Part Of The Infrastructure

There may be times you feel like no more than a cog in a machine. 

Here is a picture in which I did seem to be part of the infrastructure.  

I took this picture last week on the new Bill Coats bike-hike bridge over Brays Bayou in Houston’s Hermann Park.

This Bridge To Nowhere Is Simply In A State Of Becoming—Spaces Around Houston’s Bayous Being Improved All Across The City

I was walking along Buffalo Bayou in Houston a few days ago and I came across this bridge to nowhere that you see above.

(The more famous Bridge to Nowhere was in Alaska. It was said to be federal spending project that was quite wasteful. Though the project at the time was supported by Alaska Republicans such as Senator Ted Stevens and  Governor Sarah Palin.)

This bridge is part of improvements along Buffalo Bayou for the benefit of the people of Houston and whoever else might be in town.

Here are some of the specifics for the area where I saw the bridge-in-waiting. This is an area not far from Downtown.

Improvements and the construction of  new park space along the Houston’s Bayous is taking place all over Houston. This is something that is not just taking place proximate to Downtown.

There are things that do get better even in hard times. I’d ask Houstonians  to check out some of the links above and to make use of the new parks.

I’ve walked along a number of the new spaces and they are very well-done.

Government often does make a positive and hopeful difference in people’s lives.

The bridge above in a state of becoming—Just as we all are.

What Are Our Options When Troubled Water Swamps The Bridge?

I’m sorry to offer what may seem a pessimistic thought, but sometimes it is simply the case that troubled waters sometimes swamp the bridge.

It is so that there might be other ways around. Or maybe you have time to wait for the waters to recede.

You might decide it is okay for you to stay where you are.

Yet it may also be so that you simply have to cross and you are not able.

A core belief of liberal and progressive thought is that sometimes circumstance gets the better of a person.

At this point we can possibly offer a way across if we have the means to do so.

We might even be able to help build a better bridge across for the next time.

At least we might be able to do so if the funding for bridge construction has not been not cut off.

It could also be though that we have nothing to offer other than consolation and support.

I took the picture you see above a few hours ago in rainy Houston.

Here is Johnny Cash singing Bridge Over Troubled Water. 

Post Full Of Distractions—Giving The People What They Want

Here is a post full of distractions. In America we like distractions to take us away from the fact that we are a second-world nation in decline.

It is easier to be distracted than to take part in politics and in public affairs.

I want to give the people what they want.

The text in the post is for people who want a distraction from the distractions.

Above is a running donkey. Sometimes you run and run in life, and yet it feels that you have not made much progress.

It might also be said that the donkey symbolizes the Democratic Party.

We vote for Democrats year after year, and yet we do not appear to be moving ahead.

At the same time, our Republican Party has gone far-right crazy.

Like in Egypt and in Wisconsin, everyday people will have to do the hard work of freedom.

Below is the spinning Earth. We are all sisters and brothers on the spinning Earth.

Don’t be fooled by folks who tell you immigrants are trouble or Muslims are bad.

That kind of talk is just a distraction.

Below is a house being built.

You don’t see that much anymore.

Next is a pink heart and gay pride symbol indicating my support for gay marriage.

We should let people be with the people they want to be with in this brief life.

Gay marriage harms nobody.

Here we have a boat and a bridge. Regular readers of this blog will know I like water and boats.

We can stay the course even when there is an obstacle ahead.

Below is Franklin D. Roosevelt. F.D.R was a great President who helped bring us Social Security.

Your belief in so-called limited government will be of cold comfort when you are old and broke.

You are crazy if you think the private sector will help you get by when you are old.

Finally, we have a tree with one remaining falling leaf.

Life ends with death. But then there is renewal.

There Is No Such Thing As A Bridge To Nowhere

This morning I was listening to the 1980 Talking Heads album Remain In Light. The last, and least interesting, song on the album is called The Overload. It’s a long slow song that most times I skip over.

Today though I heard the song and made new note of it’s first line. That line is —“A terrible signal, too deep to even recognize.” 

This lyric reminded me of a scene in the novel On The Beach. On The Beach, written in 1957 by Nevil Shute, is about the few remaining human survivors, living in Australia, after a nuclear war. They are waiting for the radiation to reach them.

At one point in the novel, a signal of some kind is received from an American military base on the Pacific coast. I think it was from Washington state. The folks in Australia are hopeful that someone has survived and that there could be hope. A submarine is sent to investigate. It’s found that a coke can or something like that has fallen on the signal button and that is why the transmission is being sent.

It’s a creepy scene. The Australians explore the base in radiation suits and find nobody alive. Just an automated repeating signal that means nothing.

I thought about how this obscure 28 year old year old song that, despite mostly skipping over it, I’ve heard many times, could provide a link in my mind to a book I read maybe five years ago.  It reminded me that all things are connected. There is no such thing as a “bridge to nowhere.” Everywhere leads somewhere else.

See how the little bridge below even appears to lead in two different directions. Keep learning and keep your mind active and open and you’ll see the world for all it is and can be.