North American Unfair Trade Agreement

I am too young to remember when it became so popular to make a big deal about illegal Mexican immigrants.  From what I can tell, the numbers of illegal aliens have been dramatically increasing since the mid 1990s.  Is it a coincidence that NAFTA was founded in 1994, at the beginning of this dramatic increase?


What is NAFTA?  The North American Free Trade Agreement allows the trading of goods (but not workers) across national lines.  NAFTA is the installment of a free market between Canada, the United States, and Mexico.  This particular free market is an experiment that has never been tried before.  Is it working yet?


A Brief History:  During a United States labor shortage, thousands of agricultural workers from Mexico were welcomed to this country between 1917 and 1929 as guest workers.  The guest worker program was discontinued during The Great Depression for obvious reasons, and the U.S. Border Patrol was created to protect American interests.  There was another labor shortage during WWII, and the guest worker program was reopened.  The program lasted until 1964 when Congress discontinued it based on reports of ill treatment of workers.  The guest worker program was replaced by the H-2 Visa, a temporary and seasonal worker program that was revised after NAFTA to include miles of classic bureaucratic hoops.


What has changed in Mexico since NAFTA?  Another Brief History: For several decades, Mexico was building internal wealth and growing its middle class by emphasizing community service, by governing the regulation of prices, and by protecting nationally owned businesses.  Mexico had to change its constitution to join NAFTA, and as a result many agricultural workers in Mexico have been displaced.  To keep up with with the new free market, Mexican farmers suddenly had to compete with farmers in the United States.  The average farmer in Mexico is not able to afford to compete with Iowa, so many Mexican farmers are flocking to the cities to find work.  When there is no work to be found in Mexican cities, the displaced farmers must go elsewhere.  To the descendents of the Aztecs who grew corn as a part of their religion, Mexican farmers feel as though joining NAFTA equaled denying their religion.


How does NAFTA change American Life?  Business owners now have the freedom to buy and sell to their advantage, and many have already moved their businesses into Mexico where labor is cheaper.  As manufacturing jobs are relocating to Mexico, illegal immigration is showing decline in recent years, and the unemployment rate in the United States is growing steadily.  In the United States as well as in Mexico, the gap between the poor and the rich is widening.


What happens next?

As the sun goes down

This picture was taken yesterday from Gog Rock, above Manitou Springs.  The sun was setting behind us.

I just have to bring this up...

Have you ever heard of "parkour"?

The urban gymnastics movement?

Sometimes called free running, or wall jumping?

Well, wonder no more and watch in awe:

The Next Ten Years

I was having a conversation with my sister about how time seems to slip away faster now that we are grownups.

In the child and teen stages of life, the days never go fast enough.  Christmas is too far away.  We're not old enough to drive yet.  Life is constricted in a way that makes minutes feel like days, and months feel like decades.

At the end of this day, I will find myself winding down next to the fire after the busy blur of school, homework, chores.
I will ponder on what I've accomplished, over what still needs to be done.  What will I do tomorrow?  And the next day?  And whatabout next year?  In my life, will I get to do everything I want to do?  Realistically, there can't be time for everything in one lifetime.

Wisepeople say that setting both long and short term goals is a great way to get the most meaningful things done.  As for long term, I think a decade's a fair amount of time to look forward to.  In ten years, it's very likely that you can become an expert at something special.  As long as you put the effort into it, and care about it enough to practice every day.

Have you given it some thought?  What do you hope to accomplish in the next ten years?  Now that we're grownups, ten years will fly faster than ever before.  In my next decade, I hope to develop my writing skills, take some trips to other countries, become fluent in Spanish, get healthier, and get a better camera.  I think these are worthy goals for the next ten years.

I am he as you are he as you are me...

I have a lot of questions about associations.  When is it okay to befriend a person, and when is it taboo?

What does it mean:  "you are who you hang out with" and is there truth to that?  Does this saying imply that I need to be careful hanging around too many different kinds of people for fear that I suffer an identity crisis of some kind?

And on the same line, do I need to be careful not to overhear conversations that could endanger my worldview?  Is it dangerous to consider the perspectives of others, even the have-nots?

Do you know anyone of substance, anyone who is considered respectable, who regularly hangs out with the homeless or the drug addicts of the neighborhood?  I'm not talking about those who serve Thanksgiving dinner in the soup kitchen once a year, but I really want to know if the destitute people of the world are worth getting to know.  Certainly, if those who are satisfied with their lives are uncomfortable talking to people who are socially underneath them, and if I aspire to a comfortable future myself, should I also be afraid to get too close to the destitute ones?

Does a needy family have anything of value to say?  Can we learn anything by getting to know them?

Photograph from NY Public Library

A Cozy Corner

I just finished reading a couple of very insightful articles on living simply and enjoying the moment.

The first article I would like to bring up is by Scott H Young.  Like Scott, I wish I could be an expert in everything.  I have a lot of different interests and aspirations.  It can get overwhelming very quickly to have my priorities all over the place.  One thing I have to remind myself daily is:  I don't have infinite amounts of energy.  To remedy this habit of exhaustive-enthusiasm, Scott suggests directing all of your personal energy into a few worthy pursuits instead of trying to do everything at once.  He's made a list of "unimportant things" to help him stay on the right track.

I decided to try a list of my own, and it was not easy.  At first my list started out as all priority: spouse, school, money, cooking, home, writing, language, etc.  It was one really huge, industrious list.  One by one, I began pulling things out of the priority list and putting them into the list of "unimportant things", or more appropriately "things I will have time for later".  This exercise forced me to consider what is primarily valuable for my life today.  As much as I would like to have everything now, it's just simply unrealistic.

The second article can be found at Study Hacks by Cal Newport.  The title is:  "Are you living well or preparing to live well?"  What a great question.  I find myself making a lot of choices based on the distant future payback aspect.  Going to school, getting married, or buying a house are such choices.  But what about the choices we make that effect our day to day lives?  How many other long term goals are we spending energy on in addition to the kind just mentioned?  Are we doing things that bring us joy every day?  Do our goals include eating and sleeping well?  Exercising?  Cultivating relationships?  Having a safe and cozy place to live?

There are a lot of things I want to do with my life.  I want to travel, meet people, and write about what I see.  I'm not in a position to do those things yet, but I continue to prepare myself for that day in the future.  I'm still trying to sort out my long term and short term goals, while remembering to make daily choices that have positive results tomorrow.

Yesterday, I splurged a bit on some inexpensive items that will make my home seem warmer this winter.  I brought home a bright red vinyl tablecloth with a pretty herringbone pattern, and a pumpkin spice candle to make the house smell festive.  In two days, my family is coming here for dinner, and I hope these simple things will ease my mind just a little about the bareness of our [new] home.

Photograph from NY Public Library

Just a nice picture.

Autumn is such a pretty time of year.  I love the colors.


This picture was taken from land owned by the University of Colorado, here in Colorado Springs.


Pike's Peak is the snow-capped mountain in the background.  The foreground contains the kind of vegetation found on the grassy plains, like sage and scrub oak.