A Beautiful Walking Stick

When my eldest daughter returned from a trip to Africa a while back she brought me a special talking stick. The stick does not talk but the person holding it had the floor and everyone is supposed to listen. I was pleased to be given this treasured item as it has a lot of symbolism for the people of Kenya. I hope she did not give it to me because I talk too much.

Today she returned from the wilds of Parry Sound District and brought me a walking stick. A hand made and carved stick, stout enough to keep me upright if I stumble and beautiful enough to cause people to inquire as to it's origin. I loved this gift because Theresa and I were just about to look into making a good walking stick for our evening walks about in our neighbourhood.

First I get the talking stick, then the walking stick, and I can only imagine what comes next. Only she knows, but I will be thankful for it if it is as useful as the previous two gifts.

Turkey Dinner For The Family

Turkey dinner is more than a feast of good food and drink. It is the mix of people with similar heritage but divergent souls. As I watched the interaction among the second and third generation people in our family I could see a striking difference. Fresher interests, a more social conscience and a bravery to show their true feelings.

Everything from politics, religion and world view on our responsibility to mother earth is expressed with a certainty. So many of our grandchildren have taken a stand on women's issues, world hunger and the need for education as a means to solving the problems of mother earth. I can hardly express a new idea anymore as the youth have a benchmark way above mine.

Our table is not the place to tell a prejudice joke without expecting the wrath from the kids. Times have changed. Our youth have taken stands on issues that we at their age were not even known. It is a kinder and more gentile culture with a sharing attitude and a belief that things will be different if we do something. They express confident they make a difference, each one.

Recently there was a get together of 20,000 youth who sang, spoke and dedicated themselves to Free the Children. The Rogers Center in Toronto rocked all day and showed the world that everyone counts. This movement was started by a young Canadian and his brother and it has swept the country with literally hundreds of thousands involved in programs to make life better for under served people around the world.

Their leadership comes from within their heart and pours out in countless ways to build schools, feed the hungry and give the needy a face. Yes I feel great about our youth but this comes as no surprise as I always tried to give youth a voice when I saw them as the fresh new wave coming forth to lead us to a better way of doing things.

Stager ... De-clutterer

A house down the road from us sold the other day. It was an older home and housed a couple who are moving to Ottawa. The house sold in a day or two after being advertised with a large sign on the front lawn. It is customary for houses to be sold within a day or two if they are priced correctly. The sold sign appeared almost the next day.

Within a few days articles appeared on the sidewalk marked free. Every few hours more and more things were placed outside clearly marked for free. As we are having a yard sale soon to help build a school in Africa, Theresa and I began to pick up treasure after treasure. Our garage began to fill up right after I gave it a spring cleaning. As Theresa and I drove to the grocery store we saw a huge pile of treasures by the side of the road. There was a youngish man there and we stopped to check out the goods.

We talked to the man and he told us he was de-cluttering the house and everything he took out would be given free. This was his task and he was paid much the same as a stager. He also said that under normal circumstances he took the de-cluttered treasures to a charitable organization for resale. This is recycling in the finest tradition. From his work we gleaned quite a few items for our fundraiser for Africa.

People are more and more into this type of behaviour. We find that our generation were collectors and we filled out homes with things that - after a while - become clutter. I am a self -proclaimed collector but in my defence, I also recycle. I pick up furniture and objects and refinish them and give them away. I have never resold a found treasure except once. My habit has helped friends and family and I have this compulsion about waste. Therefore I have to de-clutter several times a year. I might even have to get learned up and become a stagger, or a de-clutterer. In any case I think it would be a good practise to de-clutter at least once a year. I would have to be away when this occurred as all my clutter is viewed as treasures to me.

I might change but don't hold your breath.

Haiti

Everyone knows about Haiti now because of the tragic circumstances around the earthquake. There are 600,000 Haitians living here in Florida and they are impacting the state now in a big way. The Haitian people living here are mostly migrant workers and with the big freeze they are out of work. Now with their homeland earthquake, they are no longer an invisible minority.

The Haitiam people show up everywhere - in our nursing, in our schools as teachers - anywhere there is work. For years there were barriers put up to stop the migration of these souls from entering the USA. President Obama has dropped the barriers and allowed the illegals to stay and work to send needed money back home.

This has been a humanitarian effort to help the people recover from a once in a lifetime disaster. People everywhere were impacted by the images shown on CNN and have given dollars, medical supplies and food to help. The effort was overwhelming and the outreach was greater than the ability for the goods to be delivered. Americans are a generous people and this is probably because most of the population came from countries where similar tragedy was common. In any event the extent of the earthquake will be heard for years to come and in the final days Haiti will be a better place to live.

Our hearts broke at the sight of children dying - because -in our view - there was no infrastructure in place to help. It pricks all of our consciences. because we have so much. Perhaps it helps us to appreciate life more and make us more of children of the universe. Just perhaps the "right wing" will be more willing to share the wealth and make life better for all mankind .... not just for the wealthy.

To the people of Haiti, there is a social conscience and you will reap the benefit of a sharing and caring America.

The Worm is Turning

America's largest bank borrowed $50,000,000,000.00 as a bailout during the 2007 financial crises. Yesterday it was announced that the entire amount will be returned to the USA Treasury. This event signals that the economy is about to change and other borrowers should return the bailout money as well. It is strange for people like us to see these huge amounts being tossed around like Monopoly money. There are other trends that show hope and we look forward to an increased upward trend.

Theresa and I were encouraged to get involved in international finance and to become lenders to those in need. With a few $25 gift certificates we started our journey in becoming world class financiers. We joined a non profit group called Kiva who help out individuals or groups who present a plan and need small amounts of money to start or grow their businesses. These people are from every country and often need only a few hundred dollars to begin their dream for financial stability.

We along with others lent $25 dollars to individual women from Bolivia, India and other countries. The funds are grouped together to lend small sums to begin the projects.No one person is lending the total amount needed and the borrower promises to pay back the money on a schedule. We have only made 5 loans so far but today we will be making three more with the money payed back from the loans. It is remarkable that almost 100% of the loans are repaid on time and in full.

The need might be as small as $100 to buy chickens or goats, or seeds for a crop. This represents wealth in these developing countries. We are enjoying this new found freedom to help people who wish to help themselves. Their shared success will amaze you and encourage you to become a Kiva lender. Check it out at Kiva.org and see the real meaning of giving. For these people the worm will turn and you can help it happen.

Incidentally Kiva now manages hundreds of millions of money across the world with outstanding success.