Choosing Our Battles

On Comments,
"Spadoman said...
The sad part for me is that there aren't enough hours in the day to address all the issues. This one is horrible, to be sure, but so are many others. How do we pick and choose one to concentrate on? I feel like a top twirling around from one issue to another...."

I understand very well how Spadoman feels. Sometimes I become quite sad and depressed, even overwhelmed by the enormity of the problems the world faces. I go on rants that are often mixed with tears.

There has always been poverty, the hungry, children abused, abandoned, orphaned, spouse abuse (of both sexes, although the majority are women), corrupt governments, pollution, wars and man's inhumanity to man. In the past we were aware of these things but in a way, it was ages of innocence. Only now, in this Information Age, do we have instantaneous news in graphic detail of all the ills of our nation and the world until we feel that we are inundated by a tsunami of darknesss.

Although Granny does everything but hold down a nine to five outside job, she and I have more time to search the news than do our working- family readers, and we post on these news items to keep you aware and abreast of what's happening around the nation and the world. It is impossible for any one person or even any one organized group to address every problems that is presented. Many of us feel compelled to take action, to do something; we want to help make things better, to right wrongs, to create a better world and a better life for our descendents.

Since it impossible to address every problem, the only thing we can do is choose our battles. We may engage in side skirmishes here and there - like emailing our representatives or signing petitions - but our primary focus and most of our energies can be the main battle of our choosing. Granny belongs to several organizations that address specific issues; she blogs and holds her vigils. I blog, post letters and emails, and scatter Kommandos everywhere I can. Spadoman blogs and has begun holding his peace vigil. One person prints out flyers containing information and passes them around work and the community. Each person can contribute in his or her own way to make a difference.

A friend of mine concentrates on hospitalized Veterans. She has a group of church ladies that collect old jeans all year long, cut out, sew and decorate Christmas stockings from them; then they gather for an orgy of cookie making and collecting candy canes to fill the stockings to pass out at the VA hospital. Another enlists the art departments of the local grade schools for the children to make Valentine cards, 4th of July, Veteran's Day cards, Thanksgiving and Christmas cards, decorate boxes to hold the cards to be passed out at the VA hospital. (For the children's privacy, they sign only their first names to the cards and sometimes the name of their school). These are worthwhile projects to honor our veterans and let them know they are not forgotten nor unappreciated and I encourage anyone to follow suit. I can tell you that many of our hospitalized vets, especially those that are long term, often have NO visitors and sometimes NO mail. This is a crying shame!

There is an elderly woman near where I used to live whose garage looks like a tag sale run amok. She collects good, usable clothing which she mends, washes and irons and hangs in plastic bags, any workable appliances and kitchen items, dishes, linens, whatever. Neighbors know not to throw away anything usable when they get new things; she accepts donations of any household goods and has a couple of friend handymen who repair items for her. When she hears of a family whose home has burned, been destroyed by a tornado or flood, she has plenty of items to help replace what they have lost. Another lady scrounges around for items to donate to the homeless shelters. A neighbor man got a donut shop to give him pastries that would be discarded by morning, picks them up and drops them off at a men's shelter on his way to work. These may not be large, heroic actions but each helps make life better for someone.

We cannot force the government to return to the Shoshone the 90% of their lands it has literally stolen from them, but there are ways people have helped Native Americans on their reservations, where extreme poverty is rampant. Robert Young heard about some Native American elders who had frozen to death during a winter. As a result of his experience on the Lakota Pine Ridge reservation, he founded an organization dedicated to providing housing for Native Americans, helping them help themselves. See http://redfeather.org .

People donate their time and sweat in helping construct the homes, at 60% savings on cost. Volunteer labor from everywhere who can swing a hammer or lift a bale help out. I do not understand constructing homes of straw bales covered with stucco but I know that different types of construction are suitable to various climates. People have built durable adobe houses for centuries, yet in the wet Houston climate an adobe house would be reduced to a mud pile in one rainy season. Straw bale homes are cool in summer, warm in winter and free of contaminants found in conventional constructions.

Individuals can make a difference and contribute to society in their own ways by choosing their battles and winning victories. And any of us can pound a keyboard and fire off emails to keep pressure on our representatives if that is the battle we choose. Or march with signs, or blog, or help our neighbors who need a helping hand.