Chatting with a longtime Malibuite mom at a local market, she reminded me that being involved in Malibu politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it is important.
The absurdity of our time in Malibu’s history is that we have bigger dreams but shorter tempers, a wider Pacific Coast Highway, but narrower viewpoints. We have bigger dwelling and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. Malibuites drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too annoyed when someone differs with them, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have amplified our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new Malibu neighbor who we didn’t want to build there in the first place. We talk of cleaning up the MOSS (emphasis added) in Trancas Creek, but pollute our souls. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We read more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We invented the telephone, but can’t get open space conservative Mona Loo to stop ringing it at dinnertime. No, Mona, I won’t vote to give the City Council a $15,000,000 Blank Check–so stop calling.
The politics of articulating your opinion against Malibu Tax Increase Measure K should resemble the second oldest Malibu profession. I have, however, come to realize that it bears a very close similarity to the first.
And that is all I have to say.
Tom Fakehany