HERE'S YOUR HAT, WHAT'S YOUR HURRY?

Sunday the Cruses were rushing to get out the door for church. We had 17 neighbors coming over for a potluck lunch, and Mike and I were both furiously slinging dishes and food. I jerked the baked apples out of the oven, turned the temp down for the meat, put in a packed Magnalite roaster full of pork loin covered in veggies...and got busy congratulating myself. Although we were 20 minutes late for church, "Martha" was getting it all done. We roared out of the driveway and return home later to discover I hadn't pushed the "start" button on the oven. Mike went to the Colonel's.

The moral of this story is "slow your roll". Of course, it turned out to be fine because after we all had chicken and played charades, the pork loin was tender and we all made to-go plates. But being in a hurry doesn't always turn out so fine.

Voters came out of the 08 polling places telling exit-pollsters about the issues that concerned them. Can you guess what was top of the list? It wasn't healthcare, it was the economy. Was healthcare second? Nope...terrorism, followed by the Iraq War. Straggling down toward the lower part of the list was healthcare.

Yet our leadership in Washington tried to convince us that the people's interest in healthcare was primo. The White House may be singing the "jobs" song NOW, but they led their charge with another card. We were led to believe that it would be a crisis if we didn't pass healthcare RIGHT AWAY.

And I'm remembering something else monumental during this past year stamped rush. It was something that the leadership said would result in widespread catastrophe if it didn't pass "yesterday". Remember the $787 billion stimulus? Quick, sign it! And the TARP at $700 billion? Too big to fail!

Reasonable people might be in agreement that government had a role in resolving these problems. They just wouldn't agree with the sweeping precedent for government's role as Spigot-in-Chief . Other options were not considered. Not enough time.

But IF in the future...something comes at us in the tyranny of the urgent (say, perhaps "Stimulus the Sequel")...could we please REMEMBER THE PORK LOIN and consider all the options before lurching? The first stimulus is only half spent, and it's trying to swerve into a slush fund for unauthorized projects.

"Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run; hurry and scurry puts you further behind." Proverbs 21.5 TM