All Bad Things

The National Cancer Institute says, "Based on rates from 2001-2003, 41.28% of men and women born today will be diagnosed with cancer...at some time during their lifetime. This number can also be expressed as 1 in 2 men and women will be diagnosed with cancer...during their lifetime."

The Center for Health, Environment, and Justice says, "PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic, commonly referred to as vinyl, is one of the most hazardous consumer products ever created."

Iraq Body Count says that up to 54,000 Iraqi civilians have died due to US military interventions.

We're probably making more terrorists. Daily.
9/11 was bad.
So is global warming, whatever that is exactly.

We are all dying.

And as for my little contribution to this utopia, TODAY, I:

purchased a set of 3 plastic tupperware items;

have cancer in my family;
did not exercise;
savored simple sugars;
ate foods that were not locally grown;

turned the heat on;
rode in a car for about 3 hours;
wore clothes produced by garment factories that probably employ unfair labor practices;

consumed more resources than I would be allotted if every individual in the world consumed an equal amount;
contributed to the growth of a gluttonous world economy;

did not spend enough time with my Grandmother;

did not write to my Congressman about how irritated I am that we have fucked up so much in Iraq and have forgotten Afghanistan;
did not write to my Congressman about how I think we should sign the Kyoto Protocol and enforce it;

did not VOTE in the recent elections;
did NOT give a dollar to support education;
did NOT voice my concerns about Sudan;

did NOT decide to be a doctor in developing nations;
did NOT enroll in a Masters program to learn about public health or the environment;

Signed up to work at a corporate firm that may eventually or perhaps currently does support projects that:

create products nobody needs but must be convinced they do;

engender further dependence on oil;

facilitate the extraction of oil and its derivatives perhaps even on protected land thus killing the local endangered wetland reptiles that nobody cared about until we got there; and last but not least,

perpetuate the eventual though gradual demise of the human race through various unintended means such as: pumping harmful pollutants into the air, disrupting local markets, destabilizing communities, indirectly causing youths to move to cities where they inevitably become intravenous drug users and prostitutes without contraceptive methods who contract HIV and pregnancy so our population booms to an even seven billion and strains our already stretched resources, causing a rise in civil strife, violence, and possibly even war; and,

I will continue to feel guilty about these things tonight and maybe even tomorrow and the rest of my life. And I have no idea what I can do about most of them. At least not now. Do you?