We are not to throw away those things which can benefit our neighbor. Goods are called good because they can be used for good: they are instruments for good, in the hands of those who use them properly. -- Clement of Alexandria (150?-220?)

I have to pass two dumpsters as I leave my apartment.  Often it is overflowing with the everyday household debris... empty milk containers and cardboard boxes, broken plates, empty plastic packaging and left overs that, while no longer palatable to humans, make the cats and birds very happy. But inevitably there will also be a piece of furniture, a mattress, or an old tire. I've seen high chairs and electric fans, an entire six drawer dresser with mirror, and even a car bumper once.  The trash always goes beyond the container and oozes into the roadway like some horrible lab experiment that has gained a life of it's own and wants to escape it's captors.

In many ways, the trash we produce is getting away from us.  We are not only a nation of mass consumers, but mass disposers as well. Despite dwindling resources and finite landfills, we believe it's so much easier and cheaper to throw something out than to try and fix it or reuse it. It's ingrained in the American psyche that what you have isn't enough. The gods of consumerism command that we buy the latest thing. In order to get that new thing, you have to get rid of the thing you bought 6 months ago. As soon as you step out of the store your computer is obsolete. The resale value of that car plummets the moment you drive it off the lot.

We Americans consume things. It's what we do. We're good at it. Consumerism is part of our culture. It was elevated to an art form in the 20th century and now it threatens to drown us in debt and our own garbage.

At the beginning of the industrial age planned obsolescence wasn't a marketing strategy. Once upon a time, we actually took pride in craftsmanship and made things that were sturdy and well built. We designed and manufactured things that would last a very long time.  Something that could be of use not only to us but to the generations that would follow us.

The problem with making quality products that never break is that a company can only sell so many before everyone has one.  But somewhere along the way someone discovered that if you could make something slightly less durable so that it would wear out or breakdown at a certain time...well then you could sell it again, and again, and again.  Add to that the holy grail of planned obsolescence--rapid multi-generational electronic devices and you have a Jackpot! The strategy goes like this: "You wanna play that new game or run that new app?" Well, you'll have to have a faster computer or a better phone or the newest game machine. Some nerds become billionaires and our dumpsters overfloweth!

I'm not a mass consumer or a mass disposer, or at least I try not to be. I'm not on a par with the hoarders you see on TV, but I try to consider the value and reuse of an item before it's pitched in the trash.

Case in point:  We no longer needed the box springs for my son's twin size bed. Instead of tossing it on top of the trash pile, I re-purposed it.  After stripping off the fabric and cardboard, I had a frame for my new bookcase.  We made shelves from wood that was rescued from the construction scraps of a neighbor.  On this free bookcase I placed a chipped water pitcher, no longer able to do its original job, it now houses a plant grown from a clipping that would itself have been thrown away.  And finally, an antique fan that was rescued from the trash heap now sits on my new box spring shelves. Thrown away simply because it needed a $2 cord.

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

If you want to make treasure from trash, you might give these websites a try.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/132/from-trash-to-cash.html


http://www.suite101.com/content/creative-repurposing--turning-trash-into-treasure-a253753

http://earth911.com/news/2009/04/27/5-ways-to-repurpose-your-trash/

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1645679/repurpose_your_household_trash.html

“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” Bill Vaughn

In my youth, I stayed up to ring in the new year in every time zone.  I raised my glass of sparkling grape juice and blew my horn along with all the drunken fools on television.  When I was a little older, I continued the tradition with the younger children I watched, so their parents could join the revelry themselves.  Those were some of the best New Year's I think I had. 

The birth of a new year is steeped in tradition and superstition.  The Romans' held the month of January as sacred to Janus, for whom the month January was named. Janus was portrayed with two faces, one facing forward to the future and one looking back on the past.  He was a door keeper between the past and future.  Today we take this time to remember those events of the past year and ponder on them.  We rejoice in our accomplishments and mourn our losses.  It is a time of taking stock of our lives and preparing for the coming rebirth in Spring.

The tradition of Old Father Time with his sickle and hour glass passing on the torch to the youthful Baby New Year also has Ancient Rome to thank for it's association with our present day tradition.  The old and haggard Father Time is in fact Cronus, the father of Zeus.  Cronus is often depicted with a sickle since it is the weapon he used to dethrone his own father, Uranus (Father Sky and the base of the word universe).    Zeus, the youngest child of Cronus and Rhea, defeated his father after a long and bloody battle.  Since gods can not be destroyed, he banished him thus repeating the cycle of the youth defeating the aged.

And so it goes on today.  Birth... life...decline...death.  Youth overcomes and surpasses age.   The future leaps through the present on it's way into the past.  The cycle goes on.

In these first few days of the new year, I have two wishes for you.  May you look forward with joy and hope and backwards with understanding.  I also hope that when it comes time for our spirited youth to seize their day, we will witness a calmer transition than those of the old gods. That is to say, free from fighting, intrigue and banishment.

Happy New Year

There is all the difference in the world between having something to say and having to say something. ~ John Dewey

Communication is the imparting of information and ideas.  It does not require an exchange between two entities.  Conversation is the interchange of information and ideas but requires a give and take between two or more entities.  

In this modern day, there are numerous ways to communicate.  We talk on phones, we send instant messages, texts and tweets.  We telecommute and video chat and e-mail.  We update our status and post pictures of our latest escapades on social networking sites. 

Occasionally we even speak face to face and on the rarest of occasions we might send a letter.

The 21st century has brought about a world where human beings are no longer separated by space and time. We communicate instantaneously. Twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week, virtual villagers roam the globe electronically.  We connect over vast distances. We exchange ideas, share our lives and create communities that are void of human touch, yet rich in thought and imagination.
But are we better off?  While we have several ways to communicate, we are forgetting how to converse.  It's a general observation and a focused self-criticism since I find I am losing the art of conversation myself. 

I recently bumped into an old high school friend while out shopping over the holidays.  (I use the term friend because that is his status on my social networking site... not acquaintance or some guy I had a couple of classes with twenty years ago.)  For lack of a better word, I was struck with stage fright.   I didn't know what to say.  Thanks to the wonderful inventions of Facebook and Myspace, I already knew quite a lot about what he has been up to over the past twenty years.  Even so, I didn't think it prudent to ask about his divorce, how he was doing since being laid off, or even about the wild party last week.  I'd already seen the pictures.

In the course of advertising the details of our lives, I am concerned that we may be in the process of making conversation obsolete. I don't need to ask about your vacation because you have already tweeted about every landmark, giant ball of twine and roadside museum. Those little ear bud phones seem to require loud conversations in public spaces about private matters. Why send Christmas or birthday cards through the mail when you can just post it to your home page or zap it through your e-mail at the last minute? I've been at gatherings and watched several people bent over their phones texting madly while ignoring the person seated next to them. Or even worse, they are texting each other at the party. To someone that straddles the world between iPhones and the days when television only had about 6 channels, this is bizarre behavior. But to my 12 year old this is quite normal.

We are becoming a generation of screen watchers.  We have to dot our communiques with LOL in order to let the reader know that something is a joke.  More and more children are finding it hard to discern the emotions of others simply because they are not attuned to facial expressions and body language as being a part of conversations.  (and yes, the irony of blogging this topic is not lost on the author...LOL)

What is my suggestion to stop this?  Maybe we should put down the Blackberry or Iphone when we are within two feet of another living, breathing human being.  Perhaps instead of forwarding me a picture of your food, invite me to dinner.  Instead of alerting everyone that you are at the coffee shop with Joel, give Joel your full attention and enjoy your coffee. 

Don't get me wrong, I get a strange sense of fulfillment being able to tag little comments onto status updates or posted photos.  I've reconnected with some old friends that time and circumstances had moved out of my life.  But I actually find it sad to say that while there are hundreds of people with the friend status on my Facebook page, I only really talk face to face with about a dozen of them. 

I guess the upside to all of this hyper-connectedness is that the Internet has saved many a soul from the alienation and loneliness that can sometimes come with the inadequacies of life.

And that's the difference between having something to say and feeling like you just have to say something.

Like many women my age, I am 28 years old. Mary Schmich

They say you are only as old as you feel.

I will be forty years old in a few days.  That is the physical age of my body, but not my true age.  In my mind, I'm still a twenty something.  (I'm also about fifty pounds lighter and have no grey hair, but that's another post.) 

I've known people in their eighties who are still full of vim and vigor, setting out on new adventures on a daily basis.  Likewise, I've also come across young kids who are so stodgy and set in their ways that they seem to be decades older.  The happiest seem to be the ones living life like they are younger than their actual age.

Now, I'm not living in denial.  I know my body is getting older.  My knees are starting to creak when they bend.  I make involuntary noises getting up out of chairs.  I wake up in the morning and go to bed at night earlier and earlier.  But I'm not dead yet!

So, with this knowledge in my mind, I make a vow.  I vow to keep my eye on the future without forgetting the past.  I will seek out new adventures. I will not let disappointments from the past prevent me from doing things in the present.  I will sing and dance with the carefree abandon of childhood.  I will share my knowledge with others, but I wont expect them to listen.

Happy birthday to me and to all of my fellow Sagittariuses.  To everyone else.... have a very happy un-birthday to you!

“If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” Mother Teresa

How many times does this happen?

You are on your way out to dinner and you get stopped by a red light.  There you are in your air conditioned car listening to music on the Ipod or chatting on your cell phone.  Outside your window is some person, male or female, who looks like they haven't showered in a month holding a sign.  Inevitably it says something about being hungry.  "Me too," you think as you contemplate which steak you are going to get and if you should get everything on your baked potato.  The light seems to last forever as the pathetic excuse for a human being stares hopefully from driver to driver.  Eyes forward so you don't make contact, you punch the gas once the light shifts from red to green.  Now that that bit of unpleasantness is behind you, you can enjoy your evening.

I'm not going to lie to you and say that isn't me.  I've stared straight ahead many times, embarrassed to be at that light.  But I've also been happy to be caught by the light too. 

I don't have excess money lying around waiting to be handed to the down and out.  There are have been low times in my life when I contemplated which corner would be best for me to stand with my own sign.  Luckily I've never fallen quite that far, though.  And that is what goes through my mind while I stare at the red light.  "Thank God that's not me...but it could be."

I'm not advocating for you to hand out hundred dollar bills when you see these people, or even all your spare change .  What I suggest is that you do like one of my friends.  He keeps a couple of bottles of water and some cheese crackers in his car within easy reach at all times.  When he comes to a stop light and he sees some one, he grabs a bottle and a packet of crackers and hands it out the window.  It's not much, but it is a start.

Now, the cynical of you out there may say it's all a scam.  That most of the people standing on the corner are just lazy or down right liars praying on the bleeding hearts and guilty consciouses of the passersby.  I'm not so naive that I don't know some of them are. 

I once read an article in the Dallas Newspaper that interviewed some of the homeless beggars there.  On a good corner, the interviewee claimed, you can earn $140 a day.  That works out to over $36,000 a year... more than I'm making.  But the article also went on to document the truly needy out there.  Those people who are hungry.  Hungry for food, a job, a safe place to live, love, understanding.  Not every person on the corner is an addict or con artist.  

I know I can't save everyone.  But if I can help ease one fellow human beings pangs of hunger, I'll try.  I've handed out burgers before, and received a real smile and thanks.  The good feeling only increased when I saw the gentleman break the burger in half and share it with another man with a sign on the adjacent corner.  I had truly helped someone. 

My challenge for you is to follow Mother Teresa's advice.  Help feed one person. 

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” Frederick Keonig

This week is Thanksgiving.  It is a time that many families gather together and consume enormous amounts of calories, watch football, and pass out from a food coma in the Lazy Boy.  It's also a time to count your blessings and express your gratitude.

For many people, Thanksgiving is a singular day.  Oh sure, they may say prayers of thanks before Sunday dinners through out the year, but it is usually done quickly and by rote.  It is something said because it is expected, but not because they truly feel thankful. 

We are a generation of wanters. We want more, bigger, better.  We have been brainwashed into thinking that what we have is not enough.  If we accept what we have, it means we relinquish any claim on more.  That someone else who has more is happier.  Keeping up with the Jones's is not the goal anymore, we have to pass them and rub their noses in it.  I have to admit, I sometimes succumb to the desire for more than I have.  I'm not proud of it.

Of the people in my life, it seems that the happiest are those that are thankful each and every day.  They see every thing, every person, every incident in their lives as a gift.  I'm sure they have wants and needs that drive them forward, but they don't overlook the things that life has already brought them.  They appreciate.  They are joyous.  They are thankful. 

I want to be more like them.  Sometimes I see it.  I look at the bounty that is my life and am truly amazed.  I know that I am blessed.  I have a roof over my head and food in my pantry.  I have a wonderful husband and son.  My parents are both still alive and healthy and I have an amazing extended family.  Although not numerous, my friends are loving and loyal. 

I am thankful for these things, but I'm also thankful for the challenges.  I am thankful for the hard homework that makes my son ask for help.  I am thankful for my husbands cold that has him looking at me like an angel when I bring him crushed ice.  I am thankful for the endless list of tasks at work that leave me exhausted and feeling accomplished. 

What are you thankful for?

There are whole years for which I hope I'll never be cross-examined, for I could not give an alibi. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

Pardon my lateness in posting to this blog.   I have (and have not) been busy. 

I recently started a new part time job.  It monopolizes a whopping 25 hours of my week.  I am left with only 143 hours left in the week.  Subtract 56 hours for sleep (if I'm lucky), 21 hours for the preparation and eating of meals, 20 hours on line with e-mail and Facebook, 19 hours reading or watching television, 10 hours running errands and grocery shopping, 7 hours for health and beauty functions, 6 hours walking the dog, and at least 4 hours of 'quality' time with the family. 

Okay, so some of the times are estimations and may overlap each other.  Truth is I seem to pack a lot of nothing into my week.  I lay in bed at night, tired and exhausted, but can't seem to say what I've accomplished.  I know I can't be alone in this.

Granted, I'm not the Uber Mom who has a color coded chart cross referenced with sticky notes and entered into her blackberry detailing every move of every family member.  I've always been a go with the flow kind of gal.  My question is, do you really benefit by such meticulous structuring of your life?  By cramming more in, what do you gain?

I think every now and then you have to have nothing to do.  A little down time.  By not over scheduling yourself, you give yourself permission to enjoy the time as it passes.  It allows you to actually experience things and perhaps make a lasting memory.  I encourage you to reduce your schedules and increase the time spent with the more important things...like your loved ones.

Four hours a week is not quality time!