What Is Wrong with People?

Day 146. 

What Is Wrong with People?

My local area was featured on the national news yesterday, maybe you saw it. Sadly, it was not for anything good. Our area is the latest to have another one of these now too frequent small town shooting incidents and this one left four people dead and two injured. It is devastating to see these incidents on tv and even more unbelievable to watch the events unfolding in my own backyard and happening on the roads that I travel daily. Our local schools were on lockdown all day and numerous businesses closed down. Police are still in a standoff with the suspected shooter this morning. Residents displaced by the day's events for safety have been given temporary shelter at a local college while law enforcement officials are trying to bring forth resolution and answers. Unfortunately, I don't think there will be any answers that make sense. I don't think the current "solutions" being implemented make much sense either. I'm not going to offer up my thoughts about gun control...I don't think that's at the heart of issues like this. Instead I'll just say that in my opinion I think people who commit crimes of this nature probably have issues and mental illness that contribute to their actions. Let me be clear...I do not believe that most people with mental illness are likely to commit crimes. I also have no specific knowledge of the individual in this particular case. However, I do think a common denominator for crimes like this that make no rational sense must be some type of (likely untreated) mental illness.  So rather than encourage you to buy an American made product today I would rather suggest a donation to an American organization, NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness http://www.nami.org). This isn't necessarily a "solution" either, but my hope is that if more people get the help they need perhaps we will have less of these devastating situations. My heart goes out to my neighbors in the community who were directly affected and our thoughts and prayers are with you.

A couple of years back I worked with a talented young woman to produce a music video for an original song she wrote to address feelings and attitudes about mental illness. This seems like a day to share it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIf1i5C6meE

The View From My Desk

Day 145.
 The View From My Desk

It's one thing to spotlight an item here or there that's made in the USA, but this morning I decided to just glance around my desk and see how many things I could identify as made in the USA that are regularly a part of my daily activities. The only problem is that many items in my desk have been removed from their packaging, so I couldn't tell with everything, but here are a few common items I had in my work area that are made in the USA.

 

There are plenty of items I use on a daily basis that are made in this country. And now you've had a chance to see my messy desk!



Cubes of Patience

Day 144.
Cubes of Patience

Yesterday I waited in a cash register line for 36 minutes...to reward my patience I bought myself a cinnamon cube pop.

http://www.espeezcandy.com/cinnamon-cube-pops.php

I don't know why, but somehow it helped...and was made in the USA.

A Service I Don't Want to Miss

Day 143.
A Service I Don't Want to Miss

Around the holidays we talked about how American-offered services make great gifts as well. While perhaps not exactly a gift,  there is one service I really do not want to go without... mail on Saturdays.  As someone who frequently uses the U.S. mail, I feel compelled to speak out on behalf of our nation's letter carriers. Please voice your support if you value this service as well.

http://deliveringforamerica.com/

Let's be vocal!

Wrap It Up!

Day 142.
Wrap It Up!

I find myself doing a lot of gift wrapping in the month of March. Since I have several friends and family members with birthdays this month, gifts for participants in a program I direct and any myriad of other occasions coming around the corner, I will be wrapping up a storm. So I began my search for American made wrapping and came across these offerings from Nashville Wraps.

http://www.nashvillewraps.com/pages/madeinusa/showpage.ww?page=madeinusa

The thing I appreciate most about their website is that they have a specialty page tab for American made products so you can quickly see at a glance what they offer that is made in the USA. That's something I love to see and I hope more websites will consider adding a similar tab for easy consumer reference. I love to see that!

An Interesting Article

Day 141.
An Interesting Article

I found an interesting article from USA Today that I wanted to share with you. This describes some information about the trend towards buying Made in the USA products and was well worth the read...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/01/21/made-in-usa-trend/1785539/

What I find most interesting (and heartening) are the statistics about many Americans being willing to pay a little more to purchase a product made in the United States. Supporting industry in this country is not difficult to do, however I think a lot of it does have to do with the consumer's state of mind.

My New Car Battery

Day 140.
My New Car Battery

Last night I had a dilemma. I am supposed to be driving our car in a parade tomorrow, however when we pulled it out of storage (this is a summer vehicle that has been put away since the fall)...you guessed it...dead battery. And not the kind you can revive with a couple of jumper cables. This battery was six feet under and not coming back to life. So, the challenge was to get this battery replaced...even though it wouldn't budge...and, incidentally, it was located in a very convenient spot (note the sarcasm) behind the tire!

Well, I ended up being helped by some great guys who got my battery swapped out for a new Autocraft battery. While chatting about the car drama I inquired about the origins of the battery...my after hours mechanic/vehicle rescuer made a call to look into this for me and returned with some great info. He told me that these batteries are manufactured in the United States. Wonderful to know and thankfully the car is back up and driving just in time for the parade!