Small Things Count

Today’s Thursday Thought quote/picture is thanks to Rumi. The beautiful flower is an extra to brighten your day.

Time for some levity. Travel with me back into the 1800s, when a variety of people were inventing different versions of the telephone. Focus on one of those people, Alexander Graham Bell, who is most often credited with the invention. Picture his success–then his premonition.

Upset with laws that are being passed or how your elected officials are representing you?  Many people are angry at new laws that will hurt specific economic, ethnic, or age groups, or that further endanger people who are already at-risk.  Oddly enough, many who complain don’t exercise a basic American right that empowers the average person.  They forget that one tiny individual voice added to all the other tiny voices equals a shout heard in the halls of all the legislatures.  Not only do some people not vote, they don’t even register to vote. 

You can celebrate our most powerful American right by registering to vote.  It’s easy.  Simply pick up a postage-paid Voter Registration form at the post office or go to https://www.usa.gov/register-to-vote to register online. You don’t have to choose a political party if you don’t want to. Just fill in the form and submit it.

Do it today or tomorrow, because tomorrow, Sept. 28, 2021, is National Voter Registration Day.

Than, next (and every) election, be sure to vote. Your vote strengthens our democracy and, therefore, our country.

But it’s SOOOOOO valuable!

At least every 9 seconds in the U.S. a woman is assaulted or beaten.  Abused men seldom report it, due to our culture’s image of a “real man.”   Overall, most domestic violence incidents are never reported, allowing abuse to continue in our society.  To stop it, we must bring it to light. We must report incidents if we are a victim or a friend of a victim. It isn’t interfering in something that’s none of our business. Assault/abuse is a national black eye that we need to treat. Yes, there’s the off chance that you’re misinterpreting what’s happening, that it isn’t really abuse. But, come on, it’s usually pretty obvious. So that’s no excuse.

Have you checked out www.freerice.com yet? You should go there often. It’s a site that helps build your vocabulary skills while helping fight world hunger.  It gives you a word and possible definitions for you to choose from. Each correct answer adds 10 grains of rice to the total donated by site sponsors to the U.N. World Food Program.  It’s a fun, no-obligation way to feed hungry people! Ten grains isn’t much–until you and others keep going back to the site even for a few minutes.

Every once in a great while, I read a book I think is worth recommending. I just finished The Four Winds, by Kristin Hannah. It’s the best depiction of the Dust Bowl in the Southern Plains of the U.S. and lives of people forced from that region to migrate to California. They weren’t welcomed in their new home and struggled with poverty, homelessness, and lack of jobs in this land that they’d heard would offer them jobs and a secure new life. The story follows a woman from her childhood through adulthood, relationships, and growth as a person. The characters are engaging. The story moves along. And descriptions add to the story and characterization, not just to word-count to sell books at a higher price (a pet peeve of mine). Give it a try.

My son and his fiancé are so frustrated. It’s only a few days before they have to submit names to get a seating chart done for their wedding. And ninety (yes, 90) people have not responded one way or the other to the RSVP on the invitation.

They can pare down that number a little. They know, for example, that a few older people live too far away to be able to make the trip, and some out-of-state friends can’t afford the trip. That still leaves a lot of “unknowns.”

This is a common problem. Some people assume that a non-response means “yes, I’m coming,” while other people think not responding means “no.” Unfortunately, neither my son nor my almost-daughter is a mind-reader.

The “R” in RSVP means “RESPOND.” Either way, let people know your intentions.

This is yet another sign of the loss of consideration and civility I see around me. A small thing, perhaps–but not to the people planning a major event in their lives.

THEY HAVE IT MADE!  They can start work as young as 8 years old and work the farms for 9-10 hours as day under our glorious sun. Sure, they sweat a little in the 100 degree heat, but it’s good for them. They should be grateful that, at their age, they can earn $1000 a year to put into the family funds, which (with 4 worker in the family) can add up to $12,500-$14,500 a year–plenty, since they live so simply. Which is good for everyone, because if they got paid more our food prices would go up.

Half of the migrant kids don’t have to attend boring school regularly or graduate high school.  They don’t need to because they’ll spend their lives moving around anyway.  Besides, they know they have job security because they can spend the rest of their lives as migrant day laborers.

Other kids don’t have it so good.  The still-in-effect 1930s child labor laws, which don’t apply to farm-workers,  prohibit kids from getting those good agricultural jobs until they’re older, and they won’t let the kids work as many hours. Other kids, then, have to find jobs at the local burger joint or whatever instead of having a healthy outdoor job of picking fruits and vegetables.

There’s something wrong with this system, don’t you think?

Many single-serve coffee pots have a reservoir that catches over-spills.  Keep a container by your coffee pot to dump this water into (you’ll be surprised how quickly the container fills) and use it on your house or yard plants.

[For more easy, money-saving, Eco-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7000, choose a format, and download to your computer or e-book device. For a description of the book go to My Free Books).