The Reticent Butterfly’s Soapbox

I’m writing this particular entry on behalf of my wonderful husband - he hates those Tropicana commercials, and the more I see them, the more I sympathize with him.  The narrator states that the featured juice is “…made by Tropicana,” when in reality, it’s MADE by nature.  Tropicana just gets the juice from the fruit, sells it and pockets the profit, and gets all the recognition!  Let’s give credit where credit is due - Momma Nature did the work, after all! 

…to conquer Facebook!  I’ve had the profile for God only knows how long, and there are too many people I know on that site for me to not at least log in every once in a while. 

I have no clue what has brought on the sudden fearlessness…maybe starting a big-girl blog had something to do with it. 

Wish me luck!

Is it just me, or Morgan Spurlock a bit of a holier-than-thou crybaby?  Who does this guy think he is, telling us to put ourselves in other people’s shoes - does he think that he’s the only one in the world who thinks of someone besides himself?

I’ve only seen Supersize Me, and the one where he lives on minimum wage for a month, but I doubt I’ll be a dedicated fan of “30 Days.”  I mean, I guess I can see what he’s trying to prove by eating at McDonald’s three times a day, for 30 days - that doing so will make you fat, and that it’s not healthy.   Sorry Mr. Spurlock - I already knew that greasy hamburgers and chicken parts fried in fat were bad for me.   Fact is, sometimes I just don’t care - they’re tasty. 

I don’t eat Mickey D’s every day, but when I do dine there, I don’t think about what I’m putting in my body, because I don’t want to.  The fat content and calories are printed on the containers, but I couldn’t tell you the numbers.  Ignorance is bliss, I guess.  For right now, I (and my husband ) happen to like the way I look, and to quote Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich, “…as long as I have one butt instead of two,” I’m going to eat what I want.  I eat healthy most of the time, and every once in a while, I just want a double cheeseburger (no onion, extra pickle), and some of those delicious fries, covered in salt!! 

Mr. Spurlock whines about having the choice of a salad with his meal, but what I’m trying to figure out is why fast-food restaurants should be responsible for making sure that its patrons eat healthy?  If you want a salad, go to the grocery store and buy the appropriate ingredients, or eat at places that do serve salads.  Why shouldn’t business owners have the option of selling whatever they choose to sell, within the confines of the law?  People don’t eat fast food to get well-balanced meals - they eat fast food because it’s GOOD!!!  Hehe

And I have to be catty about that fiancee of his for just a moment - Alex, or whatever her name is.  In the film, she talks about their sex life, and how it’s worsened because of his unhealthy eating…it’s “still good,” but it’s worsened, apparently.  GROSS!!!  I do NOT want to know about your sex life!!!  Bleck!!!  I HATE when people volunteer that sort of personal information like they’re proud to share the most intimate details of their lives with a bazillion viewers. 

The minimum wage film also rubbed me the wrong way.  Spurlock cries about the government not raising the minimum wage in years, which I do agree isn’t right.  Inflation has certainly increased, there’s a recession, and the national deficit is somewhere in the neighborhood of nine trillion dollars.  I get all of that.  What I don’t get is the people in Mr. Spurlock’s documentary - surviving for their whole lives on minimum wage.  I don’t understand how people get a minimum wage job and never got promoted - I was promoted to manager at good old Mickey D’s at the age of 17, and before you say, “Oh well it’s different for you,” it wasn’t different for me.  I was 17 and didn’t know how to change a flat tire, let alone how to manage people, yet the powers-that-be promoted me.  My point is, that making minimum wage sucks, but if you’re stuck there, you’re probably doing something wrong.   Unless you’re disabled or something - but that’s a horse of a different color. 

 Okay, I’m stepping off of my soapbox now.  I’ll end with this - I won’t be boosting the Nielsen ratings for your show, Morgan.  Which, by the way, is a girl’s name.  And trim your facial hair - Hulk Hogan called, and he wants his mustache back

“The only cure for contempt is counter-contempt.”
–H.L. Mencken

So - I do these little “Children’s Moments” at church every once in while, and although they’re geared towards children, they’re usually a hit with the older crowd as well.  The congregation seemed to enjoy this one particularly, and I hope that you do, too!  (If it sounds simplistic, just remember that it’s written for the 10 and under crowd - they’re not stupid, by any means, but they learn differently than adults, and I don’t like to overwhelm them with information). 

For anyone who has read Mr. Lemony Snicket’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” or has seen the movie, you know all about Count Olaf, and how miserable he makes the lives of the Beaudelaire orphans.  It’s bad enough that these poor children lose their parents, and all of their lovely possessions in a fire that burns their house to the ground.  But now that they’re orphaned, they have Count Olaf to worry about.  Count Olaf, by the way, is after their parents’ fortune, and he is relentless.  The guy wants that money bad, and will go to any lengths to get it. 

The Beaudelaires are forced to live with Olaf for a while, as he is their “closest living relative.”  During their stay in his filthy, run-down mansion, he makes them cook, and clean, and share one rickety bed.  Olaf even tries to arrange a marriage to Violet, the eldest Beaudelaire, to get the money.  Something ends up happening (I won’t ruin it for you), and the children are taken away from this monster, but he follows them to Uncle Monty’s, the next “closest relative,” and does something horrible to Uncle Monty.  The pattern is set, and continues. 

I got to thinking, that although VERY sad, these books represent chapters of our lives.  Life sometimes seems like one big Lemony Snicket story.  Difference is, it usually ends more pleasantly.  The stories in the Bible can seem pretty bleak, but God does His thing, and everything’s okay. 

Take for example Naomi, in the Book of Ruth.  Naomi loses her husband and two sons, but is left with her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah.  She tells the two of them to go back to their people and find new husbands to take care of themselves, not to worry about her - she’s old, and likely won’t be able to find anyone to take care of her this late in life, and doesn’t want to burden Ruth and Orpah. 

Orpah does as Naomi tells her to do, but Ruth refuses, and says to Naomi,  “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” 

So, so far out of her tragedy, Naomi has a pretty good friend to take care of her, don’t you think?  We could all use a friend like Ruth, and I know that I could be a lot more like her when facing a bad situation - I could worry lots less about myself, and focus more on taking care of others. 

Ruth ends up meeting a kind man named Boaz, who marries her, and generously takes care of Naomi as well.  So, it looks like Naomi wasn’t so bad off after all.  Yes, she lost her husband and her two sons, which is very sad, but out of that loss came a great friendship with a wonderful woman named Ruth.

Another, BIG example of something “bad” turning into something good is the Virgin Mary’s pregnancy with baby Jesus.  I say that Mary’s pregnancy started out as a “bad” thing, because it’s not really a good thing for a woman to be pregnant and unmarried, but in Biblical times it was even worse - the woman could be put to death.  So here Mary was, a teenager, pregnant, and maybe a little scared of what people might think of her. 

But this situation ended up being MORE than okay - Joseph, the man that Mary was supposed to marry, believed in her, and they did end up getting married.  And, as I am sure you all know, Mary gave birth to Jesus, our Lord.  I’d say that that’s a pretty GOOD thing, wouldn’t you? 

The point I’m trying to make is that sometimes life is pretty crummy.  We have bad days, and we have days that make you think that things couldn’t get any worse, and then they do.  Those are the days that we have to cling to God even tighter, and know that He is looking out for us, and that maybe, just maybe, he’s using a string of unfortunate events to accomplish something very wonderful. 

Okay, just when I think that my grown-up blog is so cool and hip, I take a look around, and realize that I’m playing in the minors, and am surrounded by major-leaguers.  *Hmpf!* 

I’m trying something here, so bear with me…

I mentioned April and Dolores’ blogs in my first post, so I’m going to try to create links to their sites, so that you can see for yourself how fantabulous they both are. 

Click here to meet April.

Click here to meet Dolores. 

Okay, this is my first post, so I don’t have much to say right now, but that will undoubtedly change :D 

Dolores and April, I owe you two many many thank-yous.  You’re both huge inspirations!

I need some time to navigate and get used to the site, so ciao, for now!