give me a break!

I heard recently on the news that 80% of Canada's donations for the South East Asian tsunami relief must be spent in Canada, purchasing Canadian grain. This when the cost of transporting it will eat up another huge chunk of cash. A Waste of money when nearby regions are quite capable of providing the food needed, thereby reducing the costs of transporting the foodstuffs to the needy regions! Not a word from the government about changing this law, even temporarily, and certainly no softening of hearts from farmers interviewed for this news piece!

Self-interest and political tensions hamper aid efforts in Sri Lanka with its recent memories of civil war...As my daughter once said when she was quite young, as her Dad vainly tried to divide up a sweet dessert fairly between our three children, "fair is if I get more than the others." Even as a child, she had to laugh at herself at that.

As a certain bank add on tv says, somebody's hand is always in your pocket -- even in a time when it seemed as if the world had united behind the aid effort...And the man-disasters of Africa, the middle east, etc. continue, eclipsed in our limited attention by the tsunami.

I happened on this site about famous vegetarians and thought about my daughter. There is some truth to the saying about looking at the mother if you want to know what the daughter will be like. I certainly am like my own mother, more and more so as I look in the mirror, as well as in so many of my personality traits. My daughter is considering becoming a vegetarian, you see.

To her mind, the change would complicate her life, because it would take more planning. Meal planning and shopping at one time might have been a bit more difficult for vegetarians, and going out to eat certainly was boring. These days, all that is much easier. In fact, organic stuff even, is getting easier and easier to find, if one should want to go that far. Actually, initially it might be harder, as all habits take conscious thought and decision-making to change. But as with all new habits, good or bad, once established, they become unconscious, part of daily life. The harder change would be changing the comfort-factor, the things one craves in weak and fragile moments, when certain familiar things bring enjoyment and comfort. For a life-long vegetarian, comfort food is most probably a different thing than it is for a non-vegetarian, memories of summer barbecues for example having a very different twist in a vegetarian's mind.

A change in life-style is, in my mind, not unmade as much by bad planning, as it is by emotional needs. Dr. Phil would say you need to plan for those emotional needs as well....

Here's an interview with Keri Smith, on 52projects. She is a person I find quite inspiring and fun to read.

Speaking of eating above, makes this portion of that interview interesting to me.

When was the last time you made Creativity Soup? (Note: Creativity Soup
involves making your favorite soup, setting an elegant table, then eating the
soup while reflecting on five things you would like to do in your lifetime.
Complete details can be found on page 45 of Smith's book Living Out Loud.)
I am an avid soup maker, many times using it as a way of just getting out of my
head and being in the present. In fact I think I'm going to make some today.
It's a beautiful metaphor, adding things to a pot to create something that
nourishes the body and feeds the soul at the same time.

I love soup too, and I was probably the only one in the family that did, when my kids were still little enough that I cooked three meals a day regularly for them. I was thinking today as I made myself a lunch that one benefit of having a roommate will be sharing meals. Cooking for oneself is sometimes such a bore. I know, I know, it shouldn't be...one should regularly take care of oneself too.