tat you’re enthusiastic about, but sometimes you need to dial it down, stop worrying about the fate of humanity, and be happy. I’m working on it.

Speaking of caring about things: I’m feeling a little low on allies (my ever-supportive wife notwithstanding). I was hoping that, if I found the right bunch of fellows, I’d be able to assume we were on the same page at all times and not worry about a difference of opinion popping up. This is, as you may be aware of, unrealistic. It would be easier for me if we could all just sit around agreeing with each other, but the price of civic involvement is learning to find a peaceable accord between differing perspectives. I can handle the big differences (I think), but discovering that one of my new civic-minded friends has a contrary opinion on something gets me a little frustrated. More learning is required.

 

Me and the camel are now friends

We packed up the family car and drove into the wilds of Corn country, to visit a place called Greenview Aviaries and Zoo. Like most cynical parents, I had a few assumptions about the place before I even laid eyes on it. I was sure it was going to be a little run-down, very expensive, and full of poorly maintained and sad animals. Boy, was I wrong.

First, it was clean. No litter, no broken playground equipment. In addition to the zoo (more on that in a bit) there was a large picnic and playground area, and they were not fooling around when they set up the playground. There were 3 full-size trampolines. Yes you heard me, a plethora of trampolines.And the big sandbox was full of  at least 15 toy dump trucks and dozens of plastic shovels. it was almost as if the proprietors of this establishment actually knew what kids liked to play with.

It also impressed me that the picnic area was interlaced with the playground, so the kids could keep running around like lunatics while the adults finished eating their lunches. The picnic and playground area was also a sort of libertarian dreamland: not a staff member in sight. The trampolines had signs beside them pointing out the rules, which were routinely ignored. All children were left in the responsibility of their parents or caregivers. I don’t know if this is in any way an accurate representation of a Libertarian’s dream, but I do know that there were a series of minor injuries taking place during our visit. There was a girl around the age of 9 or 10 who suddenly discovered on the zip line that her grip strength wasn’t quite as good as she had guessed. Her mom ran over to the prostrate girl, and after a moment, she got up and walked it off. All in all, most injuries were walked or cried off with no permanent damage, and we escaped with no wounds (other than bug bites).

But on to the animals! I had assumed that the zoo would be an anemic collection of a few slightly exotic animals, a pack of donkeys and maybe a peacock or two. Surprisingly, this zoo in the middle of corn fields and wind turbines is full of exotic creatures. It blew my mind that they had 4 lions, a tiger, 2 cougars, a pack of alpacas, a black bear, a horde of different monkeys, 2 surly buffalos, and a camel. My fondness for an animal is based around its similarity to a dog, and I didn’t think that a camel would meet that criteria, what with all the stubbornness and spitting. But this fellow was agreeable and approachable. I gave him a pet on the nose, and  when he didn’t immediately attack me, I started to give him a hearty scratch behind the ear. And after a moment or two, I swear that one of his back legs started to kick reflexively, just like a giant dog when you find their itchy sweet spot. You cannot believe how much I enjoyed this. I had hoped to give the buffalo a pet too, but he was disinclined to allow such nonsense, and when a buffalo slams his massive head against the fence between you and him, you back off.