Thursday, December 24, 2009

What 'Free Rice' Led Me To...

I almost feel that I should be writing this in the largest size I can get. Why? Because I now spend a couple of hours a day on a program called "Free Rice" instead of playing games when I get tired of writing. Oh, it has a 'game'... but the game is feeding people all over the world and I am glad I found it. I've always been a word game fan... Jessie, my mother, made up word games for us to play from the time we were old enough to talk to the end of her days, so this is my kind of website. The best thing about it is that you get a grain of rice to 'give' to those who need it with every word you identify correctly. I had so much training in words by Jess that I rarely miss a definition -- if I don't know the word, I can usually guess it by the root of the word, or the fact that it isn't the other three or four definitions. I have been managing to get 3,000 to 3,500 grains a day... and I shall continue to do that and more from now on.

I also learned a sad fact from this same place... that we are far, far behind some other countries in our aid to poverty stricken countries and peoples. Take a look at this:
International Aid -- A Solution
http://www.poverty.com/internationalaid.html


It will show you that the Scandanavian countries, plus Luxembourg and Netherlands are way ahead in their aid to the poor, while we are at the BOTTOM in giving, down below Japan, Italy, Greece and Portugal. We assume... I hear people 'assuming' daily ...that we are so big in our 'gifting' to others -- well, folks, we are not. We are at the bottom, according to the UN statistics.

Of course, that is rather a regular thing with our wealthy... they give mainly to those who can 'entertain' them, as to the theatre, symphonies, galleries, museums, etc. They tend to overlook the ill, the halt, the blind, and particularly those annoying, grimy, lazy (so says Barb Bush), poor people, not only here in the U.S., but also abroad. Even Oprah and particularly the WalMart heirs fall into this bunch. The middle class in the U.S., plus the lower classes, and even the poor... largely support those annoying poverty stricken, homeless, lost people of this world. How do I know... well, I am now, through unfortunate circumstances I won't go into... one of "the poor," living on my Social Security -- but I work hard to save up enough to give to two of my favorite groups: "Feeding America" and "Doctors Without Borders." The first tries to feed the people who need their help in the United States, while the second has been feeding children and saving lives all across the globe. They both need our help to continue the great job they've been doing.

If anyone reads this, I hope they write to our President and urge him to give the miserable 0.7% (that is LESS than 1%) of our national income that is the same as the other countries are giving, that the UN says is necessary to stop poverty in the world. Let's get our money in there with the Swedish, the Danes and the Dutch and get rid of world-wide hunger.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Why, why, why do I always seem to get involved with men who seem to find it amusing to torment me... who pull me into thinking they are interesting and fun and smart, then start riding me or teasing me or somehow make me feel that I wrong or a fool or often just make me feel rotten and terrible, just when I seem to have pulled myself out of a hole, often that some other man has pushed me into. I shall be alone once again this Christmas (mainly because I cannot stand the extreme cold weather where my children will be) and had managed to somehow have cheered myself up a bit (primarily from reading the absolute crazy headlines and writing funny limericks about some of the worst), when my latest man "friend" cut me to pieces, I guess because someone had done something to him and he needed someone to take it out on, on the most foolish and silly accusation that I took seriously... until I finally realized he was just riding me to amuse himself. I'm sure he would be absolutely charmed to discover that I now have the worst headache I have had in years... I have taken 3 aspirin... if they help I'll be able to lie down and sleep, but can't lie down yet as it makes it worse, so here I sit... writing until then......

Well, I guess I should just forget about making any more men friends. Most of my female friends are dead and gone, and new ones with brains are hard to find, but I must start searching. I do hope I can find some younger women who will put up with old me, as I cannot bear any more of my friends dying off. The year that four of my best friends died almost killed me also... and drove me into a terrible depression that I am just beginning to rise from... then this guy shows up who is out to make my life miserable. Lovely. And I was doing so well......... Well..... life is hell.....