How Can I Help?

How can I help? 

That’s the question that came to mind early Sunday morning. What can I, an elderly retired woman, do to make a difference in this screwed up world?

I think finding the answer, or at least an answer, to that question would go a long way toward helping me figure out my purpose in this world.

There are so many areas where help is desperately needed. I donate to our local food bank, and to Meals on Wheels, and to food drives a couple of times a year. I fund an annual scholarship so a deserving yet impoverished female student in Kenya can attend high school, and hopefully find a career that will lift her and her family out of poverty. I have adopted 15 throw-away dogs during my life, as well as a lovely Russian girl from an orphanage in Russia.

But these things, while they make me feel good, seem insufficient in light of the pressing needs of the world.

I know that I don't have the financial resources or the fame to tackle huge issues. I'm not a brilliant scientist seeking the cure to an illness. I don't have billions, or even millions, of dollars to give away in pursuit of an altruistic goal. I'm not a famous celebrity who can put out the call to donate to a certain cause.

I used to volunteer with a couple of local non-profits, but I stopped several years ago when I began to feel unappreciated and taken advantage of. Since then, I haven't found a charity that really calls to me.

So what can I do?

Are you facing this dilemma? How do you deal with these feelings?

World Gratitude Day

There is a lot in this world that is sad, disappointing, horrifying even.

There is international war. There is escalating gun violence and other violent crime in this country. There is a Congress hell-bent on either destroying this country or turning it into 'Christian', fascist state. There are millions of people around the world suffering from starvation, flooding and other natural disasters.

But today, World Gratitude Day, I want to focus on things that make me smile, that make me happy. Things for which I am grateful.

The joyfulness of my dogs, ages 1-1/2 years and 2-1/2 years, often makes me smile. They love to play, to wrestle, to chase each other.

Looking at some of my photographs can make me smile and bring back precise memories of when and where they were taken. Not just the memories and the images, but realizing that I did a good job of capturing the scene, makes me happy.

Walking outside on a crisp autumn morning, with no wind, no traffic and no noise, under a blue sky, makes me happy.

Looking at photos of some of the stunning places I have visited reminds me to be grateful for the opportunity to travel, to see places I have always wanted to see and to meet people from many other cultures.

There is beauty in this world. There is kindness. There are some good people doing their best to make this world a better place.

Let's be grateful for the good things and good people in our lives.

Note: World Gratitude Day was September 21, when I started writing this post, although I didn't get it posted until today.

The Not-So-Friendly Skies

 Air travel sucks.

Sorry to be so blunt, but it does,

What used to be a fairly reliable means of transportation is  now a disaster waiting to happen. I started writing this post on a flight from Detroit to Salt Lake City that was some 2 hours late. The culprit this time was bad weather in the New York area. But there wasn’t another airplane available to use to get my flight on its way. It's hard to believe there wasn't a single available airplane at the Detroit airport. And as bad as it was for those of us waiting for an airplane to arrive, it was even worse for the people in New York who were stuck, on the airplane, as it sat on the tarmac for 2-1/2 hours.

No one can control the weather, but American airlines have a dismal track record of responding to a variety of issues, from insufficient staffing to computer system failures to pile-ups of thousands of pieces of passenger luggage.

Depending on how far in advance I make my flight reservations, I can expect to see as many as five schedule changes. One woman's flights changed 13 times, according to the travel agent we both used to book our group's flights to Tanzania.

Trying to reach an airline representative by phone can result in a wait time of two to five hours.

In-flight service is another area in which airlines are sorely lacking. On a recent early morning business class flight, we were offered bags of potato chips in lieu of something more appropriate for breakfast.

Clearly the airlines have major problems. For the prices they charge ($11,000 for a business class ticket to southern Africa for which I have paid roughly $5,000 for several years), their level of service should be significantly higher.. Rather than spend $11,000 with a US carrier — something I would never do — my travel agent suggested I fly on Qatar Airlines at roughly half the cost. That trip will be next year, connecting in Doha.

Why are there now so many connections in what should be straightforward trips? And why should I have to fly to Los Angeles to get to Charlotte, North Carolina, on the opposite side of the country?

I had a 9-hour layover in Minneapolis on a recent trip to Iceland, and a7-hour layover (it turned out to be closer to 10 hours) on the return trip that had me going to Detroit, then to Salt Lake City, and finally to Albuquerque.

I canceled a planned trip to Portugal because getting there on time to meet my group would have required me to arrive a day early (an extra hotel night to pay for), and an overnight (another hotel stay) in London. It simply wasn't worth the hassle.

I don't know how much more international travel I will do in the future, aside from trips to Africa. The cost in money, time and stress simply isn't worth it.