Tag: Lorie Sheffer

Guest blogger Lorie Sheffer: The common good

Historic place sign
It takes a village (photo: Lorie Sheffer)

 

It’s really not that difficult to find something to appreciate. Gratitude is good for our souls. Studies have shown that living a life of gratitude can make us happier people.

When we walk into a public restroom, we expect it to be clean. We expect there to be soap in the dispenser and paper on the roll. Someone has to do that for us.

When we go out for a meal we expect to be served food. Someone has to process it; someone has to drive it, via truck, to the restaurant. Someone has to prepare it, someone has to clean the restaurant, and someone has to make out the work schedules for the employees they had to hire. Someone had to come build the actual structure. People work to come up with the menu, and then they send it out for someone to print. Someone even had to fell the trees that were trucked to the paper plant to make the paper on which to print the food selections.

There are some jobs that are held in higher regard than others. But can you imagine if the surgical team (someone had to educate them) who is doing, say, a heart transplant, had to first design and build the hospital, design and manufacture their equipment, disinfect the operating room, launder the sheets, transport the patient, make sure the post-op room was clean and waiting and then farm and prepare their meals during their recovery? Every job is an important piece of the whole picture.

If we stop to think about all of the people who are involved in everything we do in our daily lives, it’s easy to feel a sense of gratitude.

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Guest blogger Lorie Sheffer: Gratitude and respect

All American worker
What if we thought every job was performed by heroes?

 

Memorial Day and Veterans Day are celebrations of and thanks to our men and women in the military. They most certainly deserve our appreciation and our respect.

Why, then, are other occupations treated with such nastiness? Why the generalizations?

“Those lying politicians!” “Those damned doctors!” “Those grease-monkey mechanics?” “Those crooked lawyers!” are a few of the doozies I’ve heard just in the last week. Can you imagine making such sweeping statements about someone in the armed services? And yet there are, in ANY line of work, a few bad apples. For example Jeffrey McDonald, the Green Beret who so famously murdered his pregnant wife and two young daughters in 1970, or the huge problem of sexual assault in the military did not ignite a cry against all others who serve.

“Laying their lives on the line”; like Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy. And what about the lucky ones, whose would-be assassins had bad aim? Presidents Reagan, Ford, Truman, Jackson and both Presidents Roosevelt. What about Harvey Milk, a man who knowingly put his life on the line, and lost it, for the equal rights of others? Let’s remember those who were horribly wounded and left with permanent disability, like former Press Secretary James Brady or US House member Gabby Giffords. Every single one of them “those damned politicians”.

I wish we had a day that honored all professions. I suppose Labor Day is intended to do that, although it mostly marks the end of summer. I’d like to see a day that honors the hard working men who collect our trash every Friday morning, no matter the weather, dodging impatient motorists. Imagine life without them. I’d like to honor the doctors and nurses who worked so hard to pull my brother, father and husband back from the brink of death. I’d especially like to honor the ones who volunteer with Doctors Without Borders, who willingly go into danger zones to save the lives of others. I’d like to honor the furnace repairman who comes out in the middle of night in the dead of winter, the plumber who gives up his day off to fix a broken pipe, the farmer who grows the food I eat, the waitress whose feet are killing her at the end of her shift. I’d like to thank those damned engineers; “you know how they are”. They’re the ones who design just about everything we use in our daily lives. Thanks to the lawyer whose compassion and knowledge helped guide us after the death of our cousin. Above all, I’d like to thank those “Grease Monkeys”. I remember seeing the grease embedded in my father’s hands, inhaling the smell of it on his clothing when he came in after lying on his back on a cold concrete floor for 12 hours. I thank him when I help him up the steps or retrieve his cane for him. His mobility is severely limited from all of those years of hard manual labor. He wanted to retire at 80, but he only made it to 78.

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Guest blogger Lorie Sheffer: Twelve Weeks

Small dog 16 years old
Exercise first and foremost is designed to keep us active and active has a long list of benefits.

 

It’s been twelve weeks. Five days a week, an average of forty-five minutes a day. On the rare day it’s exceptionally hot and humid or pouring rain we may only go for twenty-five minutes, but if it’s relatively comfortable we may stay outside for over an hour. Only one day did we cancel, due to lightening and hail.

We have graduated from staying on the sidewalk to climbing some hills and going through uneven fields. On hot days, one of us may even go for a wade in the creek. (One of us not being me.)

Her owner says he can tell she is getting fit. She seems to have dropped a little weight and her behavior is better. She is going to be 16 years old soon, and her energy is boundless.

My hip pain is almost non-existent, the tendonitis in my ankle is at least 75% better and I now sleep through the night. My anxiety is almost entirely manageable. Would I have committed to this daily routine with such enthusiasm had I known that my weight would remain unchanged? I’m honestly not sure. I’d like to say that all of the positive changes would have been more than enough to motivate me, but truthfully, not shedding any weight has been a real downer. Sorting family photos last evening shone a light on the harsh reality that genetics are not on my side. Longevity, yes; slimness, not so much.

I need to send this to Jeff for tomorrow’s posting. I have a little dog waiting for me, and she’s ready for our daily walk. It’s cool and cloudy. We’ll be walking for at least an hour today.

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Guest blogger Lorie Sheffer: Only for an audience

Edgar Allen Poe Books
Lorie Sheffer asks great questions and we are privileged to read a few below. (Photo: Lorie Sheffer)

 

By now, most of us have heard the inspirational saying:

Dance as if no one was watching,

Sing as if no one was listening……

Would you also write if no one were reading? Would you cook if no one were eating? Would you still do the right thing if no one were paying attention?

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Guest blogger Lorie Sheffer: Looks

Cheese Goblin for Halloween
Lorie’s Cheese Goblin she makes every Halloween or her grandson (photo: Lorie Sheffer)

 

I just saw a video experiment. A young man dressed like a street person, then acted like he was terribly sick. He fell to the crowded sidewalk, begging for help. Nobody assisted him. He then showered and shaved and changed into a suit. Same scenario, only this time multiple people stopped to help.

There was a lady who used to sit in front of the city market house. She wore lipstick on her forehead and she talked to herself. People made a big arc around her to avoid getting too close when they passed by. The Avoiders were usually people who weren’t from the city, as pretty much all of the regulars there knew her. Instead of making the arc of avoidance, they merely ignored her. I smiled and said Hello and commented on the weather, and she looked like she was going to cry because someone actually spoke to her like she was a human being.

My dear friend was the subject of cruel gossip in her small town. She was The Hoarder. She “looked like a Goddamned bag lady”. After her rather sad and tragic death, one good neighbor commented that she was glad The Bag Lady was dead. She actually smiled and clapped her hands.

It’s typical to hear comments about kids who wear their pants hanging down over the butts with their boxer shorts exposed. I mean, sure it looks incredibly stupid. But is it really all that different from the “hippie freaks” of our day? “Pull your pants up!” sounds pretty much like, “Cut your hair, you hippie freak!”

I heard some of the older folks make rude comments about “the guy with the green hair” at a social event I attended. Who could this loser possibly be? Well, he was a family friend, a graduate student who scored at the top of his class.

There’s a fear factor about anyone who looks or behaves differently.

AND…… there seems to be this horrible idea that some lives are worth more than others because they are more important; more respectable.

Years ago, I listened as the keynote speaker told a group of first year medical students this: “If you can distinguish between a diplomat and a homeless person, if you see more value in the life of a famous/wealthy/successful person than you see in the life of an indigent person who is found in an alleyway, then please feel free to leave. This is not the profession for you.”

Sure, most of us want to present ourselves in a certain way. But perhaps we need to remember that one of the most important men who ever walked the face of this earth did so bearded and barefoot, hair hanging to his shoulders. With his dark Middle Eastern looks, had he lived in this modern world he very well may have been stopped for questioning in any airport in America.

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