Small Things Count

Today is World Ocean Day. Our oceans give us beauty, fun, food, jobs, medicine, air, weather patterns, a place to think. In return, we give it pollution, beach erosion, and death to its inhabitants.  But with our normal daily activities we can reverse this destructive human trend:

1) Lessen pollution by conserving water and guarding against oil and antifreeze running into the ocean. (The ocean gets more oil from car leaks than from large tanker spills.)

2) Avoid litter–cigarette butts tossed onto the street end up in the ocean, killing sea-life.

3) Ask questions before buying seafood. Was it farmed, thus depending on wild fish as its food source?  Where was it farmed—inland, meaning that waste didn’t flow into the ocean?  If wild, was it caught in such a way that didn’t also catch turtles, dolphins, and other life that was simply discarded?   (For help, print a pocket guide from https://www.seafoodwatch.org/recommendations/download-consumer-guides

It’s not too late—yet—to start taking better care of our wonderful, watery friend.

Yesterday while I was coming back from my dog-walk I saw that, while I was gone, construction workers had torn up the sidewalk at the corner of my court. Since I couldn’t get my mobility scooter around it, I had to backtrack and go around garden-debris piles along a busy Santa Teresa Blvd. I asked the workers to keep an eye out for traffic for me. They went a step further. One drove a piece of equipment with warning lights out onto the blvd., made a U-turn, and drove slowly to block traffic behind my dog and me until we were safely on my court. They didn’t have to do that, but they did, because that’s the sort of small things good people do. Thanks, guys!

Exactly what my book, The Women in Me: How They Helped Me Survive and Thrive, is about. How could I resist using this for today’s Thursday Thought?. https://smthingscount.com/women-in-me/

I respect Gay/Disability/Italian Pride, etc. but feel it isn’t broad enough. 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 choose, 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.”

Today I offer an Irish proverb for Thursday Thought. It struck me because it reminded me that each of us is affected by those who cross our path. It’s worth thinking about.

“People live in each other’s shelter.”

This expression, meaning to be antisocial, dismissive, or unwelcoming to someone, began in the first part of the 1800s. If someone you didn’t like showed up for dinner, the polite way to tell them to leave was to serve them a cold slice of shoulder meat from mutton, beef, or pork instead of a warm portion. I bet we all know someone who wouldn’t take the hint.

Today, pause to remember the men and women who died fighting America’s battles. Their goal was to stop tyrants and regimes that treat people like insignificant, disposable, unworthy non-humans. This was their contribution to upholding the dignity of man and working toward peace. A fitting memorial to them is to carry on their mission. Not fighting in a far-away land but living our daily lives as though those around us, those of different skin colors, religions, socio-economic status–everyone–were human beings. Such a peaceful, tolerant attitude must start with us individually, in our homes, schools, and workplaces and spread to our cities, states, nation, and, ultimately, the world. Maybe such a global attitude will prevent tyrants and hate-groups from getting a foothold. Yes, this is idealistic, but so were all those who died in uniform. Carrying on their idealism is an appropriate way to honor them. Even if we succeed in making a more peaceful, tolerant world just in our own lives, that is a tribute to the principle they fought for.  

You may be wasting batteries by throwing them away too soon. Once they no longer work in one device, try them in another one that draws less power, and burnish the contacts. You’ll be surprised at how much life those batteries still have.

[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).

We are all, like Alice, plagued by this scourge. Her solution won’t help with recorded pitches but might encourage enough telemarketers to seek other jobs until none of them is left.

Today’s Thursday Thought quote is a simple idea that can make a big difference.