Our World Runs On...

    I trust you woke up this morning safe and sound.  As I said, I was vigilant last night and kept watch. However, if you lived in other parts of the world where you read my posting last night and it was at say noon or such you didn't awake safely and soundly but were probably having lunch over my blog.  I hope that it didn't give you indigestion.  Some of you read my blog the day after I posted it because you live on the other side of the International Dateline so I will say that you were safe last night and nothing monumental happened to disturb the peace, at least in my neck of the woods.
     As I was awake last night I got to thinking about what makes this world run. I though about many things such as politics, art, human achievement and really inconsequential writers who think and write too much. All of these came into the thought process but none seemed to be the definitive answer, so I kept at it. Aren't you glad about that?
     After hours of worrying, careful thought and a long night without sleep I looked around the room and it finally hit me, slightly cut me to be accurate.  This world runs on paper. As I looked around my office as I was writing and being generally sleepless in Merced, I couldn't be struck harder than the realization that all that paper that was supposed to be eliminated in the electronic age is still very much with us. I moved one of those pieces of paper and it bit me--one of those wonderful little paper cuts that hurt like the dickens. I thought the computer was supposed to eliminate this sort of thing. It didn't and the paper cut stings.
     My office is filled with all kinds of paper with stuff written on it. There are register receipts, notepads, flyers announcing events, business cards, a few unused cash payout vouchers from slot machines--by the way, what do you do with a slot machine voucher worth four cents--and of course bills and other stuff. All of this is piling up and my paper shredder can't handle the volume.
     The US Post Office is not going to go out of business any time soon.  The volume of mail, yes it is junk mail and bills, far exceeds the amount of email I get. There should be a law.  Oh yes, there was a law and it was called "The Paperwork Reduction Act". President Reagan signed it into law. That brings up another good point. Since it is a law in the US, would they enforce that law in France? The answer is probably not. Stop sending me all this paper France. By the way, do they make paper in France?

Just look at all that paper coming our way.

PS: I'm going into the kitchen now to make my coffee.