Instant coffee, tea and good ole Bill C

Ok, so the elections happened, the Republicans rode a red wave of anger and the world is still spinning on its axis. Not all things I wanted to happen (except the axis thing). I get so frustrated with all the "hate speech" and cloaked racism/homophobia/elitism in politics these days. But I won't check out yet. Why? Because I am old enough to remember Bill Clinton. Yes, still one of my favorites good ole Bill had the same problem in the mid-term elections. But his saving grace was one total moron. His name was Gnute Gingrich. President Obama has just witnessed the anointing of a second total moron for our country. His name is John Boehner. Love those names (gnute and boner) but I digress.

We as Americans like things in instant form. We want to go to the doctor with a cough emerge with a prescription for an antibiotic and feel better in 24 hours. Never mind that the quick fixes are creating antibiotic resistant strains that can probably kill us. We want to download our favorite tunes and listen to them immediately...no searching through the aisles of a music store. Music store, what's that? Again, I'm old! We want our coffee instant...but not the Folgers crystal kind...the Starbucks kind. The kind you can personalize and still have nearly instantly. And evidently we want our politics the same way. Huge deficits caused by war spending? Failing banks and auto companies? We want that fixed in 24 hours too. And just as instantly as our solutions are our memories broken. Does anyone remember why we are here? 2 wars we can't pay for, no regulation of the rich guys who really would rather get richer than "trickle down" anything? Good ole' Bill had a balanced budget that W inherited. Poor Obama inherited a complete disaster. But we want it fixed in 24 hours.

So, give the tea folks a shot I say. See what they can do. Maybe we can figure it out together. I doubt it, but maybe people will begin to see that hatred and rhetoric and "cut taxes" slogans won't really do anything. Let the party of "no" have it's say. I don't think they have much to say. We'll see...

I have a co-worker who thinks Obama is basically the Anti-Christ. Her opinion is that all these deficits are ruining our country. Of course she has thousands of dollars on credit card debt herself and runs in the red every month...but damn it, our government shouldn't do that! I asked, so what would you have done? Let the banks fail, lose your house to a mortgage debacle, let the automakers fail? What do we, as American, do when we hit hard times. We borrow, of course...from our credit cards, payday loan folks, parents, relatives, etc. Our government "charges" debts and borrows from the in-laws (China)...so I really don't think it's gonna matter who is in charge...until we all TAKE charge! And I don't mean the visa/mastercard kinda charging. Until we get REAL and understand that WE are the problem, there will be no change.

Everyone (those red folks) is clamoring for government responsibility. How about personal responsibility?!? The kind that says, stop spending if you don't have it...get a second job if you need to, dads take care of your kids, stop charging for things you don't need, get out of wars that are just plain WRONG, stop warring with your neighbor...you know PERSONAL responsibility. Like Michael says...it starts with the "man in the mirror"...

Follow up to the Chicken Nugget

Ok, so we did it! We are officially a "whole food" family. Two and a half months later and we are still committed. 10 weeks ago I bought 10 lbs of ground beef and one roast from a farmer who feeds his own cattle only grass. We still have 2 pounds left! We eat 95% vegetarian and as natural as we can get it. NO fast food!!!! And since most restaurants don't do whole food, neither do we. I give my daughter most of the credit. When I have waivered she has encouraged me to stick with it. Here are the tough parts:

School lunches-- got to get creative here. Tough to pack and veggies and dip get boring.
My lunches -- I'm on the road in small town Oklahoma 2-3 days per week. The local mexican food joint is NOT whole food. So I've gotten creative, started packing my own snacks and eat a lot of salads. That's about as whole as I can get at some of these places.
Budget -- it is MORE expensive. But kinda brings a new challenge to the whole affair!

Other than that, it's not that hard. We've had fun coming up with new recipes and trying new foods. Made my first butternut squash last week for heaven sakes. And my kids LOVE new things like couscous, butternut squash, baked sweet potatoes....my hard sell teen even packs his own lunch and now eats CARRoTS!! Miracles never cease.

It is hard not to get preachy about this. Cause people ask... But i try to keep it simple. .. answers range from "trying to lose weight" to "trying to stop the corporate takeover of our world"...and some variations in between.

Anyway, it's been fun! Now that summer is over and the farm market is closed...this will get more challenging. Keep your fingers crossed that we can keep this up!

All for a Chicken Nugget

So, we just watched Food, Inc. I have been putting this off for awhile. Some friends of mine watched it and turned vegan on me. I can't help it that I love steak. and chicken. and ham. and BACON. so I've put it off. But you know, I need to deal with this.

The most compelling points of the movie were:
1. The way they treat the workers at these meat plants. Where is Upton Sinclair when you need him?
2. The story on beef made the point that by changing the natural diet of cows, they get sicker and the ecoli grows faster. The narrator makes the point that by letting those same cows graze on grass for just 5 weeks the problem would self correct. But the industry feeds them corn because they gain weight faster (note to self, avoid corn) and can be slaughtered sooner. So instead of feeding them the healthy, self-correcting grass they....invent an ammonia they can inject in the beef to kill MOST of the ecoli....get that MOST. Really?

So my daughter and I are now on a hunt to find organic food. Of course we can't afford it, and like I said...I likes my beef, but we're going to try. We've found a local dairy grower who feeds cattle 75% grass. Not bad. And they stay local with a company self-imposed policy to transport their food NO MORE than 300 miles round trip. Nice. I also found a local coop of Oklahoma farmers where we can order produce. So, we'll see how this goes.

A few months ago my son found out what happens to our water when we drink it in plastic. We've made a permanent change to use a filter on our water faucet and NOT buy in plastic. so, I think I can do this.

And you know this entire INCing of our food is b/c we insist on FAST, CHEAP food. The movie traces it back to McDonald's and the way the brothers mcdonald learned how to "assembly line" our food. BC we eat so much of this kind of fast food there is a need to provide food for the fast food industry....which is driving the market. I always wondered how the whole world only eats white chicken meat but there doesn't seem to be a surplus of dark meat anywhere!

Well, folks watch this movie for yourself. I know that I'll never go 100% veggie, or even stop shopping at Wal Mart. But, I do want to take some steps to change the INCing of my food...and all that goes with it. So, we'll see. I'll let you know how it works out.

Poverty or Deprivation

My new definition for poverty is "deprivation". it can come in financial, emotional, physical ways or in just the inability or absence of those resources. i worked with a number of kids in the NE okc area which were terribly deprived. technically they had enough "money" to make it, but were terribly deprived or impoverished in other ways. no one was going hungry for food....but there is plenty of hunger for love, affection, relationship, God, etc. i find this a lot with my work now in the group homes. these kids have been "deprived" of all of the above + they are deprived of cognitive ability. God has begun revealing to me that my ministry isn't currently in a church setting, but in a setting where i can "prive" (opposite of deprive) or "privilege" some of these kids with what they are missing....affection, attention, relationship, etc. or teach their staff to do same. Poverty gets all the press, but i think deprivation is where it's at... often deprivation comes with oppression, but that's another set of thoughts!

Now we know that we never knew

This is one of my new favorite quotes. I heard someone read it at Michael Jackson's funeral. It was written by one of my favorite people, Maya Angelou. I've followed Ms. Angelou for a while. Not like Oprah, up close and personal, but from a distance. Not just a fan of her writing but a fan of her woman-hood, her ability to be graceful and smoother than pudding - no matter the circumstance. She amazes me. And the older she gets, the more graceful she grows. Then she says something like this: "now we know that we never knew".

We really never know, do we? I mean we try and guess, try to grasp different situations. We try to judge others, examine their motives, assign will to their actions. But we really never know. Did I help that lady at church because I wanted to help that lady at church? Or did I do it because I got paid too? Or did I help her because by helping her I somehow felt better about myself? And does it really matter? She got the help, right?

These are the sorts of impossible things that occupy my mind lately. What do I really know? And how am I sure I know it?

I was 100% certain I was in love with my college sweetheart. And although I was a jealous freak when we dated; that all fell away on our wedding day. I knew that "forever" meant forever and that no matter what, we would make it. Turns out that I never knew. I never even considered the women he was friends with were somehow a threat to my marriage. No girl on girl crime here. He wouldn't do that. He had a different definition of forever evidently, one that included being with various women friends over the course of our marriage. And in my ignorance, or my choice to ignore, I stayed with it/him for a long time. Because I just KNEW it couldn't be. Well turns out that I now know that I never knew.

Same thing for the churches I worked for. In both cases they advertised to be "different"; somehow above all the politics and religion of "those other churches" and religions. So I put 100% into that as well. I served God with all I had, or did I? Did I do it because it was my job? Well, who knows but the short version of the very long story is that in both cases the leaders were beyond corrupt (just like all those other churches) and again, I now know that I never knew.

Well, maybe the point is to accept Ms. Angelou's assessment. We never really know...so embrace it. Just do what you do for the reason you do it...and try to make the world a better place. We'll never know anyway, right?

Stronger or Broken?

Well, this is my first attempt at blogging. I've always sucked at journaling, so we will see how this goes. I was inspired today by the movie Julie & Julia and thought I'd give this a try. So many random thoughts go through my head, so this gives me a place to deposit some of them. I have been told I'm eccentric so there will be a lot of random "musing" to follow. So for today let's start with my favorite quote:

"Life breaks everyone; but some grow back stronger in the broken places." Ernest Hemingway

As a counselor I believe, I have to believe, that this is true. I've never been one to fall for stereotypes or quick answers. But lately I've started to doubt that anyone really comes out of life actually living. I mean does it really do any good -- the job I do? I work with severely abused children and adolescents and I wonder if they will ever "make it" whatever that means. Isn't it true that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree? What if people just continue the cycle they were born into? What if instead of bitter or better, most people just become bitter. But I have to believe...

Getting a little jaded lately, but then I ran into some friends at dinner that typify this quote. Both were abandoned and abused by their families of origin. Yet they found each other, have three beautiful children and continue to experience the grace and blessings of God. They truly have grown stronger in the broke places. More on this thought later.

And then I remember the friends who I've been blessed to see become "better" and stronger in the broken places. I remembered the "chips" I've given in various AA or NA meetings to those friends...testimonies I've heard at CR meetings...examples I've seen through friends. So for now, I will continue to choose to believe.