Ah, politics, how I hate it. I believe I have ranted before on the whole idea of being "informed" politically being nigh impossible, and how having political opinions mostly just makes people unhappy. This year, I am trying especially hard to be an ostrich, which has been quite easy in the arena of health-care reform. (Talk about something you can't do anything about from your kitchen table. No point getting worked up over that until it's a fait accompli, since short of moving out of the country, there's no way you can affect the decision.)
Ostrich-hood is harder to achieve now that we've reached the portion of the school year where the school committee begins its campaign to freak us all out about next year's budget. This is year 3 for me of this, and it's another situation where there is little to nothing I can do. Sure, I can go to town meeting, sit through a bunch of people's yammering, and then vote on the budget ... but really? The budget's going to have a shortfall, various committees will decide where the hits go, and that's going to be that. Short of finding alternative sources of revenue or having some say in where the cuts might be, there's little that can be done, and I try to remember that we are in great shape compared to a lot of other districts (so far). Additionally, I remember what one of my book group members told me - that when her kids were in school, it was the same song and dance every year as well. People are starting to talk about potential shake-ups for next year, and I am trying not to listen.
All in all, I think it's a good time to be an ostrich. In the long run, I expect I'll be less irritated by the health care thing for not having known what the other options were; and if I can successfully duck school budget conversations I'll have a much more peaceful spring and summer than I did last year, when I got all het up about it. Of course, the world wouldn't be a better place if we were all ostriches ... but I think it needs a few of us.
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