The last gal in our group is a mom. She has several kids, the oldest of which is six. She laughed with us and said, “You know girls, it never goes away. You never get that feeling that you know what you are doing.”

She the went on to tell us that a few weeks ago, she wasn’t sure how to discipline her six year old for something he’d done. Feeling frustrated, she grabbed her head and said to him, “I don’t know what to do with a six year old!” Calmly, her son looked back at her and said, “It’s ok Mommy, can’t we look on the internet? We can just Google it.”

If Only It Were That Simple

After laughing at how cute, honest and innocent six year olds can be, I couldn’t help but agree with him. Why can’t life be that simple? You cannot even imagine the sense of relief I might have right now if I could simply type into my computer “How to do really great at my job, have my boss and my coworkers all like me, and not screw it up in the process.” And because the whole world knows that Google’s secret algorithm is like a magic spell that brings all correct and relevant information to the top 10 links on my results page, I would simply have to click around and Voila! I would know how to do the rest of my life.

The interesting thing about Google is that I use it for more than answers. I use it as my spell check – that little link asking “Did You mean…?” keeps me from all sorts of wrongs (in fact I just used it for voila, because I almost wrote viola, which is a kind of a violin, thanks Google!) I use it to find dates on the calendar when I can’t find my phone. I use it to help me explain things, like last week when my roommate didn’t know what caprese salad was. Thank you Google Images.  I use it for maps, phone numbers, email…the list goes on. But I am assuming you know all of this because if you’re around my age, your probably just as addicted as I am.

Now the question for me is, how is it that a six year old’s knee jerk reaction to life’s questions is simply to Google it? He grew up with Google ingrained in his worldview as “The answer to all of life’s questions.” At least I was in college or something before Google really came barreling into the market. In some semblance, I did know life before Google. But this kid, he has no clue. In his mind, that’s what we do for all of life’s question, simply run to the computer and look them up.

I suppose his mom doesn’t really have to sit him down and explain life to him. Eventually over time all of the kids who grew up on Google will have to sort the tough stuff out for themselves just like the rest of us. And in the mean time, it seems cruel to say to a six year old, “Honey life is hard, and sometimes there aren’t any good answers. Even Google can’t solve them.“I can tell you this though, I really wish he was right. Life would be a whole lot easier if we could just “Google It.”

Let Love Rule.

…..Right,  But How Do We Do That?

Monday night Hot Nerdy Blond and I drove up to Hollywood to grab dinner with a best friend of mine who lives out of state. A friend recommended the Saddle Ranch Chop House in Hollywood – which ended up being one of the funnest venues I have been to in a long time. Karaoke, bull riding, great food, and waiters that literally go above and beyond. Yet, I digress. What struck me about Monday night was that at one point in the evening, I looked out the window, and Sunset Blvd. was completely filled with people. Protesters, carrying signs, banging drums, chanting, full marching bands – all showing their disapproval for the recent Supreme Court ruling regarding Prop 8. Signs reading, “LET LOVE RULE” and “I DO.” or messages expressing how gay individuals had the right to get married too. Or at least be in love to. Or something to that effect (I’m sorry, I’m not the most politically correct person on this subject).

What stood out to me more than any one thing was not the subject of homosexuality, or even sexuality at all. It was just an overwhelming sense of sadness. I get it that marriage is supposed to be sacred, and that the Bible does have a lot to say on the matter. I also get it that homosexuals are people too. And they do fall deeply in love too. So…I think I love the idea of letting love rule. I love love. It’s amazing to be in love. And homosexuals shouldn’t be denied any of it. But, how do we do that?  And it made me so sad. It was like something deep inside of me had to turn and question – to say – “You know what? Something isn’t right. I don’t know what the right answer is. I don’t know how God would show love in this situation. I don’t know what the balance of “God’s Rules” vs. “God’s love and Grace” is. But I do know that this breaks my heart.”

Watching the people flooding through the street was one of the most impacting things I have seen in a long time. And as conflicted as I can feel on the matter sometimes, I couldn’t help but want to cheer them on. Cheer them into fighting against the sadness.

3 Billion Dollars. And We’re All About to be Screwed.

I like to listen to NPR in the car. Well, sometimes I don’t really like it, but I am always amazing at how much information is on there. Things that I had never been aware of – countries in desperate shapes of war. Journalist and activist that are in jail or martyred for their works of heroism. Information about our economy and president that I’d never hear on the news. It’s like a vat, a wealth of tragic information.

Yesterday they were talking about our dear old Governator, and his unbearable task of balancing our budget. The thing that I don’t understand is how we are one of the wealthiest states in the Union, and yet we can’t figure out our budget. We all voted to not raise taxes, and now in our Governor’s words, the only things we have left ourselves to is “Cuts, cuts and more cuts.”

An interview with CalWorks announced that the new budget cuts the entire program completely. This is a group that gives measly little checks to low income families to help ensure that they can stay in housing. A mother and 3 children will get approximately $500 a month – meaning that she and her kids are renting a ROOM, not an apartment – just a room.

With the new cut to the program, it is guessed that 154,000 families in Los Angeles County alone might face life on the streets. Most of these families have small children.

And to make matters worse, most of these children are already on MediCaid, a program designed to help low income families secure health care – a program that is also getting significantly cut down. Meaning that most of the children that might lose their homes could also lose their health care coverage.

Combine that with the idea that LA Unified School District just made significant cuts to the budget, increasing class sizes and changing resources within their school programs.

Does this not seem like the perfect storm for low income families in LA? No housing, no health care, no schools?

Now again, I’m not a politician, and I’m not a financial person. I have no clue how to fix this mess Californians have found ourselves in.  I don’t know if more government aid is the way to create great societies, or rather to encourage a sense of independence and self reliance. But I can tell you this – it breaks my heart. I can’t stand to think about those disenfranchised families who might be about to fall through the cracks of society. It just makes me shake my head and think, “What a Sad World We Have.”

Layoffs, Layoffs, and More Layoffs

For those of you who don’t follow me closely – my mom was given her pink slip earlier this spring. I’m still looking for work. Last week, my dad found out that after 27 years with his IT Company, he was also let go. Oh, and have I mentioned that my older brother was also laid off?  Funny thing is, out of the 6  people in my immediate family, the only jobs that we have right now are cashiers jobs at retail stores. Kinda fun huh?

The part for me where the world gets sad, is that today my roommate was laid off. I remember being where she is now, feeling like she is just in shock, now knowing what way to go next.

Now, with all of these career suspensions or transitions, it’s not that I don’t think that these people aren’t capable, or that they won’t find something – it’s just that it strikes me as being so sad. Sad to watch them struggle, sad to see them scared, sad to watch them asking big questions about the directions they will take their lives, sad that they have to take measures to ensure that they will be ok.

So Where Do We Go From Here?

I have no miraculous conclusion. I’m sure I can insert some “Full House” ending about how God will show up on a white horse and save the day, where everything will be set right before the commercial break. And I do believe that God is big enough to do that. But I don’t think this is all a God-Issue. I think it’s more of a realization of the kinds of sorrows that comprise our world. Injustice, poverty, transition, anxiety, economic turmoil, social transitions…It can almost be overwhelming to think of it all at the same time. Like I’ve continually said, I have no awe-inspiring solutions. I’m not sure how to better our world. I’m not sure how to make a impact for the better. But I can tell you that at one point this week, I flopped on my couch and cried. Hot tears for the homosexuals who can’t get married, even if the Bible doesn’t think it’s ok – hot tears for the children who might not get homes or health care, hot tears for the Governor and the people in Sacramento who are trying to make sense out of our financial disasters. Hot tears for all of those who are lost and scared and trying to navigate their way through career transition.

Call me Debbie-Downer. Call me a softy. Maybe it makes me a bleeding-heart non-activist (because I’m not really doing anything else other than crying).  But this is what I saw and noticed this week – as bleak and sad as it is.