Late today! It's been a SERIOUSLY off week here, due to pain stemming from several different things (more on that on Monday), my second set of SI joint injections yesterday, and a head cold that has just sent everything plummeting south. YUCK! We're supposed to have gross, rainy weather this weekend, so I'm hoping that we can all just stay in and watch movies and relax, I think I need that!
Some interesting things I found on the internet this week!
*28 Maps That Will Completely Change The Way You View Europe*
I love maps. I love demographic information. I especially love maps with detailed demographic information! Did you know that Scandinavia has the highest concentration of metal bands? (I actually did know this before I saw this map.) How does Europe do when it comes to recycling? Who has the longest school holiday? This is seriously need-to-know stuff here, people!!!
You never know when this kind of info will come in handy, so give it a look. Maybe you'll be able to win at Trivia Night, or save the game for your team in a boys-versus-girls game of Trivial Pursuit in High School by knowing of the industrial nature of Manchester, England (yes, I'm STILL proud of that!).
*Pathological Consumption Has Become So Normalised That We Scarcely Notice It*
(My computer is angry at the anglicized spelling of 'normalized' above.)
'...of the materials flowing through the consumer economy, only 1% remain in use six months after sale.'
If that doesn't horrify you, check your pulse, because I'm not sure you're actually alive. Where are we putting all of this stuff? Landfills, I know, but...ugh. The thought of all of that...stuff...being made just to be thrown away absolutely guts me. WHY? In order to feel good for a few seconds? There's no need for that, for any of it. Articles like these absolutely force me to examine and re-examine my levels of consumption over and over and over, which is definitely a good thing. It's uncomfortable and not an easy thing to do, but growth is rarely easy, and neither is change. I'll continue my path of self-examination, of making changes and buying used and making do with what I have to the best of my abilities. I realize that not everyone can do this- people with more serious medical challenges need more convenience items, for example- so that makes it all the more imperative that people like me who CAN do these things, take on that burden. And it's a burden that I definitely feel is necessary and worthy.
*Stories About Teachers Who Deeply Regret Bullying Their Students*
I love teachers. They have an incredibly difficult job, especially in today's climate of constant budget cuts that come with increased demands for testing results and fears of violence at school, and yet the vast majority of them still show up and continue to be amazing. I'm honestly not sure I could be what all those students needed me to be, and I'm so grateful to the teachers who are out there in the trenches every day.
But I think everyone has suffered a bad teacher a time or two in their lives, because there are people who just aren't great at their jobs in every profession. Whether it was the teacher who genuinely disliked kids (hello, sixth grade teacher!), the one who was great at their subject matter but awful at conveying information about it ('sup, high school chemistry teacher!), or the teacher who desperately needed a comprehensive anger management course (*stares at several staff members of my grade school, including that sixth grade teacher*), they exist, and here's a compendium of some horror stories.
I've heard some similar stories from some parent friends, and I can attest to the validity of one- my son's grade school did not allow him to keep his inhaler with him. Which makes ZERO sense. NONE. My son's asthma only flares up when he's sick, so he only needs the inhaler at that time and has time to get to the nurse, but what about the kid who has a sudden asthma attack? Is that kid supposed to just sit around and turn blue until an adult gives them permission to go to the nurse's office, and then wait for the nurse to rummage around and find that particular inhaler? (The answer is yes. You'd think that they'd be aware of the liability that poses, but apparently not, because I've had multiple friends encounter this situation in their kids' schools as well.)
*Man Discovers Family of Mice Living In His Garden, Builds Them A Miniature Village*
Today in 'People Who Have Too Much Time On Their Hands'...
I love animals. Pets, wildlife, it doesn't matter, they're awesome. But mice? They're cute, but they can stay outside, and I'm not building them houses so they can stick around longer and eventually show up in my basement (or alive in my cat's mouth, thank you SO much, Reba...). Now, if we had a family of otters living out back, I'd be all about building them slides and knitting them little hats and booties and other ridiculous things. But these are some seriously cute pictures. ;)
And lastly...
*Shot and Forgotten*
When I was younger, probably ten or eleven, I realized the premise behind this article and was horrified at the unfairness of it all. Imagine you're out and about in some public space and someone comes in with a gun and starts shooting. People around you die, but you live. You end up needing five surgeries, you spend almost four weeks in the hospital, and now you're paralyzed from the chest down. Who pays for all those medical bills?
You.
You pay for them. All by yourself.
Welcome to America.
It doesn't matter that the medical bills from a situation like that could easily mount to seven figures, or that your home is now completely unsuitable for you (I live in a split-level house. The bathrooms are on the top and lower levels. If I needed a wheelchair and couldn't walk and we weren't able to afford a lift to get me upstairs, too bad, so sad, doesn't matter), or if you can't afford a wheelchair-accessible van with hand controls so you can drive, or if the medical bills just keep coming due to pressure sores from being wheelchair bound or more surgeries to repair the damage, or even if you can't afford a wheelchair (which are ridiculously expensive). You're responsible for the damage done to you by other people and all the life fallout it causes. Can't afford it? Try GoFundMe, or maybe try just suffering, which are the only solutions I've seen a few people offer. The other favorite is, "Well, the churches should be taking care of these things!" No one ever seems to have a good answer for, "How does a church afford to take care of a paralyzed gunshot victim, a kid with leukemia, three cases of autism, four elderly people with dementia, an old man's COPD, a child's cerebral palsy, two cases of Type 1 diabetes and multiple cases of Type 2, a woman with breast cancer, a severely premature baby..." Even just one of those things could easily wipe out the charity of a church, and if you've got several, well...
We've got to get a better system of caring for each other, because this 'every man for himself in the face of monstrous medical bills' is causing too far much suffering. Along those lines:
*Caring For Children With Severe Disabilities Financially Devastates Tennessee Families*
This is another heartbreaking article I just read this afternoon, and it fits right in with the first. I'm lucky that both of my kids are healthy, but for families who were affected by illness and disability, the results are utterly devastating, and it makes me want to scream. These families are struggling enough, and the way things are set up here just makes life harder for them. I will never, ever understand why some people are so dead-set on keeping the system that causes so much pain in place.
And that's it for today! *coughcoughcoughcoughcough* I'm pretty worn out and hoping for a nice, quiet weekend here. It's going to take until next week, at least, until I'm able to be productive again, but I have a stack of library books to keep me entertained, along with the endless fun of the internet. ;) Have a great weekend, everyone!
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