COMMON MATTERS

Why Bother?

So here we are, the first day of the Republican Convention in Tampa, Florida.  I could talk about that, but why bother?  Most of you who read this column have probably already made up your mind about who you'll vote for come November. So why bother wasting my brain cells debating the pros and cons of policies?

So what can I chat about?  I thought about telling you about some great idea I have for making a tub scrubber to remove soap scum from around the tub and off the grout lines in tiled walls.  You see, years and years ago, after scouring the walls over my tub, I went to my husband and said, "I think we should invent a tub-scrubber."  He rolled his eyes as usual at my fanciful musings and grunted, "sure".

No, I did not let it drop.  I rattled on and on about how we needed a little hand-held device with the ability to whirl around and around like one of those electric toothbrushes. Hubby's smirk did not deter me.  "It needs to be bigger, of course, with strong, hard bristles.  Yet they can't be made of steel, but need to be as strong as steel.  And it would help if it was long enough to help short people like me reach the back of the tub without crawling into it."

I'd love to tell you that the tub-scrubber I saw advertised for 19.99 on one sleepless night when I was watching paid commercials was the one we invented.  I'd love to be able to report that we are now financially set for life from my great idea and the innovative item I helped produce.  Why bother?  I didn't do it.  We didn't get a patent.  We didn't even share the idea with anyone else who could get a patent and could get the designers to come up with such a great household item.  Nope.  After I finished talking, hubby went back to reading his newspaper, and I went back to scrubbing the ring around the tub.

Thinking back on that moment brings a bit of ire to the forefront of my brain, though.  If only hubby had listened.  If only I had pushed him harder.  If only I had researched it and sought outside help.  If only I had taken the steps to make an idea into a reality.  Then.  Then we'd be business folks.  We'd be entrepreneurs who worked hard (probably twenty-four-seven), built a business and employed tons of people so they could make money to pay taxes and build roads and employ teachers and police officers to protect my business.  I'd be the lady in the commercial and I'd be helping tons and tons of ladies with arthritis clean their tubs and scouring their shower tracks with a tub-scrubbing gizmo.  We'd be rich.  But why bother?

What claim to fame would I have?  According to President Obama, I wouldn't have built my business.  I wouldn't have made that happen.  My idea was as worthless to me as it turned out to be since I never acted upon it.  What we don't start, we cannot finish.  What we don't work for, we don't create.  What we don't create we don't sell. What we do not sell, we don't get paid for.  What we do not get paid for, we do not get taxed on.  Hey...now there's an idea.

If businesses would just stop making and selling stuff, taxpayers wouldn't have to worry about making so much money the goverment took it to to give people like me who never take the initiative to "build a better mousetrap".  And we wouldn't need any roads to take "nothing" no where for no one to buy.  I could just sit back and collect food stamps, free phones and healthcare, then go to school on the government's dime.  And given the mindset of Obama's economical arguments today, and the promises of tomorrow with the looming 16-trillion dollar deficit, all I can say is, Why Bother?

Refreshing Moments

This morning I couldn't believe the temperature didn't bowl me over the moment I stepped out the door.  I could actually breathe without cooking my lungs.  It was so cool this morning, I almost went back in the house to get a jacket.  Not really.  But after triple digit temps here in Oklahoma, 73 degrees was one of the most refreshing moments of the Summer.  I say "one of the most" because refreshing moments aren't always determined by outside temperatures or circumstances. Refreshing moments often come from within, when we change our minds, when we make decisions, when we begin something new.  Refreshing moments can sometimes be watching skies turn black and clouds roll in with the promise of life-sustaining rain for parched fields. Refreshing moments can be ones in which we notice a real change in direction, in which we see real hope in our lives. They come when our faith is restored.  

This is the season when teachers head back to school.  They commit themselves afresh to a new group of children they'll be teaching.  This is the time when children get brand new backpacks, fill them with brand new composition notebooks, and sharpen brand new pencils.  They haven't used the erasers on those pencils.  It's a new year, free of mistakes and errors.  There's excitement and anticipation and a little bit of apprehension in the air.  Excitement comes with the obvious change of climate and routine.  Anticipation comes with the belief that something good is about to happen.  A bit of apprehension comes from not being totally sure of all the factors of life.  Will things break our way, or will the gathering clouds of potential rain and earth-refreshment and restoration move somewhere else and miss us altogether?  Will I make a mistake?  Will I need to use the eraser? It remains to be seen.

Ever notice how quickly the eraser disappears on a new pencil?  So much of the pencil is often still usable when the eraser is long gone.  I remember the "old days", when I use to use white-out to fix errors in my typing.  Now, all I have to do is backspace and retype.  I can actually cut out an entire paragraph of copy and paste it in a different spot in my article.  We writers can edit our writing as soon as we make a mistake, or think of a better way to phrase a point of view.  Progress has given us this gift of ease.  When we are reading a page on the internet, all we have to do is hit the refresh button and the screen changes to reveal the latest information, the most up-to-date news.  Sometimes all it does is take us back to the original info.  In real life, we can't just click "refresh" and expect our world to change.  No matter how much we've used the eraser, we cannot stop using the pencil.

It's kinda like getting up each morning and hoping to see lower gas prices, less unemployment, a growing economy.  Instead of blinking away yesterday, we open our eyes to the same information we had in yesterday's paper, on yesterday's website.  We can't feel better because things are not better.  Things must change for results to change.

I don't know about you, but I am not content to simply refresh the page.  I want to see something new.  I want fresh ideas.  I want a renewed vision of freedom, liberty and pride in America.  I want that same renewal within my mind, my heart and spirit.  I want to face today with great excitement and anticipation.  And while there may be a tad bit of apprehension, I believe if we face each day with diligence, hard work, and sacrifice then we will overcome "whatever" comes our way.  

 

It May Seem Insignifcant

Bees frighten me.  For years I sacrificed my love of flowers because they attract bees.  When I see a yellow-jacket, I swallow all the air I can inhale and keep it bottled up until the bee moves on.  Wasps make me cringe. Hornets send me running for cover.  I use to go barefoot in the summer.  It was the way of things when I was a child.  I've stepped on enough apples and pears on the ground to know they are harbingers for bees, and excruciating pain.

Just this week, I was trying to get a bit of exercise in my grandchildren's small pool in the back yard.  I'd just climbed in, ever so slowly, very mindful of how I stepped, turned, and held on.  (Hey, it's not easy when you are a chubby old lady with back problems. As a matter of fact, it's quite scary.)  Anyway, when my 5-year-old granddaughter was about to step on the top rung, I spotted a honeybee on the ladder.  "No, wait! Hand me my shoe," I cautioned.  She did, and just as I was about to crush that bee, I stopped.  It was obviously trying to get a drink.  Instead of killing that little fella, I flicked it into the pool of water.  Then I scooped it out with my flip-flop and tossed it to the wind.  Honey bees are important to our environment, you know?  Did you know that we are losing more and more of them every year?  I told my granddaughter, we must protect those little guys.  More and more crops are failing due to the lack of bees for pollinate them--not to mention the honey they provide. To me, their honey is the magic in a soothing, hot cup of tea.

It may seem so unimportant in the scheme of things.  One bee?  Who thinks of its significance?  Who notices or give thanks for such a thing?  a tiny, winged insect that flits from flower to flower, burrowing its face into petals of grace.  He certainly doesn't know what his work accomplishes, nor the difference he makes with his gift to others. He gets up with the sun and buzzes happily onward through meadows, flowerbeds, and byways.  For the most part he labors unnoticed by the world.  He gets no glory in his travels.  I doubt his peers commend him when he returns to the hive with his nectar-filled bag.  It's simply what he does.  I dare say, few people open jars of honey and praise him and his colleagues for all they did to provide a sweetener for their cup of tea. 

And sometimes I think that is me.  That is women.  We do what we do because we are who we are.  Our labor often goes unnoticed.  Our comforting hands are forgotten once the fever is broken.  Our spotless bathrooms are ignored, unless a ring forms around the tub or a blob of toothpaste is left in the sink.  Our efforts to provide clean clothes go unchecked, until the drawers are empty or a sock is missing.  Our ability to schedule and flit from job, to home, to soccer practice, to the dentist and orthodontist are unappreciated, until we forget an event and miss a game.

Perhaps that is why our Creator chose us to be women.  He knew we could handle whatever came our way and still rise up with the sun and go about our tasks without the pomp and fanfare of others.  He knew we would never waver in our efforts to sweeten another's cup by emptying ourselves into their lives.  And though sometimes it seems the world turns without anyone noticing we are in it, we can take comfort in knowing we are, and our labor is not in vain.  It may seem insignificant, but we add goodness by just being who we are in our part of the God's meadow.  At least, I think so.

 

When You Need A Little Good News

You have probably been through a season of really rough times.  It's like the sky has opened up and dumped trash upon your head instead of rain.  It's like the earth quakes and shakes the foundations of your financial and physical and emotional stability.  It's like the skunks from every corner of the woods come out to play with coyotes beneath your bedroom window.  It's like the car refuses to start, the kids refuse to be happy and every single friend you have seems to be on vacation.  It's in these times, you really need a little good news, because most news is bad news.

Bad news appears to have your name stamped on every ticket.  Plumbing blows up.  Cars break down.  A check bounces.  A washer explodes.  An air-conditioner stops working in a 113 degree Oklahoma heatwave.  A stomach virus makes its rounds throughout the family and back to you. You need a little good news.

Nothing is ever really as bad as it seems.  In fact, sometimes it is far worse than it seems.  But most times, life is no worse than others, and a lot less catastrophic than the neighbor down the street or the city in the next state.  Yet, when you need a little good news, it just doesn't matter how bad someone else has it.  It doesn't matter how hard others are struggling.  It doesn't matter how difficult it is for another to keep afloat in their own troubled waters.  It only matters that you are hurting...that your family is hurting...that someone you love is devastated.  When the time comes that you feel you just need a little good news, you've probably reached the end of your rope and the knot is gone.  You find yourself wanting to simply let go and you don't really care about the consequences any longer.  You don't want to try anymore.  You don't want to stand against all odds any longer.  You don't want to let your voice be heard, or remember the "good times".

You see...if you find yourself at the point when you need a little good news, life has already stepped on and broken all your toes.  You've already received the "last straw"...several times.  You already know that life is not fair, that it rains on the rich and the poor alike.  You already know that rain does not care if you are down and out or up and coming; you are going to get wet.  You already realize that time waits for no man, and a bed of roses has thorns with which to contend.

I have learned that when I need a little good news, most "good news" comes in the form of mini-miracles.  It is like a divine intervention of peace. It is waking up without pain, with a roof over my head, and enough food for breakfast.  It is remembering an important appointment with just enough time to get there and finding my keys right where I'd left them when I head out the door.  It is seeing my gas gauge on "empty", yet finding a twenty-dollar bill in the pocket of my winter coat when I realize I've left my wallet at home. It is when every red-light turns green just before I get to it.  It is saying all the right things at all the right times and being rewarded for the perseverance and diligence and courage I've exhibited under the pressures of life.

When you need a little good news, it seems that is the moment in life when even a skunk emits its spray beneath your window and all you smell is your spouse's apple-scented shampoo.  And, you know all is well with the world, because you are grateful to simply be who you are, where you are, with who you love.  And that is good enough news to keep you taking one more step, one more time. At least it is for me.

 

Do We Really Need the 2nd Amendment?

Do we really need to bear arms?  Do we really need an AK-47 with a few hundred clips for reloading?  I don't know.  I do know that the reason we were afforded the "Right to Bear Arms" was to protect us from a tyranical government.  In Switzerland one out of two people carry guns; that country has the lowest rate of crime in the world.  We have thousands of laws on the books related to guns in America.  Thousands.  Anthonin Scalia, a U.S. Supreme Court Justice said Sunday that he "doesn't think Ameria needs new gun laws". Yet recently our Secretary of State agreed to a UN Treaty to limit America's rights and states authority to produce and distribute weaponry. Americans aren't too keen on this treaty.  So much so that, Oxfam International's policy advisor said, "“Governments must resist US demands to give any single state the power to veto the treaty as this could hold the process hostage during the course of negotiations. We call on all governments to reject such a veto clause.”

Really?  Well, Benjamin Franklin, once wrote: "Those who give up their liberty for a little temporary security deserve neither and lose both.”  Could that actually happen in America?   Every day we see more and more of our liberties being eliminated, regulated, and handcuffed to the courtrooms of political agendas.  Officials in Steubenville, Ohio recently voted to change their city's logos to avoid costly court battles from one person who complained about a silhouette of the cross and local chapel in the emblem.

Mayor Bloomberg in New York City, well known for regulating the sale of super-size soft drinks, the use of saturated fats in restaurants, has now locked up the baby formula which was once offered to mothers to feed their newborns in Manhattan.  He wants to force as many women as possible to breastfeed.  Don't get me wrong.  I think we should all limit our intake of sugar and cut out the saturated fats. It's better for our health, helps fight obesity, diabetes and cuts down on high blood pressure and a bevy of other diseases.  I also advocate that women breast feed babies; they have less colic and fewer ear infections.  Breast milk gives a newborn a natural set of immunity from diseases.  However...it is not the government's business to tell folks what to eat or how to feed our newborns.  The more Americans allow this kind of intrusion upon their civil rights, the more control we relinquish to liberty and freedom.

The government, under Obamacare, will soon regulate our healthcare.  The appointed Washington panel (once called the death-panel), will have the initial and final say-so in the kind of care we receive.  Obamacare gives them power to determine if our treatment is worth the trouble and cost for the quality of life we may have.  Understand, this effects every single person in our country.  From  chronically ill, to grandma's aging joints and hip replacements. How soon will it be before it dictates the care of maimed soldiers wounded on the battlefields while protecting us from enemies at home and abroad?

Because of the attack on America on 9-11, our government set in motion the ridiculous TSA pat-downs of men, women, children.  It has forced little old ladies who wear Depends, to go to restrooms and remove their diapers.  It has invaded  privacy so much that they took away breast milk and forced one mother who'd stored hers in bottles to use in flight, to dump it out. What is a woman to do?  Stay home?  Formula is withheld in Manhattan hospitals, breastfeeding is banned in public because it is offensive, and the TSA forces mothers to dump out their privately and previously pumped breast milk. Do you see the ludicrousy?

May Benjamin Franklin's words echo in the halls each time we go to the ballot box.  May we hear: "Those who give up their liberty for a little temporary security deserve neither and lose both.”