Not my problem!

I woke up completely p'd off on Saturday morning. Background thoughts had been formed into dreams overnight and resulted in me waking up angry.

Who with? Well, the mangement of the college where I work.

Why? For the simple reason that they always say "there's no money", yet refuse to market and sell the macadamia nuts, grapes and lemons growing profusely on campus (they give them away free or write them off to those who steal them). AND they have left large fields fallow for years now in favour of chopping down the beautiful forest for firewood and poles, and planting olives (which take years to get to bearing age, only produce once a year, and get sold out within a few months). AND they refuse to manage our resources well, not maintaining things until they're broken beyond repair, not insisting we recycle or conserve or act responsibly as campus residents.

It took me a good long time to calm down and get into "Sabbath mode", where I could actually focus on God instead of the stuff I was p'd off about.

Yesterday afternoon I got home to see that the builders (who have been buidling houses entirely with STYROFOAM for 2 years now and are not yet finished! How environmentaly friendly is that?) had cut down a beautiful almond tree that was NOT in the way of the building, NOR was it likely to cause any problems to any future residents of the place. Didn't bother to wait until the almonds were ripe, just cut it down to a stump. I tried to rescue what remained on the branches, but they weren't developed enough to be of any worth. At least there's a new branch sprouting forth undefeated, or I'd have strangled someone...

And there I went again - being p'd off.

I have to constantly remind myself that it's Not My Problem. I can do my bit in my yard and house, watching water consumption, planting food and beauty, using energy-saving bulbs instead of the norm etc. But I am not responsible for management of the campus, the campus farm areas or anything outside my tiny domain.

It's a tough one, especially when you look around and see things that could make a huge difference. There could be a community garden for the "starving students" we keep hearing about, we could be redirecting rain run-off from roads and buildings into our dam instead of paying who-knows-what to pump water from across the mountains to feed crops that go to waste. If they'd fix one leaky tap that's been dripping for at least 9 years next to the church we'd probably save on a load of water expenses! The list just goes on and on... but I am a small voice, a bottom-feeder, and no-one pays attention to me at all.

So I just have to keep on with my mantra - Not My Problem - and try not to get too p'd off.