Supply and Demand

If we stop buying “MADE IN CHINA” crap, then production of said crap will eventually come to a halt.  

If we buy USA products, companies will have to INCREASE PRODUCTION OF MADE IN USA PRODUCTS.   That means hire our workers back.  

It is hard to find stuff still made in the USA. Here are links to websites of MADE IN USA products.  

This is about saving jobs, lives, principles, and the American Dream.

"Milton Hersey was not your typical corporate tycoon.  Unlike others who exploited their workers to produce the largest possible profit, he worked to better the lives of those he employed.  He built the town (Hershey) and furnished it with schools, churches, banks and stores.  He established the Hershey Industrial School (now the Milton Hershey School), then a training center for orphaned boys but now open to both genders."

“M.S. Hershey had a dream... I will buy my OWN Sugar, Milk, Cocoa beans and make candy... EVEN during the depression, he and the Company made money...”  read up on NAFTA and tariffs.  This affects us all.

(update, Hershey Company moved to Mexico.)

MADE IN USA LINKS:

http://www.madeinusa.org/

http://www.montanabrandtools.com/

http://www.usstuff.com/prodlist.htm   (this site is a database of “certified made in the USA” products.  search by item)

Let me know if you find other sources for Made in USA products!

Please visit my photography website: www.jannutgalleries.com 

Love,

Jandiana Jones

Standing Up

We were talking about certain insecurities that we seem to share, and wondering why we respond to situations the way we do.  For instance, when people are inconsiderate to you it’s bothersome for a little while only.  You don’t respond; you do let it go, forgive, go on.  

If someone treats you in a way that is really hurtful to you, do you stop right there and stand up for yourself?  Or do you just stand silent and take it; to be tormented at home by the memory of that person’s action?  We stand quiet.  We take it home.  We spend a lot of time trying to rationalize that behavior, blame it on ourselves, and deny the obvious motivation of the person and behavior…

  

When people push you around, it’s because 

• they are jealous of your abilities
• they need to think they are better than you
• they have something to gain and you stand in their way
• they simply are manipulative, controlling bullies who feel better about themselves when they push others around
• YOU LET THEM

We both realize that this personality type pushes us around because they think they can get away with it.  So we agree that standing up for oneself is really a necessary thing, but…

But… at the time of the altercation

• our conscience tells us that it is better to be kind and let it slide
• we get tongue-tied and are afraid
• we don’t want to repay unkindness with anger-or hurt-filled responses
• we like being in control of our own emotions
• maybe they’re right.  we should consider the situation from all sides before deciding what to do. 

So we were thinking.  Have we ever even TRIED standing up for ourselves?  The answer was decidedly, yes.  When we tried to defend ourselves against a person’s hurtful comment or action, we see something in the person’s face or body language.  Hurt, anger, something.  But we actually see frame-by-frame images of their reaction.  The immediate reaction from them (or others) was that now, somehow, we have become the bad guy.  Everyone sees us as having a bad attitude.  Standing up for yourself means that people will look at you as the ‘person at fault for ruining the friendship’, not the person who is just standing up for herself.  

As we both have a photographer’s eye, I wondered if other photographers see life in this frame-by-frame way, too.  The way that catches all the minute details that tell a hundred stories to us in our heads.  I have always seen the world as a composition of images and sounds.  It may be landscape, portrait, 3 frames per second, but individual moments, captured.   Those images remain in my head seemingly forever.  Some images are wonderful and beautiful; others are going to require a lot of time in Photoshop.   

How do you see?  Do you have images in your brain that you recall at will?  Do you sometimes play the doormat because you “see” someone’s reaction to you and immediately withdraw in order to not have conflict?  In complex situations or relationships, how do you salvage yourself while not harming another?

Please visit my photography website: www.jannutgalleries.com  THANK YOU!

The Plight of the Pig

The plight of the pig.

Today I saw a semi-trailer rig hauling pigs.  The steel trailer was perforated with holes so air could circulate.   I could see the pigs inside, standing, trying to get air.  I could also see their bodies were badly scratched and scraped, and they were bleeding.

I started thinking about what our world has come to, and how I didn’t really like it much.  

A trailer of pigs doesn’t seem like a big deal.  And it isn’t.  Except.  They were bleeding. 

Yep, they’re gonna bleed when they get slaughtered.  Yep, I’m gonna buy some for dinner.  

Except. They weren’t in the slaughter-house.  Nothing should have to suffer while it is living.  We have to care about things like this.  It’s what makes us human.

I don’t understand what would be so hard about taking better care of the animals of this earth for which we are stewards.   Change a philosophy.  Make a vision-statement.  Create a more humane farming practice.

Build local farms that utilize old-time methods in a modern way  (in other words, use modern facilities but let animals “free range” graze in grass, not mud or concrete.) 

• local-- utilize urban prairie, employ local people, grow food and livestock, slaughter, bring to market
• trend-- better to employ people as farmers; we don’t need another mall, do we?
• trend-- show compassion and true stewardship for the animals we eat
• trend--teach new generations about proper care of land and animals; diet and nutrition for themselves and their families
• trend-- business can make a difference and foster respect and compassion instead of greed and hatred (make the world a better place)

Big farm corporations could really make a difference in the lives of people and animals by starting these local farms.  It would save money on transport costs, minimize losses from disease, too.  

How can we get to a place where we stop causing harm to animals and each other?  How can we get to a place where what we do matters in a meaningful way?  Greed hurts not just the pigs, but it hurts people too.  Because the less we care for the animals, the more we expose ourselves to their disease and/or chemicals they have to be treated with.

I want people to live better - happy and healthy.  I want people to be prosperous, for sure, but to cause no harm to any other living thing.  I want our society to get back to a place where doing the right thing is more important than money.  

Can we change?  Is kindness and compassion lost forever?