I guess it was during the summer vacation that I got into the habit of listening to cable news. With the exception of "The View", daytime T.V. is pretty much a barren wasteland, and I just can't get into the reality shows. With the election coming up, well, news shows became like eating potato chips. I  just left the TV tuned to one cable station and a parade of commentary, interviews, and lively debates streamed through my living room. Before you know it, I started feeling like I knew the hosts. I was part of the cable news family. If I came upon one or two hosts who I didn't like, all I had to do was flip up or down a channel and there, again, was more cable news. When I went back to school in September, it was easy to keep up to date with my favorites when I got home, since these news pundits repeat their shows throughout the day well into the night.  
    I have to admit that I have always had an addictive personality.  Before this, I had watched "Law and Order", over and over. Before that it was "The Golden Girls" and before that "Friends". The one thing all the shows had in common was that each can be watched any time day or night on some cable station. I used to consider watching my "regular" shows relaxing. Sometimes I would actually watch, and other times they were just background noise. Maybe it's a living alone thing. Recently though, I started to realize that I was getting annoyed much of the time. My outlook was getting very cynical and I found myself getting embroiled in the T V discussions, often taking sides verbally as I listened. (uh, oh!) 
    Finally it hit me that my choice of which TV shows to obsess over was really affecting my mood. My evolution from" Friends" to "Law and Order" and ultimately 24 hour Cable News was more than a switch of channels. It was a shift  from frequent laughing to frequent aggravation. It was a drift from the comic side of life to the seamy side of life. Instead of watching "feel good" shows I was filling my mind with thoughts of crime, politics (some might say there is no difference between those two) and one world crisis (real or fabricated) after another. The fact is, for me, too much news is  becoming toxic to my spirit.     
    So I have decided to "take the cure".  I will detox my mind as I would detox my body...I will go on a news fast.; a sort of Spring Cleaning of My Attitude. For the next week, I am going to avoid all news from TV, internet, newspapers, and radio. I will replace those stressful exposures with walks in nature and drinking lots of herbal tea while watching only comical sitcoms. I might even drag out my old Bob Newhart tapes. I will drink lots of clear water with lemon twists to facilitate the purge. I have arranged for a friend to be my withdrawal buddy...a person I can call if I feel like I am going to waver and succumb to a quick Rachel Maddow or Anderson Cooper. It will be tough, but I will be strong. If someone leaves  The New York Times or the Newsday on the table in the faculty room, I will take my lunch to my classroom rather than expose myself to temptation. I will bring a New Age music cd to put on in the car so that I will be calm and not be tempted to turn on Talk Radio. 
    It will be interesting to see if, after a week, anyone notices a difference in me.

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    I never thought that I would become one of those pathetic old ladies, surrounded by empty cans of cat food, followed by a parade of feral cats who wait daily for her to feed them. I've had dogs and cats in my lifetime, and enjoyed their company, but never could be labeled an "animal lover" and always made the distinction between people and animals. Then, last September, a mangy, exhausted orange cat, with a deformed ear. damaged eye, and terribly distended stomach, parked itself on my front porch and cried for a month. Of course, I began to feed it. Then, as the weather got colder, I scoured the Internet for easy to make shelters, which, after I made one, the cat wouldn't use, preferring to whine on my porch, instead.. Next, I lined a donated doghouse with a Mylar emergency blanket, filled it with straw, and put it on my porch. The cat went in and for a while I felt better. I'm sure you know what is coming next. One really cold November night, as the wind howled and I put the heat up, I finally broke down and let the darn thing in. The cat seemed profoundly grateful, but I noticed that he kept scratching his ears. If he had been a novel, this would have been a great example of foreshadowing.  I couldn't let him stay in the house without worming, neutering, vaccinating, etc. As you probably guessed, he has Feline AIDS. Four hundred dollars later, "Tangerine" had found a permanent home. Three ear infections later, his veterinarian was able to take a vacation, on me. 
    Somewhere along the way, the word got out that there were free eats at Nona Nita's place and now, no less than 3 other cats visit my property daily to see what's on the menu. One has taken up residence on the front porch. Oh, no!
    My point in writing this is not to promote myself as such a caring person. I moan and complain the whole time I feed them. The point is that someone threw these cats away and I am writing to say  "How Dare Them!". They made an irresponsible decision that not only affected themselves and the cat, but also kind-hearted people like me and many of you, who can't sit by and watch an animal starve to death. I totally resent these people. My kids are grown and I should be free as a bird, but now, through no fault of my own, I have to be home before dark to feed the cats. You might say, "Just stop feeding them" or take them to the animal shelter. Well, the animal shelter is overflowing. There is not one within 60 miles who will take a cat. They will not euthanize an animal that you can not show ownership of, and anyone who can sit idly by and watch an animal starve to death has a stronger stomach than I. 
    The saddest part is that many of these "feral" cats are really someone's unwanted pet. They have no idea why they have been discarded and are untrained in how to fend for themselves. When my son and his wife bought their new home, the former owners just left their cat there. Can you imagine? For three months it sat by the back door and they fed it, before they finally found a shelter to take it. This kind of animal and human abuse (because their irresponsibility abuses and taxes the good will of others) happens every day. The family who left that pet had a child. What did that child learn about responsibility and respect for life? I saw where that family moved. It wasn't a financial issue. 
    So here I am, with a trashcan filled with tin cans, and a chorus of meows that serenade me daily. I can only hope that if there is such a thing as Karma, those who abandon pets will get their just rewards by feeling the pangs of hunger and disease in another life. As for me, I'm thinking of getting a shopping cart to push around filled with lots of personal items all shoved into plastic garbage bags, to complete the stereotype.

             TANGERINE



"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened".
                                                                                                           Anatale France

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    I read recently that many charities are feeling the pinch because in the present economy, fewer donations are coming in. It got me to thinking. They say that giving is good for the spirit of the giver, as well as the receiver, so how can a person continue the spirit of generosity while on a tight budget? Following is a list of 10 things you can give that will cost no more than a dollar but will open your heart to the joy of giving while making someone else's day.

1. When you are in a particularly annoying line at the supermarket (too long, cashier-in-training, etc.) let someone in back of you, ahead of you.

2. Leave a dollar bill in a public place. You will brighten someone's day since everyone feels lucky when they find money.

3. When someone is struggling to find the change at the cash register, give it to the cashier and wish them both a nice day.

4. Give up your seat on public transportation to someone, even if they aren't pregnant or old.

5. Bring your empty shopping cart to someone in the parking lot as they get out of their car.

6. Buy two newspapers at the newsstand then give one to the person waiting behind you in line.

7. Anonymously donate a bottle of hand cream or air freshener to leave in the restroom at work.

8. Demand to speak to the manager to report the good service you just received.

9. Fill the paper drawer of the copy machine at work, even though you are only going to make a few copies.

10. Leave a few stamps on the table at the post office. 

***Extra Bonus Points if you could manage to do any of these in the presence of your grandchild. If so, you will have created a "teachable moment" to discuss generosity and its value to giver and receiver. Perhaps the experience will plant the seeds of this trait in them.

For more on Enlightened Grand parenting visit Nona Nita's Nook
and click My Path Productions for ideas that support conscious living