Done With WalMart

I don't shop at WalMart on a regular basis, but today's experience pushed me over the edge.

Nearly all of the cashiers have been replaced by do-it-yourself che k-out stations. Today I was informed that there was a problem with the scale as I was trying to weigh a bunch of bananas. I finally finished scanning and bagging my groceries, only to be forced to present my receipt upon leaving the store. I told the woman doing the inspection that I'm tired of being treated like a ciminal.

First I am made to scan and bag my groceries. Then my receipt is inspected to make sure I haven't stolen anything. (In reality, the woman only glanced at my receipt but didn't count my items or even look below the items at the top of my reusable bag). I could have had a $50 package of meat under my bags of SunChips and she wouldn't have known.

The other thing I have noticed is that WalMart picks Saturday morning -- one of the busiest shopping days of the week -- to restock shelves and fill online orders. Both of these activities involve placing large carts in the aisles, impeding shoppers trying to squeeze by with their shopping carts.

Other grocery stores in town offer 5 cents for each reusable bag each time it's used. Not WalMart. That stores does absolutely nothing to encourage people to bring reusable shopping bags. I often see people leaving the store with shopping carts filled with 15 or 20 disposable plastic bags.

And if customers have to scan and bag their own groceries, which saves money for the corporation, they should get a small discount on their groceries for doing the work of a cashier.

I generally shop at WalMart only when I need toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc. But it's time to add WalMart to the list of businesses I boycott. 

If I wanted to scan and bag groceris, I would get a job at a grocery store.

Kindness Counts

Kindness counts in everything we do.

Yes, it does.

An act of kindness, no matter how small, can brighten the day for both giver and recipient. Something as small as opening or holding a door for someone can brighten a day or lift the spirits. 

I recently held a door open for a woman struggling to carry a large box into the UPS store. Was this a life-changing act? Of course not. It was a simple kindness that made the other person's life just a bit easier for a moment. And it made me feel good to help. That small kindness created a connection, albeit very brief, between two humans who didn't know each other.

Twice recently, as I was struggling to life my camera bad into the overhead in above my seat, a flight attendant helped me lift the heavy bag. They're not supposed to assist passengers with their bags to avoid injury, but I was assisted twice. 

Kindness has no financial cost, unless we make it so. Someone in line to get coffee at a drive-through coffee shop may decide to pay for the coffee of the person in the following car. This small additional cost can, and has, created a chain reaction of people buying coffee for the person in the next car. The initial cost (I don't drink coffee so I don't know the cost of a cup from a Starbucks-type business) is small in comparison to the tidal wave of kindness it can generate.

A man once paid for my groceries (some $15), so I told him I would pay forward his kindness. I subsequently paid for the groceries of a Native American woman in a wheelchair, and later I paid for the roses a young man was buying. 

I try to make a point of complementing people I encounter. Words cost nothing, but who doesn't like to receive a complement?

In a world becoming increasingly unkind, practicing a random act of kindness may make a real difference in the life of someone having a bad day. 

End the Sexist Beauty Contests

Why haven’t beauty pageants, those ancient holdovers from the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s ‘50s and 60s’ been relegated to the dust bin where they belong? 

What purpose do such pageants as Miss America, Miss Universe, Miss Teen USA, etc., actually serve? 

All they do is objectify women and judge them on how they look. The contestants have to be tall, thin, have big boobs, big hair, and huge white smiles. And why in the world are contestants required to parade around in high heels and bathing suits?

I find the entire premise of beauty pageants to be offensive, to say the least. At a time when women still struggle to have equal opportunities, to be taken seriously, to be paid commensurate with their skills as are their male counterparts why are these reprehensible events allowed to continue?. Women continue to battle to be taken seriously, so why in the world do we put up with beauty contests that do nothing but sexualize the contestants? And why do women sign up to be contestants? The beauty pageant world has been rocked recently by the resignation of Miss USA and Miss Teen USA because they claim their values no longer align with those off the organizations. Maybe we should have beauty contest for a minute and let them parade around wearing Speedos.

As we continue to fight to protect our reproductive rights and other hard-earned rights, why do we allow these anachronistic, sexist contests to continue? Maybe we should have beauty contests for men and make them parade around in public wearing Speedos.

Humble and Kind

I recently came across the video of Tim McGraw's hit song from a few years ago, 'Humble and Kind.'

I have never been a fan of country music, but I loved this song the first time I heard it, both for its message and for its music. I see this song as a reminder that no matter who we are or what our status is, it costs nothing to be humble and kind.

Even celebrities can be humble and kind. Former president Jimmy Carter and his late wife Roslyn, superstar singer/songwriter/actress Dolly Parton, and singer/songwriter Taylor Swift immediately come to mind when I think of people who are humble and kind.

The Carters continued to build houses for Habitat for Humanity well into their 90s. Parton is well known for her philanthropy. She created the Dollywood theme park in Tennessee to provide jobs in the poverty-stricken area where she grew up. And because her father never learned to read and write, she created the Imagination Library, which sends a free, age-appropriate book each month to children from birth through 5 years of age.  My grandson is a recipient of a monthly book that my daughter reads to him. 

Parton donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University to help create the Moderna covid vaccine. She gave another $1 million to the Vanderbilt children's hospital.

As part of Dollywood, she opened the Eagle Mountain Sanctuary that is managed by the American Eagle Foundation to help protect America's national symbol.

Swift has been making large donations to local food banks in the cities where she holds her sold-out concerts. She donated $4million to build the music education center at the Country Music Hall of Fame. She has thrown her massive voice behind LBGTQ rights. In recent years, she helped a boy with autism get a service dog, helped with the medical bills for a fan with cancer, and a family struggling to make ends meet. She also pitched in to help two mothers keep up with rent and she helped support a Covid widow with five children.

And then there is the previous US president, who used money supposedly earmarked for eight charities by his foundation (now closed by court order) to fund his political campaign. No one could ever accuse him of being humble or kind.

Fortunately for the world, it's definitely possible to be world famous and wealthy while remaining humble and Kind. Each of us, regardless of our status in life, can do our part to be humble and kind.

The Stress Is Back

 It's back.

The fear. The stress. The worry. The chaos.

I thought, I hoped, I prayed, that once the former president lost the 2020 election we would be rid of him. Of his negativity. His hatred. His inane ramblings. His insults. His sucking up to the world's dictators. His incessant lies. His clapping for himself. His clenched fist in the air.

But no, he's back and doing everything in his power to regain the presidency. That so many Americans support this megalomaniac, this sick, twisted, broken, mentally ill person is mind boggling. He is facing 91 felonies in four different jurisdictions. He has been convicted of sexual abuse in one case and accused in several more. He promises to be a dictator from his first day in office. He has vowed vengeance and retribution on those he views as his enemies, which in reality means anybody who fails to praise him .

He openly admires dictators and he reportedly keeps a copy of Hitler's book Mein Kampf on his bedside table. Whether he can actually read is up for debate. He promises to use the FBI and the Department of Justice to bring charges against those he perceives as enemies. 

He is so pathetic that he has fallen asleep during the so-called hush money trials. Not one of his family members has shown up to support him in court. He constantly portrays himself as the victim, proclaiming that he is treated unfairly and is the victim of a witch hunt.

My stress levels are soaring. I refuse to listen to his droning babble. I know I should simply refuse to watch the news. But I spent my career working with members of the news media. I am interested in current events both at home and internationally. So it's a struggle to stay away from the news.

He offers nothing to this country aside from chaos, lies, anger, racism and misogyny.

He needs to go away, permanently. 

Earth Day 2024

Every year on April 22, we in the United States and 174 other countries celebrate Earth Day.

This year doesn't feel like much of a celebration, but rather, an urgent wake-up call. Our home planet, our Earth, is in big trouble The Earth is sick mostly due to human overpopulation and practices.

Global warming has resulted in devastating droughts in some places and record rainfall and snowfall in others. Glaciers are melting and sea levels rising. Oceans are warming. More species are threatened with extinction. Climate change is resulting in an increasing number of people leaving their countries due to failing food production and poverty.

We as individuals cannot stop or reverse climate change. But we can do something.

The Farmer’s Almanac suggests the following 10 things you can do on Earth Day to help our planet:

• Support the bees by planting pollinator-friendly plants
• Pick up the trash in your neighborhood
• Go to a park and explore nature
• Plant a tree
• Plant wildflowers and plants native to where you live
• Reduce, reuse and recycle
• Stop using chemicals in the garden
• Conserve water and practice mindful use of water
• Think about your diet and prevent the wasting of food
•  Get your friends, family and kids involved.

Here are a few things I do to help our planet.

• Make changes to your daily habits.
• I keep reusable shopping bags in my car so I don't have to use flimsy, single-use bags.

• I limit my showers to 10 minutes.
• I turn off lights when I leave a room.
• I recently traded my car (which got 31 mpg) for a hybrid vehicle that around town get 55 mpg.
• I recycle everything that is recyclable where I live.
• I set my thermostat to 56 degrees F at night during the winter.
• My sprinklers are set to run early in the morning to avoid evaporation.
• I refuse to buy anything made from any endangered species.
• I try to avoid any food product that includes palm oil.
• I donate or give away things I no longer want or need to keep them out of the landfill. I recently jointed my local Buy Nothing group and have found new homes for an ironing board and iron, stationery and other items.
• I switched from plastic to bamboo toothbrushes.
• I stopped buying liquid laundry detergent  and now use detergent sheets that dissolve in water. No more plastic detergent bottles.
• I now use bar soap rather than shower gel in plastic bottles.
• I bought a razor with replaceable blades rather than tossing disposable plastic razors into the landfill.

Big business and governments, as the largest creators of pollution and users of fossil fuels, must step up. It will take all of us working together to save our planet.

Sweet Anabelle

Anabelle was a dog, a pit bull, a fighter.

Yes, she was a fighter, but not in the way you most likely thought when you read the words pit bull and fighter in a single sentence. 

Anabelle was fighter just to survive the abuse she endured at the hands of a human. She fought bravely against the diseases that took her life just a day ago. She suffered from pancreatitis, probably bone cancer and a variety of other life-threatening problems. She remained a fighter to the end.

Anabelle was a bait dog, with her teeth filed down so she couldn't fight back against the dogs who used her as bait in their training. Her body was covered in scars. Her wrists were broken, likely on purpose. A back leg was broken. She was most probably used to breed litters of puppies. And then she was dumped, left to die in a remote area of North Carolina. Obviously she was dumped someplace where no one was likely to find her. She was left to die, alone, frightened and in pain. I broke my wrist in a fall 8 years ago. It was incredibly painful, and human wrists are not weight-bearing as are a dog's wrists.

Anabelle was rescued and adopted by a loving family that eventually added two more special needs dogs to their family. All three dogs receive endless love and patience in their new family. 

Annabelle was so terrified, so shut down, that she spent the first part of her life after adoption hiding, cowering behind furniture or behind the toilet. She wouldn’t even look at people. But gradually, she came to understand that these people, the people who adopted her, would not hurt her. 

Surgery helped Anabelle, but walking was still a challenge for her. When she needed to go a distance, her mom pushed Anabelle around in a stroller. Despite her difficulties, Anabelle remained sweet and loving. She loved to play with Boone and Crew, her disabled brothers. All she wanted was to be loved.

What I will remember most about Anabelle was her playing with her plastic bucket. She used her muzzle to push it along the grass, running after it and pushing it again and again. She also was usually photographed while wearing a pretty bandana, many of them sent by her fans.

Anabelle's early torment left her with injuries both visible and invisible. Changes in her environment frightened her, but she was, as I noted above, a fighter. She gradually overcame many of her fears. Despite her torture and abuse at the hands of humans, if I may use that word loosely, she loved meeting new people. Her human mom took her to schools to help teach children that just because a dog, or a person, is different doesn't make them less deserving of love.

I never got a chance to meet Anabelle in person, but I followed her online adventures each day with great anticipation.

Anabelle is now at peace, free of pain and able to run and chase buckets as much as she wants. She doesn't need to fight anymore.

Be at peace, sweet Anabelle.