Priorities

I've been thinking a lot over the past year and a half about what is important to me. I guess losing your job and then having your health threatened will do that to you. I am thankful every day that when things started falling apart with me, DH was there to pick up the pieces and keep our family afloat. Since I've not been working, I've had a lot of free time on my hands. I've read books, watched a lot of TV, surfed the Internet, played games on my smart phone. I've been decluttering my house SLOWLY (too slowly for DH, he's ready to rent a dumpster and chuck it all!!) and cooking more. I've been trying to get away from using convenience foods. It really doesn't take much longer to make cheeseburger macaroni from scratch than it does to open a box of Hamburger Helper.

I'm trying very hard to buy local and buy more natural. I read labels of food, I look for more natural alternatives to some of the convenience shortcuts that are common in recipes. I recycle paper and try not to bring things into my home that I don't need, love or use.

And I've gotten more involved in my community. Not just in PTA, but church, the Republican Central Committee and the Ozarks Property Rights Congress. I'm going to public meetings, researching what I hear, blogging about what I think of what I hear. I'm trying to do something about the problems I see around me.

Education problems, erosion of freedoms, lack of personal responsibility. Decision making bodies who were ELECTED by the people rubber-stamping every proposal that comes before them from the superintendent or city attorney or health department director or city manager or planning and zoning administrator, without researching, discussing or getting the opinion of their constituents.

All these meetings are cutting into my TV time. The research I do has cut into my Facebook time. Meal-planning has taken me away from the book I've been trying to read for the past 3 months. Walking into the local coffee shop to get my caffeine fix takes longer than going through the McDonald's drive-thru. But I feel like I'm doing SOMETHING to improve things.

If people like me don't get involved in PTA, church and community/political organizations, then we will get what we've always got. You don't like the way things are going in your PTA? Get involved. Volunteer for stuff, maybe a job no one else wants to do. Let people get to know you. Work your way into becoming a decision maker. And then be a part of the change. Don't just walk away from the group because you don't like how it's going or one of the leaders. Help them see how it could be better. And work to make it better. Don't just complain.

You can replace "PTA" in the paragraph above with any other group you are or would like to be involved in. I use PTA as an example because it was the first organization I got involved in that I stuck around long enough to become part of the change, rather than just get frustrated and quit. And what I've learned from PTA I've taken with me to the other groups I've gotten involved with.

So what is important to me?

Family is at the top of the list. I want my kids to become independent, self-reliant adults. So they have chores and responsibilities around the house. I provide healthy food for my kids and I'm teaching them how to cook and prepare their own food. I tell them I love them every day. I give them opportunities to make choices so they will learn to make good decisions for themselves. I make sure they get to bed at a decent hour and are ready for school each day. I talk to them about what they are learning. I'm available to help with homework but they have to do it themselves. I try not to nag. That's hard. But much better for them to make mistakes now than when they are older and the consequences are greater.

When I think about it, EVERYTHING I do is for my kids. I want them to inherit the best country in the world. I want them to experience the freedom and prosperity that DH and I have experienced. It's an amazing feeling to get out of bed in the morning and know that if you want to pick up and move 1000 miles away, you can start planning and do it. You can get in your car and go anywhere you want. You can buy land and build a house or a barn. You can hunt and fish, own guns and shoot them. You can do almost anything if it doesn't hurt anyone else. Well, kind of.

In some places, you can't sell vegetables you grew in your garden or even give them to your neighbors. You can't milk your goats and sell the milk to someone who wants to buy it. I'm not talking about taking your tomatoes and raw milk down to Price Cutter and letting them sell them to the general public. I mean you can't put an ad in the newspaper or on Craigslist and someone come TO YOU and buy these items.

Why not? If you have something to sell, why can't you sell it? The "powers that be" talk about protecting the public health. They have a point...but at least if I buy milk from John or tomatoes from Bob, I can go back and tell John and Bob if said items made me sick. I have an actual connection to them. I bet John would even let me come look at his milking and bottling operation if I asked. I doubt I could go see where my gallon of milk from Wal-mart was produced.

Where DH grew up, there were multiple meat processing operations (when I say meat, it could be bovine, porcine or poultry, I'm not giving any other details). I know people who worked in some of these plants. I know the stories they have told about things that happened on the line. And the meat that was being processed still made it to grocery store cases, in spite of some questionable sanitary practices.

And I worked in restaurants. Don't even get me started on what I've seen or heard what has happened to food that was served to customers.

Seems to me if you actually KNOW your customers, you might be more likely to make sure you treated the food properly. If you knew your mom was the one who was going to eat that steak, you wouldn't pick it up and throw it on the grill when you dropped it taking it out of the fridge (that was one I actually witnessed for myself. I told the cook to throw it away but he just laughed. I told the manager. He laughed too).

So here's the deal. Give some consideration to your own priorities. What do you want for yourself, for your children, for your country? Do you think we are headed in the right direction? If you think not, get involved! Involvement can be as little as making a donation to a worthy organization or reading a news article or blog about what's going on. Or it can be as much as starting your own organization or your own blog and informing as many people as possible. Or anywhere in between. But I will warn you...once you start paying attention, you will have trouble stopping.

But in the long run, I think it will be more beneficial than keeping up with the Kardashians.