Some of Our Best Friends Have 4 Legs

Meet your friends at the farm and support kindness to animals:
Gene and Lorri Bauston found a living sheep abandoned on a stockyard “dead pile in 1986. Once they recovered from the shock, they rescued the sheep, named her Hilda, and went to work created Farm Sanctuary. Within ten years, Farm Sanctuary became the nation’s largest farm animal rescue and protection organization. They now have a New York shelter and one in California, 100 miles north of Sacramento. Their Website is www.farmsanctuary.org. Not only does their organization rescue thousands of farm animals each year, but also they are also involved in groundbreaking campaigns to help animals. Another way you can support this effort is to visit a sanctuary with your kids as they are often quaint petting zoos with critters you can actually pet!

Happy Recycling Day! #EcoActsofKindness

Did you know this is America Recycles Day? We think EVERY day should be, don't you?

 

Recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20 percent and related water pollution by 50 percent. If it isn’t recycled it can take a million years to decompose… Twenty recycled aluminum cans can be made with the energy it takes to manufacture one brand new one. Every ton of glass recycled saves the equivalent of nine gallons of fuel oil needed to make glass from virgin materials.” (www.50waystohelp.com)

Speak the Language of Kindness

Muchas gracias; there are so many ways to say thank you. Try them all!

 

I learned from my globetrotting friend, Santosh that one of the nicest things a traveller can do is to learn how to say the basics in the language of the locals. He stressed that saying THANK YOU is the MOST important word of all.  His guide to global gratitude is below:

Czech: Děkuji

Danish: Tak

Dutch: Dank u

Estonian: Tänan teid

Filipino: Salamat

Finnish: Kiitos

French: Merci

Gaelic: Go raibh maith agat

German: Danke

Hungarian: Köszönöm

Indonesian: Terima kasih

Italian: Grazie

Japanese: Arigato

Latvian: Paldies

Norwegian: Takk

Polish: Dziękuję

Portuguese: Obrigado

Romanian: Mulţumesc

Spanish: Gracias

Swahili: Asante

Swedish: Tack

Vietnamese: Cảm ơn bạn

Welsh: Diolch yn fawr

Why Send a Text When a Letter Will Do?

Sending letters and postcards make the receipient very happy; a true act of love!

The things that make me the happiest have an emotional and physical effect.  And even more so when you do something for someone else.  One of the most lasting of these things is a personal letter. Being born in the transitional time between letters and computers, many people in my generation have already shunned snail mail as a way to communicate. This makes them rare, but a very inexpensive surprise. My grandmother was one of seven children, and they communicated with a round-robin letter. From mailbox to mailbox, they would add an update on their life and send it around to the next sibling. She taught me that letters are a valuable form of communication, something she’s emphasized as her memory slowly fades.

I got into the habit of writing letters and during the times where I was most stressed, a paper due, a newspaper deadline, or turmoil, I would write a letter. Letters live somewhere between thoughts and stories. They are a confidant and a piece of yourself that you can choose to scrap or share.

When I receive a letter, especially from someone who I haven’t heard from in awhile, I get a rush of endorphins, because I’m holding proof that the friend considered me. It’s the same rush I get when someone is thoughtful or goes out of their way to help me. Most friends reciprocate with a call to say how happy they were to open a personal note rather than another bill or W-2.

I followed epistolary literature in college, often using my break from studying as a chance to write letters. Perhaps letters will go the way of Wells Fargo wagons, but I’ll single-handedly support the post office as long as my friends have addresses and my fingers can write. Letters are my personal therapy, my rush of endorphins, my connection with those I love, and my alone time—my regular serving of happiness.

Honor Our Fallen Military By Helping the Troops Now

We should should really think about the military more than once a year, right?

 

Talk to United States troops we have now! Don't wait for Veteran's Day! Give an Hour is a nonprofit organization that provides free counseling to soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, including their families. This is a great way to show your support to the military while giving the affected people a place to turn to. http://www.giveanhour.org/

Make It Count: Vote Like Your Life Depends On It!

Nowadays, many of us take the right to vote for granted. Don't as it is recent for so many. 

My boyfriend is first generation American Chines, an “ABC.”  His family was unable to vote or even own property until the Civil Rights Act passed LBJ in the sixties. He tells his children to “make it count” and passionately follows local, national and even international events and politics. Get educated about the governance of your own neighborhood in addition to the national political landscape. Exercise your right to vote. Voting is a sacred right that is one of the most important parts of our political system, going back for centuries in our history. Be informed about what is going on in your country, know what ideas you support and are against, and vote on each Election Day to speak for the public—you will be heard.

Your Daily Decisions Can Help Preserve Our Rainforests

Our rainforests are the lungs of the planet; let's do all we can so we can to preserve. 

Recycling saves the rainforest and there are lots of thoughtful chioices you can make. 

Here are some other things you can do to save the rainforest.

• Don’t keep tropical birds or reptiles as pets. Let them live in nature.
• Buy items made from sustainable wood. Hardwood teak and rosewood encourage logging and deforestation, another rainforest destroyer.
• Recycle all your cans. Bauxite is mined from the ground in tropical countries and is the source for aluminum.
• Buy local, organic food whenever possible. Conventional agriculture is exhausting our forests’ resources.
• Support any organization that is legitimately working to protect the environment in developing countries and in precious rainforests.