What To Do?

Driving home from cleaning the church Friday morning, I noticed something that made me wonder "what would happen if?"

In front of us was a state police troopers vehicle, a usual sight since the church is right across the street from their building. Coming from the other side of the intersection was a sheriff's department vehicle. Both wanted to go the same way, from our side the trooper taking a right, from the other side the deputy taking a left.

It worked out that the deputy sheriff was in the middle of his turn, because of the traffic pattern, just a split moment before the trooper got up there, and so he went first. It made me wonder, though, if both of them had gotten there with a bit of different timing, would both of them have demanded to go first, both being law enforcement and all, and used to going first and being in charge?

In a case like that, who would win? Especially if they had an accident. Also, when you are the police, do you call the police if you have an accident?

What if both of them tried to give each other tickets. Would they cancel each other out?

Silly, I know, but it just struck me as funny, what might have happened. What would they do?

A what to do happened to me later.

Bigger Girl is going out for the evening to a special gala event. Her friend Tammy, and Tammy's parents, are going, and she is riding with them.

I'm not sure how to describe Tammy and her parents. Tammy is 25, an only child, still living at home. Her parents were older when they had her, and they want her at home, sort of looking at her as insurance that someone will care for them over the years. They have refused to help her pay for college, refused to help her get a driver's license, and are just a bit odd.

I found out another "oddity" they have, and it put me in a conundrum. As I dropped Bigger Girl off, I stopped to ask them if I could refill my stainless steel water bottle.

I use a stainless steel water bottle because I believe that all of those bottles of water are a crime against humanity in most situations. Only in some places and certain circumstances are such things needed. In this town, where the water is soft, artesian well water, considered some of the best and safest tap water in the country, it is usually unneeded if you will only carry a reusable bottle with you.

Upon asking to get water, Tammy's mother turned to her husband and asked him to go get me a bottle. I responded that I would just fill my bottle at the tap, and she said, "We don't do that."

Wow.

Then he returned with the worst thing you can ever hand me -- Fiji Water.

Why is that so bad? Well, 80% of the mothers and young children on the island of Fiji go without safe, clean drinking water because the government insists on making money by exporting it all.

So, what to do?

I want, in all situations, to show love. That is the example of Jesus, and yes, it was love even when He was rebuking and chastising.

It would be rude and unloving to refuse the hospitality of these people. So I took the bottle and said nothing but "Thank you so much."

Yes, with the skin on my fingers wrinkled, showing that I was dehydrating, I did drink it. It was good, very clean tasting, but I do not think the nice taste is worth the cost, either the purchase price or what it costs in human suffering.


Today is:

Festival of Inner Worlds

German-American Steuben Parade -- New York City, and other smaller parades in US

Independence Day -- Chile

Johnny Appleseed Festival -- Fort Wayne, Indiana, through tomorrow

National Cheeseburger Day

National Chocolate Day

National Play-Doh Day

National Respect Day

Oktoberfest -- Germany (through Oct. 4)

Sheriff's Ride Ceremony -- Lichfield, UK

St. Joseph of Cupertino's Day (patron of pilots, air travelers, Air Force, astronauts)

Victory of Uprona Day -- Burundi

World Water Monitoring Day

Yom Kippur -- Jewish


Anniversaries Today:

Constantine II of Greece marries Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, 1964


Birthdays Today:

Lance Armstrong, 1971
James Gandolfini, 1961
Ryne Sandberg, 1959
Frankie Avalon, 1939
Robert Blake, 1933
June Foray, 1920
Jack Warden, 1920
Greta Garbo, 1905
Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, 1905
Samuel Johnson, 1709
Marcus Ulpius Nerva Trajanus, Emperor Trajan, 53


Today in History:

Christopher Colombus lands at Costa Rica on his 4th and final voyage, 1502
Ft. Ticonderoga, NY opens, 1755
The British capture Quebec City, 1759
John Harris builds the first spinet piano in the US, 1769
President Washington lays the cornerstone of the Capitol Building, 1793
Royal Opera House in London opens, 1809
A horse beats the first US made locomotive, near Baltimore, 1830
Tiffany and Co. (first named Tiffany & Young) is founded by Charles Lewis Tiffany and Teddy Young in New York City; the store is called a "stationery and fancy goods emporium", 1837
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is first published, 1842
First publication of The New-York Daily Times, which later becomes The New York Times, 1851
Old Faithful Geyser is observed and named by Henry D. Washburn during the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition to Yellowstone, 1870
The banking firm of Jay Cooke & Co. in Philadelphia declares bankruptcy, which starts the Panic of 1873 and a severe economic depression, 1873
The Blackpool Illuminations are switched on for the first time, 1879
Riots break out in Montreal to protest against compulsory smallpox vaccination, 1885
Daniel David Palmer gives the first chiropractic adjustment, 1895
A typhoon with tsunami kills an estimated 10,000 people in Hong Kong, 1906
The Irish Home Rule Act becomes law, but is delayed until after World War I, 1914
The Netherlands gives women the right to vote, 1919
The Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air, 1927
Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogyro crossing of the English Channel, 1928
Margaret Chase Smith of Maine becomes the first woman elected to the US Senate without completing another senator's term, 1948
Fidel Castro arrives in New York City as the head of the Cuban delegation to the United Nations, 1960
U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld dies in a plane crash, 1961
Burundi, Jamaica, Rwanda and Trinidad and Tobago are admitted to the United Nations, 1962
The Bahamas, East Germany and West Germany are admitted to the United Nations, 1973
Hurricane Fifi strikes Honduras with 110 mph winds, killing 5,000 people, 1974
Voyager I takes first photograph of the Earth and the Moon together, 1977
Soyuz 38 carries 2 cosmonauts (including 1 Cuban) to Salyut 6 space station, 1980
Joe Kittinger completes the first solo balloon crossing of the Atlantic, 1984
Liechtenstein becomes a member of the United Nations, 1990
ICANN is formed, 1998
The 72 year run of the soap opera The Guiding Light ends as its final episode is broadcast, 2009