"The little Ways" to Peace and Happiness.

I am a mother of 3,who's daily life revolves around errands,laundry,child rearing,and every other possible hat that a mother could wear. How could I possibly take the time to make this world a better place? I've thought of this so many times. When I was younger I wanted to go to South America and help with the Catholic Missions there. Do what was needed to help. When I was teaching I had the honor of teaching at some of the lower socioeconomic schools that really needed someone like me who cared. But what now? When my children are my sole responsibility? How do I teach them to be empathetic to those around me,not just those that visibly need it but to those that you would never guess do?

The man who just found out his wife has cancer.
The wife who found out her husband is cheating on her.
The older lady who hasn't heard from her kids in months.
The everyday person who fights as big a fight as we do(and sometimes even greater)

So I remembered reading about a girl named Therese Martin who was born in France,the youngest of 9. Her mother died when she was 4 years old so she was raised by her father and sisters. She didn't do anything extraordinary or amazing that touched the world at the point in which she lived. She did something even greater she described her life in her book "Story of a Soul" as a "little way of spiritual childhood." She lived each day with an unshakable confidence in God's love. "What matters in life," she wrote, "is not great deeds, but great love." Therese lived and taught a spirituality of attending to everyone and everything well and with love. She believed that just as a child becomes enamored with what is before her, we should also have a childlike focus and totally attentive love. Therese's spirituality is of doing the ordinary, with extraordinary love.

I realized that one doesn't need to raise millions of dollars to help the poor of the world or win the Nobel Peace prize to make a difference. We need to do the little things to make the world a better place. Everyone is fighting a bigger battle and sometimes the seemingly perfect individual behind you in line might be about to loose it all.

I call you all to make a difference in our world by the little things.
Let the person coming out of the mall go in front of you in traffic.
Buy the coffee for the person behind you in the Drive thru line.
Smile!
Help someone with the door.
Drop a note to a friend just to say hi and hope all is well.
Take some cookies to a neighboor.
Visit that elderly lady down the street that may not have talked to anyone in weeks.
The list goes on and on.

There are infinite possibilities if we look around. We can do to make someone feel a little better. It's hard,God knows my frustration level is at an all time high many times just trying to keep my bearings with the kids. But won't our example be enough of a prize with our kids? When they learn from what we show them. Don't kids pick up on EVERYTHING? Including actions and words we would rather they don't?

I'm not asking you to completely change your life. Just make an effort to help one person a week. Then maybe a person every other day and well it will all become second nature to the point where others will catch on.
We are living in such a rough tough world. No one cares about the person next to them. As a society we have become self involved in our needs,wants and desires. We no longer look in helping our neighbor or those that are less fortunate. We tend to shun away from things that might be uncomfortable or un-fulfilling. To live in little bubbles that allow immediate gratifications to get in.

Let's change this! Slowly let's take Therese's little ways and make them our own. Make these our little footprints in the world. I know I will never win the Nobel Peace prize or discover the cure for something but If I try,just try to add these little ways into my own for the love of people and God maybe just maybe my imprint in this world will have made a difference.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

I wanted to wish you all my amazing readers and friends a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!
Let's be thankful for all the gifts God sends us each day,the ones we are know about and the ones that we don't know.
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For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Why have we grown so soft?

I was on the phone talking to my dad the other day and we were reminiscing about when my grandparents and he came from Cuba. He was a 15 year old boy who had grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth. My dad at 15 was the first to leave the Island with his aunt and uncle(mandatory army service was being enforced with Fidel's army)went to highschool in Clevaland,OH and began working odd jobs in order to make money in order to live.
Once my grandparents fled Cuba (My grandfather who had graduated with a degree in law and had worked as a bank president up until Fidel entered power)began working as an odd jobs man at a grocery store. My grandmother (who was the superintendent of the private schools in her region) became the cleaning lady at an office building.
So you see they had a lot and were left with nothing yet worked and worked until they had enough to survive. They didn't wait for welfare to kick in,if they didn't work they didn't eat. There were times when my dad would run home with the paycheck and my grandmother would run out to buy enough to eat for the day. The reason why I bring this story up is because I see more and more people have become soft. I know that life has a way of having cruel twist. But how much more cruel can life's twist be than when someone who had it all looses EVERYTHING,Flees to a country in which they barely know the language and manage to work and make a better life for themselves.
I know the unemployment rate is off the charts but I see it daily even at my husband's restaurant. No one wants to work! There is such a need for workforce in this town but no one wants to work because everyone wants management positions. I can name you 10 different people we offered jobs after they lost theirs that refuse to work for us because unemployment was a lot better than gaining a paycheck at minimum wage.
My husband and I are far from rich, we make ends meet. Literally. There have been times when our business first started where we wondered how we were going to pay for things. There are times when we have an off month and wonder how we will be paying some of the bills including all the taxes put on us by our state/federal government. YET we work, I tutor,watch our money,and we do what we can to make it. We are far from perfect but we are making it.
It seems this soft mentality is being carried on to our youth. We live in a college town and the other day I was paying for gas when out walks a few college kids with a six back in their hand one of them yelled out,don't worry about it guys..beer's on my parents tonight! I mean really? I know kids will be kids and many have walked out just fine with that mentality but is that the way to behave when the economy is where it is? Maybe the kid has money but maybe just maybe like millions of Americans his parents are working and scrapping and saving to help their son go to college.
I'm just saying we've become soft as a society. I never thought I would say this but I agree with Obama when he said "America has grown soft" but I also blame him and most in power for allowing all these welfare programs to allow us to go soft.
When I taught school one of my last years teaching I got hired to work at a predominantly Mexican school. I was one of the only bilingual teachers in the district and was a natural shoe in for the position. I have to say It was one of the most disturbing times of my life. As you all well know (and if you don't) my mom is Mexican and I have/know many family,friends working out here from Mexico as Migrant farmers,undocumented workers,etc...so this is something that has touched me..however, I was disgusted at what I saw. Being half Mexican I had many of these parents/students come to me for help fill out paperwork in order to receive government assistance. Of courses over my dead body but until recently the State of Kansas didn't require proof of Citizenship in order to receive government aid including medical coverage. Which ironically all you need is a SS# in order to receive it at this point. I knew of many parents that were making double of what I was making working and were able to receive government help since they weren't "showing income" duh they were illegal and weren't able to "file taxes" point being their kids were growing up with a handout mentality as well. Many of these students yes work hard and go on to make better lives for themselves but the disturbing trend I saw was something that shouldn't be ignored.Even Cubans coming here from Cuba now have the same mentality. They know exactly where to go and what paperwork to fill out in order to recieve Goverment aid Then all they do is badmouth this country and talk about how good they had it in Cuba..ARGH!!!
We as a nation need to Buck up! There is crud going on but it's been going on for Centuries! Think Civil war,Dustbowl era, WW1,2 etc...Life is hard,we need to as a society grow some gull and begin acting like a society and take up responsibility for our own actions. Blaming others for not getting that job,or blaming the government isn't going to resolve anything. We are like the kid throwing a tantrum because they want a cookie,yet if the kid stopped yelling and got up and acted in an appropriate manner would then receive said cookie. America,you need to wake up and start living within your means,if that means we need to take away the play station and sell it on ebay or your kid has to "God forbid"wear clothes from Walmart then so be it. Whatever your decision stop the whining.

The Littlest Victims of 9/11

Juliana Valentine McCourt, Until today I hadn't really heard or paid attention to that name. I was watching a special on 9/11 when I heard the story about her uncle being trapped in the Mariott hotel that use to lie between the twin towers. It turned out he was there for a job interview when the planes hit including (he didn't know it at the time) Flight 175 en route to L.A. which his sister and 4 year old Niece Juliana were on. I had been half listening to most stories today as a blur and reminder of how fleeting life is and when I heard their story and the fact that she is My lo's age affected me more than I could imagine. As a Catholic one believes in the afterlife and hope that many of these souls were saved due to the prayers many people have offered up for them,considering God is outside of time and space.I also pray for her and the other countless children (including those in their mother's wombs at the time) who didn't get to really experience life on Earth. It comforts me to know that souls so pure had to have found favor with God and that he allowed them in their last moments the ability to separate themselves from this pain and hold them close to him.
Having little ones brings this so much closer in perspective and I feel that the children are what's really touched me this year on 9/11. I pray for the families that they left behind and I ask for the countless little saints that came because of this to help find God in the darkness that still clouds the heart of so many that are waiting to hurt in the name of a "Religion of Peace".

Requiescat in pace
Christine Lee Hanson, 2, Groton, Mass.
David Brandhorst, 3, Los Angeles, Calif.
Juliana McCourt, 4, New London, Conn.
Bernard Brown II, 11, Washington, D.C.
Asia Cottom, 11, Washington, D.C.
Rodney Dickens, 11, Washington, D.C.
Dana Falkenberg, 3, University Park, Md.
Zoe Falkenberg, 8, University Park, Md.



Juliana Valentine and Ruth McCourt