Thanksgiving

Namaste and thank you for taking time out of your relaxing holiday to join me in celebration of another annual Thanksgiving. Today is a holiday for rememberance and celebration in thanks of the many blessings we receive throughout the year.

When many people think of Thanksgiving they think about eating a big fat turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy, and a ton of side dishes, pies, cakes, and other confections. What makes this day great for me is the feeling of family and togetherness that comes from sharing and showing appreciation toward our loved ones and friends. All of these things are wonderful.
Perhaps many of you reading this today had to travel far and wide to be close to your family and loved ones? In that case I wish you the safest travels imaginable. Be careful out there for crazy drivers and long lines at the airport. Also it might be a good idea to take some extra vitamins if you are traveling as this is cold and flu season and I'd hate it if you caught a bug on your journey to and fro from the holiday celebration.
In addition to the wonderful shmorgasboard of delectable foods and sweets, a lot of people look forward to a relaxing afternoon watching the big football games on t.v. I'm not sure who is playing, but I'm sure it's the Dallas Cowboys vs. some jabroni team, lol... I have family that is cheering for the Cowboys, so I won't say anything bad about them, lol...
I want to keep this short and sweet so I will conclude with my wishes of good tidings and many blessings to all out there who celebrate this day. I also want to send a special shout out to those hard workers who still have to labor at their jobs on this day to help feed those in need of a turkey dinner.
Lastly, tomorrow is Black Friday, which is the antithesis of Thanksgiving; a day of thanks and gratitude followed by a debacle of greed, selfishness, and sheeple-like consumerism.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!!! This has been the one and only Quiet Mouse 420.

FOOD For Thought

Namaste and thank you for taking time or of your busy day to join me. I have been reading lately about how it is growing around the country, especially in bigger cities, where laws are being passed making it illegal to feed homeless persons.

Approximately 70% of Americans claim to be "Christian" in some form or another. With this knowledge, how can we, claiming to be moral and virtuous, deny basic human rights of food to our fellow human beings? Jesus would be considered a radical anarchist by today's standards with crazy ideas of anti-war, universal healthcare, equality, justice, and feeding those less fortunate.
In my research for this subject there was a lot of negativity on the party of those who passed these laws, which had more to do with large city tourism and money than with any legitimate issue regarding food OR homeless people. On one hand I understand they don't want homeless people in areas that are snobby and touristy. On the other hand, it's shameful to put up signs that equate human behavior to that of animals in a zoo. There are actually signs that say, and I'm paraphrasing,  basically: don't feed the homeless, they will get used to you feeding them and not be able to fend for themselves. Humans are not bears or birds. If you don't understand how demeaning this is, than you lack empathy. Even though it was my own fault at the time, I experienced homelessness at 19 years old. I slept in my car in the parking lot of the taco joint I worked at for over 2 months. While this is a short time, it taught me a valuable lesson not only about homelessness, but about being appreciative about smaller things that most Americans take for granted, like where their next meal is coming from or if they will get to eat at all on a particular day.  For me it was a LONG, DIFFICULT 2 months. Many individuals and families deal with this issue for much longer periods of time. I empathize. I feel the pain of those people and families that struggle to make ends meet and put food on the table for their loved ones. It's painful to go through.
I don't want to get off on too much of a tangent, but for every law passed is another freedom abolished...

It is shameful that in this country approximately 30% of our gross food net goes to waste either from the stores not being able to sell it fast enough or from just being thrown away by the consumers. Why then is it illegal for me to give unwanted or unneeded food to someone who IS in need? It's NOT just adults going hungry either. Many children across this nation of plenty are going hungry and are malnourished at the end of the day. Especially as we are coming upon the holiday season it is more important than ever to dig deep and find your humanity to share with others who haven't received all the blessings we have. If it is too much to give a sandwich to a homeless man, woman, or child, then PLEASE donate to a charitable institution like the Salvation Army that runs soup kitchens across the nation and donates clothing, toys, and food to those in need.
Lastly, if you DO live in one of the large cities that does have a ban for feeding the homeless in place,  I urge you to talk with your local representatives to repeal such hateful and biased laws. This has been the one and only Quiet Mouse 420.
Peace. Love. Respect. Humanity. 

TALK, TALK, TALK, TALK, TALK,TALK, TALK...

I try to listen to my fellow humans. I hear the words they say, but all I hear is talk talk talk talk talk most of the time. Words filled with idle banter of the gossip mongers, liars, and those filled with endless boredom. It sort of reminds me of the South Park episode where when Stan listens to music or other people talk, all he hears is CRAP. I feel bad about this because I KNOW as humans that we are inherently social creatures and we instinctively desire social networking with our fellow men/women.

I'm not too proud to admit I've had my social faux pas in the past which have led to current communication problems. My family had money around high school and college age so I wasn't sure who just hung around for the booze, drugs, and partying or who actually wanted to be my friend. I even feel that way about social networking websites like Facebook, which should really be called DRAMA-book, where everyone wants to be your friend, but no one actually talks to you like you are a real person. Also, it is easy to misconstrue words and their meaning via text or posts on FB or Twitter. Friendships have been lost over these miscommunications and misunderstandings. But what really grinds my gears the most is all this gossip or an individuals need to hear his/her self speak, usually about NOTHING IMPORTANT. I don't think that people understand how much negativity they are putting out into the universe. It's worse for the people who are tired and don't want to hear the endless talking about jack shit. Often those people end up becoming negative, having been worn down by the bla bla bla...
I read recently that some scientists say we are supposed to LISTEN 80% of the time and only talk 20%... and I laughed hysterically for a moment because I can't think of a single person who actually does this, except maybe ME. I try to wait until I have something IMPORTANT to talk about rather than wasting my time and energy on drab, dull, or boring conversation that seems endless and engulfing. Americans in particular are seemingly uncomfortable with ANY moments of silence, as silence is revealing of our true inner self. However, when you actually bring up issues of importance, no one has anything to say, quite often. That person was fine running their head with diarrhea of the mouth about celebrity gossip or what their friends posted on Facebook, but they cannot muster the brain power to think about others' feelings or something important like who is representing us in the political/religious arena. No one wants to talk about how we are going to FIX the problems of the world... so we are stuck in this endless cycle of TALK, but with no ACTION. DOING SOMETHING ABOUT A PROBLEM is much more difficult than running our mouths in ceaseless TALK, TALK, TALK, TALK, TALK, TALK....
EVERYONE wants their voice and opinions to be heard AND listened to, so why is it we have such a listening problem? EGO, plain and simple. Because even the stupid mouthy people think that what they have to SAY is more important than LISTENING or what the other person has to say. So we end up with this continual cycle of non-listening while awaiting our turn to speak, not clearly understanding that the person we are attempting to communicate with is doing the EXACT SAME THING TO US... waiting for his/her turn to speak. Then, in their attempt to get his/her own words listened to, they interrupt and talk over the original speaker because THEY THINK THAT WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING ELSE,.. even if that means pissing off the other person.
We should all think about our communication with others and genuinely TRY to listen. All we can do is just put out a little effort, right? This has been the one and only Quiet Mouse.