Weenie World

OK, do understand that I'm not talking hot dogs here. I'm talking about a world full of people that have become so spoiled and pampered that they have no concept of the real pains of poverty or hunger. They have no concept of compassion. Their whole world revolves around themselves or at the most their circle of family and close friends. Somehow even many people that have been through tough times can end up being seriously selfish and lacking in compassion. It is almost like they have just blocked that part of their lives out of their minds. Not all of them do it, some of us that have known poverty can and do feel the pain of others that are in a serious struggle. We also sometimes feel great anger at those that believe that waste and massive overspending are a proper way of life. Don't get me wrong, if I won a $100,000,000 lottery my life style would most certainly change and I don't begrudge folks living well or even living very well. Then again the Wall Street guy that spent 1.2 million dollars remodeling an already luxury office and who then said that it was completely unusable as it was is just so far out of touch with the rest of the world that they might as well take him out and snuff him as a waste of space... Bring him out to my farm and let him either muck stalls or starve for a few months. Let him wade snowdrifts at zero degrees carrying hay and water. Let him wrestle hay bales out of the back of a baler at 95 degrees all day long. Let him crawl in the mud and snow on his belly under a broken piece of farm equipment at midnight. For that matter send him out with our brave troops and let him see hell for a while... Then stick him back in that “unstylish” office and he just might think it is a pretty damn nice place to work...

I feel very sorry for those who are actually suffering due to the degrading economic conditions (but not the guy above) but at the same time this mess could well help us as a society begin producing a better grade of people than we have been doing lately. “Experience is the best teacher” and about the only one that really works. It is already making many folks look a little closer at how they live. I just read that credit card spending is dropping and that saving is actually increasing as strange as that seems. Our society offers so much stuff (things) that even many children in families with incomes below the poverty level suffer from what in years gone by would have labeled them as “poor little rich kids”. Too many things and not enough love, time or discipline given to them. One of the most selfish things a parent can withhold from a child is discipline. A parents primary job is to produce a good quality child turned adult and that is not accomplished by pampering or catering. Yes tough love can be painful for many parents but as a parent you have a responsibility to be the adult and place the kind of young adult you will send out into the world when your child has grown up as a top priority in your life. I have seen many parents who could not stand to discipline their child when they are still small children also become heart broken parents after that spoiled child either treated their parents like dirt due to lack of respect, or even worse yet they ended up visiting their child in prison since they could not fit in to society as they grew up. Even more regrettable, is having to bury their child who just went wrong or became such a misfit that they took their own life in desperation. That possibility should make applying proper discipline seem like an easy path. Understand that I am not advocating the beating or abusing of children. Discipline of sorts can began while a child is very very young and can be as simple as the parents just being in charge. I used to listen to a police scanner a lot and I used to often hear calls where a parent called in saying that their 2 year old was out of control. I would be very embarrassed to say that I was unable to control a 2 year old... Far too many parents just fail to be in charge. Its not all their fault, many didn't have a good example to learn from... It is nice to ask a child what they want to do from time to time but not “always”. They also need to be told what to do much of the time and to learn to accept that. Such will be their lot for most of their lives. Be the parent. That is your responsibility. If you do not take charge as the adult then you and the child will both suffer from it as will much of society.

The two generations ahead of mine lived through the great depression and many learned life lessons from that experience that they carried all of the rest of their lives. Many had so little that they became terrible pack-rats in later years (a family curse I carry genetically). Some became just plain miserly. Many others came through it remaining pretty normal but carried an abhorrence of waste with them the rest of their lives. I also carry the abhorrence of waste gene. The wasting of foodstuffs is the thing I hate to see the most. With millions starving in the world the waste of food is unbelievably repulsive to me. When I see someone diving into a huge vat of Jello the first thing I think of is how many meals that would have made for starving fellow humans. Sure Jello is not much of a meal alone (especially green Jello) but much like a glass of muddy water it is a lot better than nothing...

I am fond of buffet dining. Waaay too fond of buffet dining. I do always try to balance the relationship between my eyes and my stomach. If I leave something on my plate it must have tasted pretty bad. It annoys the bee-jeebers out of me to see people fill plate after plate after plate and just pick over it leaving enough plates still over half full of food sitting on the table to feed a family of four for a week.

One of the current “simpleton fads” that many of what I generally refer to as “simpleton experts” are advocating on TV shows these days is the concept of controlling your weight by leaving food on your plate at each meal. How stupid. How selfish. How wasteful. Why not just eat less? How about just buying food and take part of it to a food pantry instead? If you want to lose weight post a picture of a group of children near starving to death on your refrigerator door... Just maybe you will not only control your weight but just maybe you will actually feel a twang of compassion and do something to help in some small way. At the very least it may make you aware that there is absolutely nothing “fashionable” about wasting food.

Chat later.