It's coming so fast

I leave for Ashram in less than a week. Four more days. I've been a lot busier this year and its sorta snuck up on me. Yes, I am excited, but there will be so much change. I've grown up with Ashram always being the same. I'm sure that things did change, but that I was too small to be aware of everything going on, but this year I am. Last year was a bridge, everything was just a little bit different, but this year will be the other side. Not everyone will be there, the leaders will be different, and even the beach day won't be on the same day.

Don't get me wrong, I am still really excited about going to Ashram and being with so many people who care and who would really rather you not pretend to be anything other than who you are... I am just not so excited about all of the change.

Excerpts

"Here is a nettlesome policy question: Is it fair for those of us who live comfortably to impose our preferences on individuals in the developing world? Economists argue that it is not, though we do it all the time. When I read a story in the Sunday New York Times about South American villagers cutting down virgin rain forest and destroying rare ecosystems, I nearly knock over my Starbucks latte in surprise and disgust. But I am not they. My children are not starving or at risk of dying of malaria. If they were, and if chopping down a valuable wildlife habitat enabled me to afford to feed my family and buy a mosquito net, then I would sharpen my ax and start chopping. I wouldn't care how many butterflies or spotted weasels I killed. This is not to suggest that the environment in the developing world does not matter. It does. In fact, there are many examples of environmental degradation that will make poor countries even poorer in the long run. And obviously if the developed world were more generous, then Brazilian villager might not have to decide between destroying the rain forest and buying mosquito nets. The point here is more basic: It is simply bad economics to impose our preferences on individuals whose lives are much, much different."

~Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science~

Of Josiah and Lightsabers

Josiah: "Volcanoes make blue diamonds and if you use a blue diamond you get a blue lightsaber"
Kaitlin: "So how do you get the red ones?"
Josiah (whispering): "you paint them"