Things that Are Important (to me, at least)

A friend of mine in Maine, Shelby, just posted this on her blog. It's a very helpful reminder to live mindfully and gently, and it really resonated with me as we also like to make an effort to reduce our consumerism. Last week I brought in three pairs of shoes - two pairs of boots and a pair of flimsy and very inexpensive but still loved flats - to a local shoe repair shop to be resoled. Ordinarily I would've taken the little leather skimmers off to the East End Community Thrift, my most-loved thrift store, and gotten myself another pair of $20 slip-ons. The cost of resoling them was more than the cost of the shoes, which may have once made me decide to forgo the repair, but why not just fix them? Certainly cost is a factor for me, but even more important is the idea of extending the life of something I already own. The repair cost nearly twice what all the shoes cost together, but that's okay, because I'll be able to wear them for a whole lot longer now! Plus, who wants to go through the drudgery of shopping for new kicks, anyway? Oh yeah - most women - with only a few exceptions, including yours truly. So this was a real win-win for me, you see?

Another cause that is at the top of my list: second-hand smoke and children. This week it was announced that Maryland, my dear home state, made the wise decision to join the ranks of states banning smoking in a car with children (under eight. If it were up to me - well, I won't say what would happen if it were up to me). Well done. But what really rankles me about this is the backlash from all of the folks (presumably smokers) who are irate because "their rights are being taken away." What - the right to harm your child? Do they realize what they're saying? No one is telling them that they can't smoke in the privacy of their own automobile, just not in a small, confined space where their child/children are harnessed into a car seat and can't seek cleaner air. Oh, the injustice. I guess these are the folks who are battling their guilty consciences because they know, deep down, that the government is going to great lengths to keep kids safer when these children's parents don't care enough. I know government bashing is all the rage these days, but sometimes they do get it right.