Clean up time
“I think that in order to really clean something you have to first make a big mess” said my daughter in law when we were talking about me cleaning my closet… a never ending project. When she is sorting kids toys, and rotating them, it is sort of like how I was sorting my clothes by season, and rotating them by size.
The cleaning involved taking all the clothes out of the closet and out of bins and out of drawers, and they were spread out all over my floor and my bed. HUGE mess.
Earlier in the day, I had been talking to my sister who was also cleaning and purging her closet along with her husband. She was keeping a variety of things that she ordinarily might have discarded, because she had taken a part time job being an assistant care giver to the wife of a retired general surgeon. She said that the lady needed regular exercise, which my sister helped with, as well as games and activities to help retain skills and dexterity.
I had fun hearing about how she creatively clipped flowers from her yard and took them over so that her client could arrange them in a vase, which was much enjoyed. She also brought some clay, which could be shaped, and dried in the oven and the lady and her husband were delighted to be able to make little pots for their hearing aids.
We both agreed that while we wanted to reduce the things we kept, we did not want to get rid of things that we might have to purchase again, which makes cleaning out things a bit more difficult. But that did not stop us from cleaning and reevaluating everything. A few days into the cleaning, we both agreed that in order to really clean, the one doing the cleaning usually makes a big mess.
I think a deep cleaning is in order to help resolve the messy state of affairs in the government. That which has too many pieces, occupies too much of the national space and requires too much funding needs a good clearing out. So the process of cleaning up the government might seem to looks like there is a humongous mess in front of us.
But I for one, can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think that, like me, most people recognize when something has become a giant cluster, and that most people can see beyond the mess, to the solution. Insanity, BTW, is doing the same thing, but expecting different results…(ie. keeping a messy closet and acquiring more and more stuff)
A person cannot clean a closet by keeping all the clothes or by putting all the clothes back in without first evaluating them, cleaning them, and removing those that do not fit or are not holding up. Government programs, like many of the old clothes, are outdated, dysfunctional, and costly to keep. They are taking up valuable real estate, and society would be better served to streamline and discard many of these in order to give people a sense of freedom and keep the government responsible and responsive and minimalistic. Dependency on government means dependency on other peoples money instead of earning it ourselves.
My sister is taking the money she is earning, and using it to pay off the debt on her vehicle. That is called being fiscally responsible. A government that is billions and trillions of dollars in debt is um yeah, insane.
The government needs to be fiscally responsible too, and stop spending other peoples money like it grows on trees. Currently there are so many abused and misused programs, it is like having a houseful of ripped, filthy, unwearable clothes.
The cleaning up and the organizing, of government may initially look like a gigantic mess, but it is necessary to cut back, return some things to the original owners, and pass things down to those who can use them.
The government can also do this by relegating much of what they do, to private enterprise, which is usually much more efficient, economical and advantageous to those who do not want to have big government running everything like a giant monopoly.
This country is a beautiful place and our laws and our constitution are well made, and likewise, the closet in my house is orderly, well made, and capable of performing a good function if I keep things streamlined, organized and minimal. It is easy to make excuses as to why someone would not want to cut back, or clear out but those excuses do not work any more and it is time for the hoarders to pony up and clean up.
I think that the bible addresses the problem of what do do with too many clothes, or too much government in the following passage.
And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. 9And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. 10And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? 11And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. 12And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Taking money from the multitudes without justification, is stealing and those who participate are making what is good, into a den of thieves. Time for the clean up, and time to be ready and strong and get the job done. The big mess is a sure sign that a big reform is happening. =)