Exercising My Rights
This is the first week of our new "now you have time to really look over the menu before ordering" schedule. It is also the first time that you could (but don't have to) place your order online via the website. Woo hoo! (I hope the angels watching over technical difficulties are doing just that... but of course we won't know until you all test the ordering process.)
On a non-culinary note, I was very relieved to see the news today about Senator Flake's retirement speech to the Senate. I can't say that I am relieved that the Senator is planning to retire from Congress; however, I am relieved to see that he is breaking the silence. You can go to a variety of places to read his speech in its entirety. Here is just one particularly brilliantly worded excerpt that I felt called to share.
"The notion that one should stay silent as the norms and values that keep America strong are undermined and as the alliances and agreements that ensure the stability of the entire world are routinely threatened by the level of thought that goes into 140 characters -- the notion that one should say and do nothing in the face of such mercurial behavior is ahistoric and, I believe, profoundly misguided."
The deeply sad thing is that the President is not intelligent enough to heed the Senator's thoughtful message. Hopefully though, Senator Flake's courageous words will serve as an inspiration to others on both sides of the aisle who feel similarly but have yet to publicly speak out. I felt today's news to be particularly well-timed because I was already planning to share with you all a call-to-action video that has become a favorite in our family. It is the 2011 animated "Story of Broke." Are you all familiar with this series of videos? They are incredibly educational exposes on the foibles of our modern throwaway culture, and since they are entertaining enough to engage children my son loves to watch them over and over again.
Last night happened to be one of the those times when he pulled the video out as his after-dinner entertainment. This sparked some lively discussion with my sweetheart, who is far more informed about politics and current events than I. The video challenges each of us who believes that there is a better way to run our lives and our country to become educated, get involved and take action. I often feel overwhelmed when I contemplate "getting involved and taking action" because I feel incredibly challenged to just keep up with my list of daily household and business activities, what to speak of adding organized activism to that list. This is how I feel much of the time.
Nonetheless, I can at least share thought-provoking things when I find them, in the hopes that by passing them on, I contribute to the conversation of how to build a better future.
#menu #SenatorFlake #StoryofBroke #educated #involved #takeaction
