A Little More Good News Today

I'm not ignoring Israel, Syria, and Lebanon or this country's silence. I've been reading and reading.

I keep coming back to square one. The more I read, the more despair I feel and I can't think of anything to add that hasn't already been said. I keep thinking a plague on all their houses, including ours. I do believe this country with its behind the scenes manipulation in the Mid-East is at least partly responsible and now, having squandered what good will we might have had in that region, are powerless.

Unless inspiration strikes in the middle of a sleepless night, that's it for me. I'll just keep reading and praying that somehow sanity will prevail.

In the meantime, I found this upbeat article in the NYT by way of Truthout.

People are converting their front lawns into vegetable gardens and getting rid of the expanse of pretty, but useless grass. As might be expected, some of the neighbors are up in arms. Probably the same neighbors who disapprove of clotheslines in our back yards. They're all about show.

*****

As the great-granny of a 13 year old girl with cerebral palsy, I've worried about her future. This article, from the same edition of Truthout, gives me hope.

Maryland, Vermont, and New York have begun programs to assist disabled persons in starting their own small businesses. The example shown here is a vending machine business run by a man who suffered brain damage as the result of an accident.

Also from Truthout, this somewhat related article. I had never looked at statistics and now I find I'm part of them. I'm a great-grandparent/legal guardian of a disabled child. And I'm female. This puts me in the majority along with foster parents and single women. Single men account for a tiny percentage of those raising disabled kids.

While I never take statistics at face value, it reflects what I've seen where I live. It may be as simple as women are more apt to get custody of kids so naturally their percentage would be higher. Still, it's interesting.

I'm adding my welcome of new visitors to Worried American's and have updated the blogroll.

If you don't see your name there and would like it to be, let me know.

I'll get back to ranting eventually.