Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is

Since writing that Wal-mart post I’ve been wondering if I’m overdoing it.  Reinhold Niebuhr in a partly famous prayer I will quote in a minute says to take this sinful world as it is. We can’t attain heaven this side of death. And there’s probably a lot to be learned from that. I’m naturally an activist so my knee jerk reaction is to try to change things. The problem is you can stop going to Wal-mart but clothes made at Goody’s, CATO’s Penney’s, etc all might be made in deplorable overseas conditions too so unless you want to live in a bubble . . . . . But another part of the prayer asks for courage to change the things we can.  God does want us to stand up for the underdog. Maybe initially we can’t avoid these stores but when we get a handle on our finances and form new habits we can shop at the more expensive stores which don’t exploit workers.

Even if you find that you can’t avoid all the stores that do wrong in one area and/or the store that succeeds in that area has a wrong in another area, we can choose the lesser of the evils. So maybe one store still uses deplorable overseas conditions to make their clothing but they treat their employees with dignity, respect and honesty versus Wal-Mart. And the trail they leave is less bloody or whatever. But, if all else fails and you still have to shop at Wal-Mart, at least you know. Let’s not kid ourselves about the kind of world we live in or be ignorant of the greed and deception that motivates companies.   And do something proactive like reach out and love a Wal-Mart employee.

 Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

~ Reinhold Niebuhr

Walmart

Please watch this video about Walmart. It’s an hour and a half long so, you know, watch in installments or whatever. After watching this, I am partly ashamed that I ever shopped at Walmart and that I wanted our town to get the Super Walmart and that I still haven’t weaned myself completely (although I haven’t done regular grocery shopping there in years). I’ve written about this before but I’ll say it again: We need to train ourselves and our children to ask why things are so cheap and is it worth the non-monetary price for cheap goods. In this video you will learn about the way Walmart does not value its employees (it makes them work overtime with no pay, has terrible insurance, and it discriminates against women and minorities), the way it abuses tax payers money, the way it LIES (promises things with no intention of fulfilling those promises both to the community and its employees) the way it destroys the lives of business owners in the area, the way it supports deplorable working conditions overseas . . . . (I worked for Meijer one summer in Indiana and I suspect they do things very much the same–they also were very touchy about overtime and they wouldn’t give you the hours you wanted. They would hire you full-time and then cut back your hours gradually.)

Now I need to qualify this some. I understand some of the attractions of Walmart. And some of the things I don’t have a problem with: having one place to stop for all your needs, that it’s a chain, . . . I’m a city girl at heart and have moved enough that I like the recognition of a Walmart. If you pull into a town you’ve never been to and see a Wal-Mart, it’s familiar and I’m more comfortable going in there than somewhere I’ve never heard of. BUT I don’t understand the greed and I don’t agree with cheating employees out of a right to a full-time job, the pay they earned or good health benefits or cheating communities, etc just so you can be richer than rich. The other thing I don’t understand is not caring about the businesses they put out of business. Having our society move from small business to big business . . . maybe it’s a bad thing, but maybe it wouldn’t have to be so bad. The small business owners could be offered jobs in management. Of course, they may not want to take them, especially at a dishonest company which Wal-Mart has apparently turned out to be, but I’m just saying I don’t think that all the premises of a big company are 100% evil. There might be a way to do it with integrity. But that has not been the case with Walmart so I am going to try to wean myself of the last few things I still go there for.

I also wanted to comment on the China part of the video; some of the unfortunate practices, like the dormitory, have to do with China in general and is not per Walmart’s instruction although as you’ll see in the video they don’t care. (This reminds me that I wanted to mention a great book, Around the Bloc; I will post on that soon.) And as for almost all the products Walmart sells coming form China, I am not against imports; I don’t believe that everything Americans buy should be made in America because there are mutual advantages to importing and exporting, BUT I think it can be unbalanced and if the reason it’s coming in from outside is because they can get away with deplorable working conditions, then that’s a problem. One that doesn’t appear it will be remedied in the foreseeable future.

By the way, back when we lived in Kentucky, I had a co-worker who worked part-time at Wal-mart. I don’t know if it was for financial purposes or to keep plugged into the company (she had worked there back in Nebraska). I’m not still in touch with her, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she could corroborate much of this. It seemd she either couldn’t get the hours she wanted or they worked her when she didn’t want to because they “had nobody else”.

Hep B

Here’s another example of an unnecessary vaccine (unnecessary for most children).  If you vaccinate your children, be picky.  Only get the ones that your child might actually get that actually cause death or paralysis.

Cloned food

If you are concerned about cloned food having been approved by the FDA and the fact that it won’t be labeled but will be sold in grocery stores, your voice needs to be heard before April 2nd.  You can send an online petition to congress or even send a letter to your local newspaper editor.  I just did (I have never written a newspaper before).

getting back to natural

I’ve been meaning to write this post for awhile. I have found so much helpful information on this blog, specifically about vaccines. I started to copy some links and then realized how many there were. I still may put some links below; you can look them up yourselves but she has several categories that are similar: vaccines, vaccine, vaccinations, HPV vaccine, MMR, polio vaccine, Virus and the Vaccine . . so don’t miss all the different categories.

http://gettingbacktonatural.blogspot.com/2007/01/books-im-reading.html

http://gettingbacktonatural.blogspot.com/2007/01/virus-and-vaccine.html

http://gettingbacktonatural.blogspot.com/2007/01/you-may-not-own-your-own-genes.html

http://gettingbacktonatural.blogspot.com/2007/01/small-world.html

http://gettingbacktonatural.blogspot.com/2007/02/op-ed-on-hpv-vaccine.html

Dear God what have we gotten ourselves into?

The things you can get away with in secret, behind closed doors. Advertise ingredients before vaccinations are given and NO ONE would vaccinate their kid, not for the mythical greater good, not for the hoped protection of the kid, not for any reason at all.

Vaccines ingredients

Consumer advocate groups are trying to get this stuff (aspartame, MSG) out of our diets, but big pharma makes sure that we inject it into our children which is more dangerous than injesting it.

Old people walking

I started walking again at the university here in town. They open up their gym for the community members to walk in the hall around it. I can even go there in nice weather and walk on the outside of the building. I like going when Elisa’s in preschool since it’s boring (other days I take her on more scenic walks). Anyway, it’s a very nice thing for the school to do. When I walk I get so proud of the people walking with me. Very few my age, mostly people in their 50’s & 60’s and a good group of people older than that. Many very fit, (they even pass me!) but some with walkers. I think it’s great that they’re exercising and getting out of the house. So many people hit a certain age and whether they used to exercise or not, they give up. And so many old people never leave the house. Even if some are walking by their doctors’ orders, I think it’s just great. I want to cheer them on.

My grandpa isn’t in very good health but he swims at the YMCA and my grandma walks around Wal-Mart. I wish they got out more than that but at least they do that and it’s physical.

Oh, I forgot to add that if you walk in a circle, you need to alternate the direction. They don’t do that here and my left leg hurts so I walk on the outside in the opposite direction. I have thought about saying something but I don’t want to upset anyone. Even though walking the same direction can wear on your ligaments, tendons, muscles, etc, if you’ve been doing it for a long time then adding in the other direction may cause discomfort initially. I’m not a doctor but I know that when you add in anything new, even something good, it can cause discomfort initially. When I first moved into an apartment on the second floor, my left knee started hurting. At the time I wasn’t as smart as I am today and so I went to the doctor and of course he examined it but then asked if I had been climbing stairs lately.

I don’t think the same applies for walking on a cambered (slanted) road; I don’t think that’s a good idea even if you try to even it out by coming back the same way. Our road by our house is in bad shape anyway and is very cambered which is why I gave up running and went for biking.

Don’t let the initial discomfort scare you off, though. You may need to check with your doctor to make sure it’s okay but add in new stuff. Like stairs. At a sports facility, they often have stairs and you can add some in; I’ve been doing that and it’s great.

Oh, and if you walk in an indoor track or outdoor track or any kind of circle, make sure that whoever posts the rules (if there are rules) doesn’t have the alternate direction on alternating days because some people walk alternating days so if Monday, Wednesday Friday everyone walks left but Tuesday/Thursday they walk right, that won’t help anyone who only walks MWF or only TT. If it’s only open five days I would think that Monday Tuesday and Friday should be one direction and Wednesday Thursday the other. If you walk in more of a rectangle (like a mall) I think it’s not as important to alternate directions because it’s only a small amount where it’s uneven for your legs (the corners) although with wear and tear on the track, it’s still probably better to alternate, and keep your legs guessing.

And that’s the sports news for today . . . . Seriously, if you read a sports magazine, especially a running magazine, you know this but a lot of people out there that walk don’t read those, so I hope this was helpful to you.

Shooting the breeze

Gosh.  I just reread some posts and found I had written you’re instead of your a couple of times.  I know when to use which but when I type, I go so fast that I make even worse errors than that and sometimes even when I proof read I miss it.

I don’t genuinely do much complaining on the blog (complaining about things I can’t change) but today I am.  First off, the hoopla over the extra daylight savings.  I know the study was done 30 years ago and it would have been nice to have a more recent study but as late as everyone stays up nowadays, it’s got to be better.  And it will mean less depression for people with SAD   Yes, my computer clock still is an hour behind because it synchronizes with the server, but life isn’t over. . . .

Second, I really hate to clean.  Especially the kitchen.  I mean I don’t mind doing the dishes (getting started is hard but once I start I don’t mind) but wiping off the counters, changing the rags and towels, cleaning the place behind the sink, cleaning the silverware container, wiping off the dining room table, sweeping under my daughter’s chair.  Yuck.  And the bathroom, too.  I’m very proud of my consistency in cooking for my family, the selection and nutritional value but cleaning . . . maybe when my daughter and husband stop adding to the mess   I used to be a neat freak as far as things being tidy (except my desk because I hate filing papers) but I never was very good about cleaning regularly–I clean when the dirt bothers me or when company is coming.  I should have company once a week just as incentive!  Oh, well.  We don’t have clutter.  I do feel strongly about that, except in the bedroom.  For some reason it doesn’t bother me there.  But I refuse to have clutter in the living room (I allow toy clutter for lack of a better place, but not knick knacks, not a ton of furniture, etc).

Well, that’s the end of my post about nothing

Colds

All colds are caused by viruses, while 90 percent of ear infections are caused by bacteria. However, colds do create mucus and fluid buildup in the ear tubes, which can create an environment in which bacteria will grow.

Our society focuses on killing the bacteria (internally and externally) but what if nowadays with all the knowledge we have, simple hygiene and strong immune systems through DIET are enough? A lot of the philosophies we have about pasteruization, vaccines and anti-bacterial stuff come from a time very different than today.

Diabetes

http://www.mercola.com/2005/jun/21/diabetes.htm