Tuesday, June 25, 2013

charity/ child-free living/ Roots of Empathy

May 28 Charity: I read in the Edmonton Journal that Singer Carrie Underwood donated $1 million to Oklahoma after the tornado.

I read in the Globe and Mail that Michael Kors (and Halle Berry) designed a $355 watch for the 100 series.  $25 will go to the World Food Program.  It is enough to buy 100 school meals for kids.

I read in 24 that Rapper 50 Cent paid for a 14 yr old girl's funeral.  Her name was D'aja Robinson and she was shot on a city bus in his hometown New York.  50 Cent posted pictures of the funeral on Facebook and said he paid for the horse and carriage that carried the casket.

Miracle birth: I found this on Yahoo.  Erica Nigrelli fainted and people around her performed CPR and used a defibrillator.  She was 36 weeks pregnant.  She died for a bit, then she gave birth to a baby girl, and then she was revived.  Erica had a heart defect that she didn't know.  There are a lot of happy and positive comments on the article.

http://ca.shine.yahoo.com/blogs/shine-on/expectant-mother-dies-gives-birth-lives-again-181037094.html?vp=1

May 31: I had talked about gas money.

"Dec. 31 Gas money: We should all express gratitude once in awhile.  I've read in books and newspapers that it makes your happier.  I learned this a couple months ago.  My dad drove to Calgary and it takes 4 hrs to get there.  He drove back and it takes another 4hrs.

In total 8hrs =$115 for gas money.  It's a good thing I take the bus to work.  It takes 1hr to get to work, 1 hr to get back.  If I drove to work, it would be 4 days and I would have spent $115 on gas.  The bus pass of $84.65 is a good price."

I then asked my friends Sherry and Leslie if I can quote them because they had something to say about it.  They said yes.

Sherry: if you take a bus 2 ways 14 days a month bus pass is cheaper than bus tix

Me: Bus fare is now $3.20. 

Sherry: so there you go. divide $89 by $6.40 and you know how many roundtrip days make a buspass a good investment :)

Leslie: Gas burns by kilometer not time.  Mileage is better on highway.  It's nearly 300 km to Calgary so 600 there and back.  For 115 dollars that's 19.1 cents a kilometer. Meaning its much cheaper than your estimate to drive to work for 4 days.  For the true cost ask your dad about his insurance cost per month and average that out per day then add 19 cents for every kilometer traveled.

Sure, but gas mileage also varies by vehicle! Also if you want to add to that- if you are paying a car loan you'd have to average in the cost of that per day as well.

Jun. 1 Eye exam: I was reading the Edmonton Journal about how May is Vision Health month.  It talked about Tamara Gauddet who's 40 yrs old and had these terrible headaches and blurred vision.  She then saw an eye doctor and there was increased pressure from fluid or inflammation from the brain.  She hadn't had an eye exam since she was a teen.

She now is a public speaker where she goes to schools raising awareness about eye health.

After I read that article, I scheduled to get an eye exam for next week.  I went to it and they had moved to a new office that was close to their old location.  The new office is way bigger with big windows.  The last time I had an eye exam was back in 2011.  I wasn't quite sure, but I remember sometime in the past 2 yrs.

Jun. 3 Child-free living: I was reading the Globe and Mail article "The Argument for Child-free living" by Elizabeth Renzetti on May 25, 2013.  A lot of readers emailed why they don't want to have kids:

"One had a genetic illness and didn't want to pass it on, another had terrible parents and was worried she wouldn't be fit for the task herself; one woman was traumatized by an offhand remark, overheard in childhood, about the pain of childbirth."

Richard231: "Population is the main driver of anthropogenic global warming.  Therefore, not having kids is combating climate change."

My opinion: I don't want to have kids because they're expensive.  To raise one child from baby to 18 yrs old, excluding college tuition, is $250,000.  It's also a lot of work and stress that isn't necessary.  You don't have to have kids.  I have to graduate out of high school and I have to get a job and make money.

When I was in my early 20s, I did think about all the conflicts of having kids.  You can't control them.  What if my daughter becomes an out-of-control teenage girl you would see on the Maury show?  When the kids are 18 yrs old, you can't control them because they are legally adults.  If they're teenagers, they can sneak out at night and you would be asleep. 

Pet care: So with caring for a pet.  When I was a kid, I wanted to have a cat, but my parents wouldn't let me.  They are so fun to play with when I was at my friend's house, and there are sometimes cats in my neighborhood that walk around my backyard.  My parents won't get a cat because it will shed everywhere, then it will scratch the couch.  They also don't like some animal walking around in the house.

Yeah, but it's not like a dog where you have to walk it and pick up his poop.  Now that I'm 27 yrs old, I see that a cat does cost money.  How much is it going to cost to feed a cat?  You have to buy a litter box and clean it, a scratching post, and some toys.  You don't need a cat.  So it looks we saved money by not owning any pets.

Roots of Empathy: I read the Globe and Mail article "Baby steps" by Elizabeth Renzetti on May 6, 2013.  She interviewed Mary Gordon who created the Roots of Empathy program where she teaches empathy to kids in schools.  More than half a million kids have gone through this program.  It's been taught in New Zealand, Australia, Germany, and the US.

The program is where a local mother brings her baby who is 2-4 months old and places the baby on the blanket.  The students from kindergarten-gr.8 observe the baby and learn by studying the baby's emotions.  What if he wants to be picked up?  How he would communicate that?

The results are one boy in Toronto admitted he stole Unicef money at Halloween.  They praised him for his honesty and offered to help him pay back the cash.  Several parents notice their kids are better at sharing the TV remote. 

One that really touched me was Darren, a 14 yr old boy who was holding the baby for a few min.  He asked: "If nobody has ever loved you, do you think you could still be a good father?"

Gordon is also in the documentary by Alex Gabbay called Love, Hate, and Everything in Between.

David Ranta: In Mar. 25, 2013, I read a 24 article: "Freed after wrongful conviction, NY man suffers heart attack."  David Ranta, 58 spent 23 yrs in prison for crime he didn't commit.  He was accused of killing a Hasidic rabbi, but then was freed after "the conviction integrity unit of the Brooklyn District attorney's office concluded that the case against him was fatally flawed." 

"Investigators found that a key witness, a teenager who picked Ranta out of a lineup, had since said he did not recognize Ranta but selected him after a detective told him to 'pick the guy with the big nose.'"

Jun. 24 Calgary: There's all this flooding in Calgary.  I read in the Edmonton Journal that we should donate money and not things.  If it's things it takes more time and effort to sort things and transport them.  If it's money, it's faster.  I read the same thing about the Oklahoma tornadoes.

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