Wake Me Up When September Ends

The marvelous Noella Choi of Canada:





Evacuees of the recent hurricanes know true exhaustion. I can't imagine being in their shoes, except to think that they must wish they could sleep for the duration of this month and, waking refreshed, find their homes, neighborhoods, and cities reset to pre-storm conditions.

Many people have concerns that keep them up some nights, worrying. When concerns pile up one on the other and the load seems too much to bear we cope in our own ways: prayer, meditation, exercise, denial, etc. My sleep pattern is usually affected, with swings from excessive nightowlitis to crashing into deep, long sleep. That's why this song is personal for me.

Here are some of my worries (horrors, actually) that I'd love to sleep away for the rest of September then, waking refreshed, discover a new world of peace, ecological balance, tolerance, compromise, and high expectation - instead of justification - for our leaders:


The ice shelves in Canada's High Arctic have lost a colossal area this year, scientists report. The floating tongues of ice attached to Ellesmere Island, which have lasted for thousands of years, have seen almost a quarter of their cover break away. One of them, the 50 sq km (20 sq miles) Markham shelf, has completely broken off to become floating sea-ice.

Gov. Palin's Worldview (...additionally, a point that I've heard asked twice in the last two days: ask her about the dinosaurs, i.e., does she believe that they went extinct around 4000 years ago?)

Obama and McCain are Going Neck and Neck Nationally (9-15-08) Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain appear to be going neck and neck, in the presidential race, nationally – that’s what say, the Obama McCain pre-election opinion polls conducted by Diageo/Hotline Daily Tracking, InsiderAdvantage/Poll Position, FOX News, and Newsweek. Obama and McCain are statistically tied in three out of four polls, and one poll favors McCain. Check out what these latest McCain Obama polls say.

Stop the Slaughter of Wild Horses and Burros. Over the past few weeks, countless news articles have circulated around the world regarding the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) announcement that the agency might begin euthanizing many of the 32,000 horses in holding centers in order to "balance the budget." Killing horses is not the answer to the BLM’s financial woes. America’s wild horses are an icon of the west. Click on the link above to help to keep wild horses and burros on our public lands safe.

Homelessness in America. The number of homeless families with children has increased significantly over the past decade. Families with children are among the fastest growing segments of the homeless population. In its 2007 survey of 23 American cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that families with children comprised 23% of the homeless population (U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2007). These proportions are likely to be higher in rural areas.

Mountaintop removal coal mining More than 470 Appalachian Mountains have already been destroyed by mountaintop removal mining (how outrageous is that?), but there are hundreds more that can still be saved. America's Most Endangered Mountains is a video series and interactive map designed to inspire people like you to help protect the mountains that truly belong to all of us, and to help support the communities that are standing up for their mountains and their rights.


Right now, there just isn't any time to waste in Rip Van Winkle-type dreaming. I am going to commit to equalizing my schedule in order to have at least seven hours sleep during normal sleeping hours so I have the energy to do my part in changing what I can, starting with becoming an Obama-Biden volunteer.


{Postscript after original posting: I was only vaguely aware of the Mountaintop Removal issue until Wayfaring Wanderer focused on it as an all-out campaign at her blog. The widget at my blog's right column is connected to the campaign, as a result of my new awareness. Sorry, WW, for not mentioning this....more proof that I might not be at my best when at the computer at 2:30 a.m. :) }