Dear Reader:

Haven’t we all been guilty of watching something on a talk show, or the news, or even hearing about something right in our own community that completely ‘unsettles’ us from our daily routine of complacency? Something that seems too far out of of a social more or even just plain moral acceptance to be dismissed easily?

Yet when we considered the situation, the first thing we thought was that such and such a government agency or law or statue should not be letting this happen. “Someone” needed to fix this…Now who in the world was in charge of this problem?…Who was guilty of not following up on such and such a  heart-breaking dilemma  that was completely unacceptable in anyone’s eyes? “Who, Who, Who?” 

We find ourselves desperately trying to find “someone” to point our fingers at…to blame for the lapse of judgment in an bad emotionally-charged situation.

“Out of the mouths of babes” come more solutions than we adults are even attempting to fix. It is so much easier finding a ‘scapegoat’ to blame, shaking our heads, sighing, using a political view  to hide behind rather than reacting to our consciences , and then promptly forgetting about it…as more problems fill in to distract us.

Time Magazine made a list of the extraordinary heroes of 2019 in the last issue-recognizing the movers and shakers, who not only reacted to a disquieting problem, but most importantly acted upon it.

They were all inspirational stories…I especially love children’s heroic exploits since they always come straight from the heart…right vs wrong with no gray area in between.

Nine-year-old Ryan Kyote was eating breakfast at home in Napa, Calif., when he saw the news: an Indiana school had taken a 6-year-old’s meal away from her when her lunch account didn’t have enough money. Humiliated and hungry the little girl broke into tears. Kyote asked his mother if that could happen to his friends?

(Ryan Kyote used his saved allowance to pay off his grade’s lunch-money debt- Courtesy Kylie Kirkpatrick)

When his mom contacted the school district to find out, she learned that students at schools in their district had, all told, as much as $25,000 in lunch debt.

Although the district says it never penalized students who owed, Kyote decided to use his saved allowance to pay off his grade’s debt, about $74—­becoming the face of a movement to end lunch-money debt.

When California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill in October that banned “lunch shaming,” or giving worse food to students with debt, he thanked Kyote for his “empathy and his courage” in raising awareness of the issue. “Heroes,” Kyote points out, “come in all ages.” —M. Carlisle

You might remember a few posts ago we were talking about  the new year 2020… within the context of hindsight and foresight. But we forgot one “sight.” In the book I am re-reading Garden Spells…the book is divided into three parts: Part 1: Hindsight Part 2: Insight Part 3: Foresight. We forgot the most important sight…”insight.”

As I read all the heroic stories of 2019 in TIME magazine…I realized the one quality or personal element that all these diversified heroes shared… was their gift of insight into a solution to a problem.

These heroes didn’t waste time looking for someone to blame for a problem…instead they used time to find a solution to a problem and persevered until they succeeded.

Anne sent me this funny 20/20 dog eye chart. The dog is identifying names of dogs from their “hind quarters” …hindsight readings. 🙂

So until tomorrow…in 2020 let’s all stop the search for “someone’s” to fix our problems and instead take the initiative to use our own insight into solving the problems around us….one problem at a time.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

One of the most popular posts over a long continuum has been the post I did on Whitmire’s Jewelry Store (Pawley’s Hammock Shops) and John Whitmire’s creation of the Pawley’s Island shell that he turned into beautiful silver and gold pendants, rings…and other designs.

Libby came across a group of local artisans from Pawleys Island that use their island’s distinctive shell to make creative works of art…like this Pawley’s Island Shell Christmas Tree.