11.20.2012

Excess Wasted & Excess Shared

I logged on to my email today, which I hadn't looked at for two days.  I had 76 messages.

About 40 of them were notices of new posts from blogs I read.  About 15 were sales notices.  The rest were spam comments on my blog.  My spam is growing. 

I knew this day was coming.  If you're on the web for any length of time, the garbage finds you.   So, I'm spending more time clicking the "mark as spam" tab, and deleting.   I hate it.   The time it takes, and just flinging all that trash into cyber-space.  It's so wasteful - a waste of words, a waste of time, a waste of energy.  Excess in a bad way.

On the flip side, the students at our daughter's high school donated food and money to 40 families this Thanksgiving week.   For the past couple weeks, they filled up laundry baskets with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and corn.  Some Spam even came in.  (It must be going around.)  Parents donated turkeys and apple pies.  And money.  $500 worth. 

40 families.  Full laundry baskets.  Whole turkeys, some frozen, some cooked.  Pies.  And cash.  Families got a Thanksgiving meal and some.   Nothing was wasted.   Excess in a good way. 

A parents' organization gave each teacher an apple pie.  30+ teachers and 30+ pies. 


Can you imagine?   This is our daughter's pie.  She teaches religion, so she has to share.  Thanks, honey!

Our daughter came home beaming because she was so proud of her students.  Very pleased they were so generous.  These young food donators are tomorrow's leaders, and it's important to her that they learn to contribute and not just consume.  Today's donation event was so successful, the school is going to try to start an ongoing food bank.  Giving and sharing and feeding at its best. 

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because of this very kind of thing.  Christmas can bring out the best in people too, but there's so much spending and wanting and getting and yes, greed, going on that it gets a bit tainted.  Even baby Jesus is kind of an afterthought.

So, here's to teenagers who fed the hungry this week, and to teachers who work hard to instill in kids the awareness that there are always people with less.

I'm also thankful for the web that enables me to share my thoughts about generous teens and impressive teachers.  Maybe one of those teens will grow up and invent a method of blasting Internet spam for good.

Here's hoping you have a wonderful, family-filled Thanksgiving with lots of laughter and delicious fare.   Be thankful for every bite.

     

19 comments:

Chatty Crone said...

Do you get spam on your blog or from your blog?

Anyway - your header is new and I love it.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

sandie

Cindy Dwyer said...

Have you thought about Google Reader? Instead of getting individual emails, you subscribe to the blogs, pull up Google Reader and read from there. Soooo much easier than cluttering up your inbox.

Mari said...

I get Spam too. I noticed that Cindy mentioned Google Reader, which I use, but you can't comment from there, so you still have to pull up the blogs.
Sounds like there are some great kids at your daughters school. The pie looks yummy!

Stacy said...

You could use the capcha feature on your blog. It's annoying for the commentor to have to do it, but it should cut a lot if not all of the spam.

Cecilia Marie Pulliam said...

What a great story, Mare, just perfect for Thanksgiving. Gives hope.
Without the word verification on my blog comments, I was getting a huge amount of spam. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

renae said...

Mare! hi! nice to see you again.

Very enjoyable message here and nice to hear your daughter's students did such goodness.

My spam goes into a separate folder and I never see it, until I decide to go empty that file. hmmmmm?

I loved your thanksgiving wishes to us and I say to you just the same, k?

betty said...

So neat with the teens getting out there to do something to help those that needed food!! A blessing indeed!!

May you all have a great Thanksgiving!

betty

momto8 said...

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday too. I love to witness young adults and kids helping others.. and love to know your daughter was proud of her students... bet they know it.
happy Thanksgiving.

Jerralea said...

I love the idea of students learning to contribute and not just consume! I also like the idea of each teacher getting a pie!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, too. Hope yours is a great one!

Kenya G. Johnson said...

Love apple pie - and that one looks so good. That's wonderful what the school was able to do for families this week - lol to THAT spam. YUCK. My husband used to eat it - FRY it and make a sandwich. That finally ended when I was pregnant. He got yelled at. ;-)

Ugochi said...

Spam! I hate spam too! Thank God for the apple pie that threw light to your day. Have a super blessed day!
Love
Found you on Becca's corner(Humble Bumble) and now follow.

Angie said...

When you stopped by you commented that I must have a nice camera. Those are pictures off the web (I try to look for ones with no copyright) and share them as a respite from text on Sunday. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

I think we all get spam at some point and we all hate it, it is part of being online and connected.....lol

I think it is a wonderful thing your daughters students have done raising money and feeding the homeless

Marianne (Mare) Baker Ball said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tamera Brose said...

What a wonderful post. That pie looks good. Target is supposed to be a really good brand.

Unknown said...

Such a wonderful thing, to share like that!!

Marianne said...

Any blog about generous teens, impressive teachers and PIE is practically a gift from heaven. Sorry I'm late, but hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sherry Ellis said...

Spam is unbelievably annoying! This morning, I had 142 emails in my box, and a lot of it was spam.

Retired Knitter said...

I have used Google and Google reader a long time and thankfully they have done a good job weeding out spam. A few get through but nothing is perfect.