Trying to Stay Away from the Bad Guys
Brief update: I had a check-up with the surgeon, I am healing well but not yet ready for radiation. I got a few more weeks reprieve and was reminded not to lift heavy stuff (so that the biggest incision can really heal and I don't get a hernia by mistake). The best news of all was she said I could go back in the swimming pool and the hot tub -- hallelujah! It has been a long seven weeks since the biopsy when I was forbidden to immerse myself in water but I thought it might be seven weeks more, so I am beside myself with floating happiness. It took a couple of days to get the hot tub back up to temperature, but I was back in the pool the next day, not doing anything crazy (she said to keep protecting my core so I promised not to do the butterfly...which I do not know how to do anyway). I had my second session with the acupuncturist: another hour of lying quietly in a comfortable position with 20 needles sticking in various places. Half an hour on my belly, with heat lamps to keep me warm, then he comes in and takes those needles out, I flip over, he puts in the next batch, another half hour of quiet contemplation and I rushed out the door because I was 20 minutes late to the next thing. It will be interesting to see if/when I can tell that something is different.
In all honesty, the only lifting I am doing is picking up small children when necessary. And they hold on. I know they weigh more than ten pounds. I pick them up carefully and with great awareness of my hernia potential. I put them down as soon as I can. I am pretty sure I have pushed my limits much more by hoeing spinach on my hands and knees. I can tell when I have had enough of that. It is amazing how much of your core is engaged, even when working so close to the ground.
Anyway, enough of that. Blah blah.
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The other day I got another random "cold call" in my email box. It was Fox Business News asking if I would do a 15 minute pre-interview to see if they wanted to profile our business. I thought of all the responses I could make, and decided not to reply at all. I reply to almost all my emails, even if only to decline an offer to sell outside their store or to join yet another farmers market. I don't answer the applications from Nigeria. Anyway, I did not reply because I cannot imagine why we would ever want to be in touch with Fox News. There is no way I would let them tell our story. There is no way I would want them here. Someone told me yesterday that their management has changed or something and they have a new policy of looking for other types of stories, but they have a very long way to go before I would trust them. They are responsible for and reflective of so much of what is wrong with our world.
It's not exactly the same topic, but ever since Wal-Mart gained fame and fortune by running small businesses out of town and treating its employees like dirt, I have maintained a strict policy of never patronizing that business. I know I am related to people who shop there, but no one in this household gets to shop for those low, low prices. And even if Wal-Mart truly had a change of heart and became the biggest philanthropist on earth, I am not sure I would ever forgive them for the way they got started. They are dead to me.
As I have said before, it is impossible to do all the research to find out who the worst businesses are, but when one of them stands up and shouts about its inhumane policies, or makes it a part of the business model, then you know what to do. I have not had a delicious milkshake at Chick-Fil-A since they came out so loudly as anti-gay (anti-human). That was a hard one to give up since it was a source of such pleasure, driving home from the other farm, hot and hungry, but we have not darkened the door of that establishment in many years. They would have to offer a public renouncement of their past offenses to get me back.
The safest way to shop and eat out, if not the cheapest, is to avoid chains. Or to find the chains that are most known for their efforts on behalf of their employees, etc. In my case, the easiest thing to do is not to shop at all. For quite some time now I have left the shopping to Jon who does all the errands for our house and most of the errands for the farm. He occasionally looks wistfully at the Wal-Mart ads because they really do have the cheapest everything, but he stays with my principles even if they are not making any impact on the real world. I go into a store so rarely now that I find it overwhelming, how much there is to buy. Only when we are on trips do we shop together -- I do enjoy wandering through supermarkets in other countries. That is as good as going to museums, or better.
I have not examined how I feel about Amazon (because I am afraid to, I think), but that would be a really big one to turn my back on. In the meantime, we are putting all cardboard to use as mulch, now that the recycling systems have disintegrated so badly. That is a whole other rant and probably even less interesting than this one.
It is hard to navigate in the modern world. There are so many ways to spend your money and support evil. SO MANY. But there are also plenty of good people providing good jobs, making good products, and working hard to leave things better. Once we find those places, that's where we put our money.
In all honesty, the only lifting I am doing is picking up small children when necessary. And they hold on. I know they weigh more than ten pounds. I pick them up carefully and with great awareness of my hernia potential. I put them down as soon as I can. I am pretty sure I have pushed my limits much more by hoeing spinach on my hands and knees. I can tell when I have had enough of that. It is amazing how much of your core is engaged, even when working so close to the ground.
Anyway, enough of that. Blah blah.
_________
The other day I got another random "cold call" in my email box. It was Fox Business News asking if I would do a 15 minute pre-interview to see if they wanted to profile our business. I thought of all the responses I could make, and decided not to reply at all. I reply to almost all my emails, even if only to decline an offer to sell outside their store or to join yet another farmers market. I don't answer the applications from Nigeria. Anyway, I did not reply because I cannot imagine why we would ever want to be in touch with Fox News. There is no way I would let them tell our story. There is no way I would want them here. Someone told me yesterday that their management has changed or something and they have a new policy of looking for other types of stories, but they have a very long way to go before I would trust them. They are responsible for and reflective of so much of what is wrong with our world.
It's not exactly the same topic, but ever since Wal-Mart gained fame and fortune by running small businesses out of town and treating its employees like dirt, I have maintained a strict policy of never patronizing that business. I know I am related to people who shop there, but no one in this household gets to shop for those low, low prices. And even if Wal-Mart truly had a change of heart and became the biggest philanthropist on earth, I am not sure I would ever forgive them for the way they got started. They are dead to me.
As I have said before, it is impossible to do all the research to find out who the worst businesses are, but when one of them stands up and shouts about its inhumane policies, or makes it a part of the business model, then you know what to do. I have not had a delicious milkshake at Chick-Fil-A since they came out so loudly as anti-gay (anti-human). That was a hard one to give up since it was a source of such pleasure, driving home from the other farm, hot and hungry, but we have not darkened the door of that establishment in many years. They would have to offer a public renouncement of their past offenses to get me back.
The safest way to shop and eat out, if not the cheapest, is to avoid chains. Or to find the chains that are most known for their efforts on behalf of their employees, etc. In my case, the easiest thing to do is not to shop at all. For quite some time now I have left the shopping to Jon who does all the errands for our house and most of the errands for the farm. He occasionally looks wistfully at the Wal-Mart ads because they really do have the cheapest everything, but he stays with my principles even if they are not making any impact on the real world. I go into a store so rarely now that I find it overwhelming, how much there is to buy. Only when we are on trips do we shop together -- I do enjoy wandering through supermarkets in other countries. That is as good as going to museums, or better.
I have not examined how I feel about Amazon (because I am afraid to, I think), but that would be a really big one to turn my back on. In the meantime, we are putting all cardboard to use as mulch, now that the recycling systems have disintegrated so badly. That is a whole other rant and probably even less interesting than this one.
It is hard to navigate in the modern world. There are so many ways to spend your money and support evil. SO MANY. But there are also plenty of good people providing good jobs, making good products, and working hard to leave things better. Once we find those places, that's where we put our money.
Glad to hear things are going well. Is the acupuncture to help you heal quicker? Right on about Fox! It's a little complicated about some of these big companies. Some negative-seeming things happen, maybe incidentally, because of some actions they took, but they also have power and sometimes use it to push "good" things, like more healthy food.
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