"You teach best what you most need to learn." -- Richard David Bach

I have today off since so many clients are sick this week. Work is slow. Cutbacks have reduced referrals and everyone is suffering especially the high risk children who would have normally qualified for services. I hear this every where I go. Mental health services. School system pre-K services. Services for the elderly. We are a nation on the brink of disaster. I know there are many who would not believe that last statement but I do. Having spent my entire career working with the "indigent" population I can say with certainty that the new "indigent" are the American middle class.

This nation has changed but too many are unaware of the changes. I'm not certain what the catalyst will be to throw us over the edge but I feel certain there will be one. Or perhaps I'm wrong about one specific catalyst like a flu outbreak or a natural disaster that would set the chain reaction in motion. Maybe the festering boil of what's wrong with our country will finally cause a sepsis that we will not recover from instead.

The chaos surrounding the death of our city's police officers and wounding of the U.S. Marshall has prompted tremendous discussion. Knowing where I work people have asked me a lot of questions. Someone e-mailed me this morning asking if it was true that there was a crowd outside the shooting cheering the perpetrator on. Yes. It's true. Any many still are.

Photo Google Images

I'm not here to pass judgment. If there is one thing I do know about where I work it's that people in the neighborhood can smell insincerity on you like a shark after blood. It's a survival tactic honed from many, many years of being beaten down. I wouldn't go where I go if I thought I was better because I'm white and I most assuredly wouldn't go where I go if I was a bleeding heart. Neither attitude will guarantee your survival.

I've been thinking about this blog this morning and why I blog. It started as a catharsis. A diary with photos. What I didn't anticipated is how it would open up my world. It has been inspiring meeting fellow thrifters and crafters. It has been eye-opening meeting green folk and activists. It has been comforting fellowshipping with other parents of special needs children.

More than the above benefits, however, blogging has proven to be educational. I have learned, among other things, that I too have been dwelling in a protective bubble. ME! The die hard survivalist with the bins of rice and dried beans in my closet for "just in case" times. Blogging has popped that sucker big time. Who would have EVER anticipated that benefit? Certainly not me.

And so I'm sitting here thinking yesterday as I'm reading about the law suit involving Taco Bell that i should start sharing things like this article on the blog. Like Dissertation To Dirt does on Friday's. Like Big Mama, A Year Without Groceries, and Denimflyz does routinely.

Last night I sat sipping organic coffee, listening to the storm pounding on my window and reading my 2011 Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog. I learned that Monsanto( who brought us Agent Orange, DDT and now genetically modified seeds) has seen their stock plummet this past year as their profits have decreased by 40%. If you feel sorry for Monsanto please watch the documentaries, Food, Inc. and/or King Corn. It's documentaries like these two that have educated the public, including myself, and opened eyes that were not seeing clearly. Education works. As evidence by the declining profits.

I'm not sure when or how often I'll pass things on. My life is far to hectic to add anymore custodial tasks. But I keep thinking if I didn't know about some of these things then a lot of other people may not know about these things...and well... it's important to know isn't it?

So let's start with Taco Bell this week. We've all eaten there. It's cheap. Right?

Seriously though people. And be honest with yourself. When you sunk your teeth into that mush in that burrito did you really believe that slimy stuff you were ingesting was 100% meat? Really?

There. I'm done.

That was easy wasn't' it?