Small Things Count

Today’s Thursday Thought comes from a reformed Grinch.

We’ve begun our Christmas shopping, or at least our gift list. Think about gifting not just Uncle Ralph but strangers you’ll never meet. In other words, shop for fair trade items (NOT the same as “free trade”). Google “fair trade gifts” to find some usual and unusual items.  Buying fair trade means that you’re helping families support themselves by selling their goods at a fair price rather than being taken advantage of by middle men.  It means they receive fair pay and safe, decent working conditions.  It supports communities—housing, health, schools.   Meanwhile, you reap the benefit of quality products free from genetically engineered ingredients, the satisfaction of helping the environment, and the fun of your gift-recipient’s joy of receiving something handcrafted and unique.  In so many ways, then, a fair trade gift is a perfect gift.

Lent has begun. You believe in the modern idea of spending the 40 days doing positive things rather than the traditional practice of sacrificing, or “giving up,” something you enjoy. Yet, the old ways call to you.  Let yourself have it both ways.  Join the movement started in 2007 by a Bishop in Liverpool: give up carbon for Lent.  Yes, carbon–that substance that is adversely affecting our planet and endangering our lives but that we can’t seem to live without producing.  You’ve heard about some carbon-reducing actions, like maintaining your car, turning off lights and appliances when not in use, and running full loads in your dishwasher.  There are so many more small things you can do.  Not everything every day.  But how about one carbon-reducer each day for 40 days? Get 25+ ideas how to do this—go to https://cotap.org/reduce-carbon-footprint. It’s an amazingly simple way to spend a meaningful Lent and respond to God’s call to care for His creations, the Earth and its inhabitants.

In my files, I ran across an article from half a dozen years ago that appeals to my sense of justice.  A group at a Montana college held a bake sale.  Their delicious-looking cookies were priced at 77 cents for women buyers and a dollar for men.  Outrageous?  The idea was to call attention to the wage gap in America, with women earning 77 cents (up to 82 cents in 2022…wow!) and men a dollar for the exact same job.

You have the munchies, guy, but don’t want to spend the whole dollar?  Listen to what women employees are being told when they question the wage gap:  That’s the way the cookie crumbles.

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Today’s Thoughtful Thursday quote is from George Washington Carver: “How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong—because someday you will have been all of these.”  

  [I wonder, if we walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, aren’t we just trying them on for size for a time we’ll need them ourselves?]