I was watching CBS's Sunday Morning Show about a piece they had about the Global Warming Concert of 7/7/'07 yesterday and one of the persons interviewed was suggesting that if we merely returned with our own coffee mug to your local coffee shop, that may be a small thing but it would help with global warming.

Let's set the record straight shall we.  Would you want to go into an establishment that allowed people to bring in not only their dirty coffee mugs but how about their dishes.  Let the person behind counter take your dirty dish and put a new serving on it or refresh your coffee.  Do you know why your waitress never touches your mug?  There are laws against it, she brings the coffee to the table and pours it from the pot into your issued mug from the establishment, because it was cleaned there.  To do otherwise would open up a whole litigation of lawsuits about how your local coffee shop made you sick.

I truly don't know what the solution is here, but when I heard him say that about the coffee mug return it made me wonder, hmm is there a way that this could be done safely so as to not end up in court.  Case in point: the woman who sued McDonald's because they didn't tell her that the coffee was hot when served to her and it accidentally spilled into her lap.  Now every coffee cup has the words "HOT" on them.  If we return to our local coffee shops with our favorite mugs that are still stained from years of several cups do we really want anyone having to handle them without a warning on the cup, "WARNING: Coffee mug was just picked up from the floor of my pickup, then I picked out the strands of hair and hayseeds out of it!"

Quote of the Month

"Take one thing with another and the world is a pretty good sort of a world,

and it is our duty to make the best of it and be thankful.”

~Benjamin Franklin

The longer any of us live the more we find life to be full of wonderful events.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to just listen to our hearts and realize that every single little thing that happens in our lives is of significance. 

Take something as simple as a family gathering.  In it's most elementary form, is a time of celebration of the feast of good times present and of good times to come.  

We all look forward to this event.  Maybe not so for others, however.  I can't dwell on the terrible things in this world, just the good things.

Today, our fellow Morning Optimist Club members, went out to our little two mile stretch of highway in which we picked up the discards of our fellow travelers along

US Highway 30.  You can only imagine some of the various things that people will toss out of there windows, rather than go to a local gas station and throw out their trash there.  Or better yet, bag it and take it home with you.  Sadly, we found the remains of a box of Christmas decorations, along with a set of little children's Santa hat and stocking cap.  We all felt that we were witnessing the remains of someone's moving box, however sad, it must of flew out of the back of a truck.  Sad to say this as an understatement, but I don't think this box of Christmas cheer will ever make it to it's destination.

What could anyone gain from this as a means to an end about being thankful?  Well, I'm thankful I wasn't in the ditch picking up trash when this box flew out of the truck, in my direction.  I'm certain I couldn't have been more decorated for my valentry, than after that moment of impact.

God bless and be thankful for the many volunteers in your state who pick up the litter along our nations highways and biways.  A word to the wise ones, that are above average intelligence, don't throw out your trash with your name on it!  To those I can only say that I'm thankful that I'm not as stupid as all of them.

Amen.