Archive for July 10, 2013

250,000 Hungry People on Our Doorstep

Hunger and food insecurity (not sure where the next meal will come from) is not a problem found “somewhere else.”  It’s right here, on our doorstep, among people we come in contact with every day.  Some 250,000 people in Silicon Valley use the Food Bank each month.  The total of hungry people around us is even higher, because many others depend on food pantries that operate out of churches or other groups that collect their own food for distribution, not dipping into the never-enough supply at the Food Bank.

That’s a large number of men, women, and children suffering in an economy struggling to stabilize itself.  I can’t change the situation or hurry along economic recovery, but I can toss a few extra items into my grocery cart and drop them off someplace that will do some good, like the Santa Teresa Parish food pantry down the street from me on Cahalan Ave.  I bet there’s a close-by place where you could do the same.

 

 

Bumper-Sticker Wisdom

Whether you’re a dog-aficionado or not, this bumper sticker makes sense.  Seems like it would lead to a calmer, friendlier world:

WAG MORE; BARK LESS.

Dog 1

Earth-Friendly Tip: Vinegar isn’t Just for Salads

Lay in Costco-sized vats of white vinegar.  To avoid substances that are toxic to your family and planet, use white vinegar instead.  www.vinegartips.com gives 1001 uses for white vinegar (cleaning home and car; deodorizing; killing germs; eliminating laundry stains and odors; controlling weeds, ants, slugs, fleas on pets; soothing sunburn and insect bites; cooking; etc.).

Leaf 6 

[For more easy, money-saving, Eco-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to www.Smashwords.com/books/ view/7000, choose a format, and download to your computer or e-book device. Or download a free copy from your favorite e-tailer.]

 

 

Am I Un-American?

Some people have accused me of being un-American, and only partly in jest.  I don’t mean to be; I really do love my country.  But I think that celebrating its birthday with fireworks demeans it.  The fire display depicts “bombs bursting in air” and other warfare, yet I like to think of America as a peaceful nation.  The explosives create air pollution, and the casings, gunpowder, and other chemicals are not good for our American soil and water.  Also, the cost is obscene.  For example, North Carolina’s Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune cancelled theirs, in this era of tight budgets and sequestration, because it would cost around  $25,000 PLUS another $75,000 for other expenses, like security, food, and staff overtime to host a mere 20,000 people.

OK, so call me the Grinch Who Would Steal Independence Day.  I just feel that America is better than that.

Thoughtful Thursday: Words Our Country Must Remember

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

[The writers of our Declaration of Independence were straightforward and clear: talking about all people, throughout the world, despite circumstances of birth or socioeconomic standing.]

Happy Independence Day!

Flag Wave

 

Animal Smarts: A Cool Approach to a Hot Topic

My brain is too hot to write something serious or witty or whatever.  Instead, here’s good advice from some of my animal friends:

 

 

We All Earn Our Pride

It’s the season of Gay Pride and Disability Pride and Italian Pride, etc.  I trouble with all of that.  I don’t think that an accident of birth or some other factor I had no control over is pride that I’ve earned.  Why should I be proud that I’m a woman, heterosexual, disabled, white, a victim of a crime in my childhood, or anything else I didn’t chose, earn, or accomplish? Yes, I admit to some pride when it comes to my learning to adapt to negative aspects of the above–and to some shame when I didn’t adapt in an honorable way.  I feel pride, though, for things that I worked for and accomplished, or ways I made a positive difference in this world: as a teacher, writer, mother, wife, friend, advocate, volunteer, and good example.

Everyone has something in life to overcome, be it homelessness, un/under employment, poverty, bad parenting, illness, lack of education, a disability (physical, intellectual, emotional, age-related), extreme shyness….  If I’m caught in poverty, I don’t feel Poverty Pride; if I’m able to help myself out of poverty, I’m entitled to feel pride of success.  Apply this to all situations.

In other words, it isn’t what we’re born into or what happens to us that earns us pride.  It’s how we handle life itself–and interact with those sharing this Earth–that lets us carry the ultimate sign: “Human Pride.”

 

 

Miracle: Just a Reach Away

Miracles do happen.  Sometimes they’re big, sometimes they’re little.  I just witnessed one that had a huge impact on the life of a man I know.

He went through a bitter divorce 40+ years ago, and the unfortunate happened: his ex-wife preferred that he have no contact with his two children. Some years back, the adult son sent him a note, inviting his dad to contact him and get to know him, his wife, and his child.  Miracle #1.  But the son didn’t tell his sister, who, along with their mom, had no warm and fuzzy thoughts about the dad.  A few days ago, for some reason, that changed.  Brother told sister, and together they called their father.  It had been 27 years since father and daughter talked, and a new relationship is building.  All it took was one person’s reaching out to another, willing to accept what they find.

Soap-opera-ish?  Maybe.  Then again, you didn’t see the tears in the father’s eyes.  And you probably don’t believe in everyday miracles….Too bad.