Taking A Moment

March is already in full swing! And baby is only a month from it's birthday. Jeff and I are getting excited and a little nervous at the same time. It's a pretty big deal to have a little baby. Can you really ever be prepared for such a beautiful, miraculous moment when you go through labor and birth and finally meet your first born?! I don't think anything can prepare parents for such a day. And we've both dreamed of such a future for many years. Now our dreams are becoming a reality and it's hard to soak it all up.

It's a sunny day and I've been busy with dishes, sweeping and other household chores this morning. These basic activities seem to give me braxton-hix contractions. Or at least I'm pretty sure that's what I feel. I work or do some activity and my belly feels like lead in a sense. Heavy or tight. Not painfully so and not in an extreme way but definitely different. So after a bit of work I thought I'd take a little break to blog.

I plan to get some vacuuming done next, which I've put off or run out of time to get done for the past week. I'm also going to whip up some herbal lotion. I had herbally infused oils that I turned into salve the other day. I just picked up some aloe vera juice from Walmart and I'm going to add it to the salve along with some shea butter in my magic bullet. So exciting! This salve/lotion is intended to be really good for the skin with jojoba oil, coconut oil, almond oil, voilets, oats, calendula and yarrow. I added a little tea tree essential oil for it's antibacterial properties and a good bit of cedarwood essential oil. So it has a nice green color and a woodsy smell. I've been putting some salve that I made a while back on my growing, stretching belly every day. It's almost 100% used up so this lotion going to be ready just in time! If there's extra I'll probably pass some on to other pregnant mommy's I know or friends who aren't afraid of homemade herbal creations.

I'd also like to get some cookies made for my husband today. He's been wanting some for a while now. It's tricky because I don't have a mixer/kitchenade so making cookies is a bit more difficult but it's still doable.

Well.... it's gonna be a busy month getting everything ready to go for baby! But I'll blog more about all the baby plans later. Time to get back to homemaking! I sure am thankful my husband is willing to go to work and let me stay here and be a homemaker! What a blessing!

Last Day of Class

The 15 days of CNA class are already coming to an end. Today is the last class and actually it's more of a State Exam practice round, or a "mock exam", to help us students prepare for the big test. On Tuesday we had a Final Exam for the actually class. It was a written exam and a whole lot easier than I'd imagined. Everyone in the class passed and so we'll each be moving on to the new chapters we'd hope to open in our lives. It's pretty cool because it's a group of 7 students, myself included, and we've all gotten along so wonderfully that we're more a group of friends than we are a bunch of people dutifully rolling through the motions. Our instructor is wonderful. Her name is Bobby and she can be both wise and professional, yet at the same time, fun and flexible. We've all fallen in love with her, and it's evident that everyone else in that healthcare facility loves her, too, so we're very privileged to have such a great instructor. All of us classmates decided to pitch in and get her a gift and a card to show our gratitude. It's incredible, the people you meet at the most random times and the friends you make in the process.

I made a batch of cupcakes as practice for Channing and Rachel's wedding. I'm supposed to make 130 total so I made a little batch of 21 cupcakes, frosted and decorated them. I'm going to take them to class with me for all of my CNA friends. It's been a good experience.

Well, I'd better run or I'll be late for class! Adios.

Two Weeks Notice

In the course of a month the my little world has turned and twisted down new roads and towards new goals. As you know, on the first of the month, Jeff and I started courting. Then during the middle of the month I put in my two weeks notice at my job. I'd almost quit a month before and the boss talked me into staying, but the split shifts, near 100 miles of driving a day and 2 hour commute had started taking it's toll. After a year and 3 months, and lots of experiences and lessons learn, I was facing vehicle issues that were so bad I wasn't sure if I'd make it to work. So quit instead of get fired seemed like a wise idea. With the added bonus that it was time to try a different career besides milking cows and put a different skill on my resume. The day after I put in my TWN I found a car on Craigslist, was able to pay for it in cash (a new experience for me... and exciting to try doing things the "Dave Ramsey way).

Now I'm about to head off for the first day of CNA class. I've been offered a job as a CNA, provided I pass the class. I have a lot of work cut out for myself but I'm excited for this new adventure and I know God will give me the strength, courage and brains to tackle this changing world I face.

Hope you all are having a blessed Monday. Let's keep God in the forefront of our thoughts week!

Amazon

There's something about shopping that I can't stand. Perhaps it's the temptation to buy everything I didn't go into a store to get. Or maybe it's the crowds of people making you feel like you need to hurry and make up your mind, get your stuff and get out. I know shopping isn't really that daunting... and people are much kinder than that. Yet, when I'm constantly driving to and from work each day the last thing I want to do is go drive again to the store.

So sometimes I just hop on Amazon, click a mouse instead of push a cart, and then wait for a few days. I just ordered my barn boots this way. After visiting the two farm stores in my area I've discovered that they seldom carry women's boots in my size. Unless they're made from cheap plastic/rubber and pink in color. Umm... ya gotta mean business when you go to work. No pink boots.
Well I looked on Amazon and the brand of boots I like did carry women's boots in my size! BUT... they were WHITE. White. In a barn?! ....I don't think so. As a last resort before humbling myself and buying the cheap pink books was to order men's size 5 boots. After waiting with great anticipation and struggling through a week of working in boots with hardly any tread the new boots arrived! And fit wonderfully. No more 45 min. drives to the big farm store on the other side of the city to be disappointed by their lack of options. No more pick boots from the local farm supply store.

Anyway, I did a little clicking on Amazon today. In under 5 minutes I had something for my body, something for my soul and something for my spirit.... and I was done shopping. :)

For the body: Activated charcoal. The stuff is like magic. I can't believe this stuff isn't a common household remedy. It's black and pretty messy when it's not contained, though it doesn't stain. It can be taken to help with stomach flu, alcohol poisoning... and other poisons. It alleviates gas and bloating. It can be applied topically to an insect sting. Some people use it to brush their teeth... other people take it as a regular dietary aid. It has so many awesome uses. Google it!

For the soul: Elf. Yeah... the movie. It's been forever since I've watched, but I remember it being pretty funny. Since we don't have that many movie rental options living way out in the sticks like we do, I figured I'd just buy it. I've been telling my parents they should watch it for a while. You never know with my parents. They'll either laugh historically the whole time or they'll think it's the dumbest movie in the world. I watch the movie, "What About Bob?" with my grandma once and we laughed so hard that we were sore the next day! My parents couldn't stand it. Then I tried to get them to watch "The Cobbler" with Adam Sandler. Because it had Adam Sandler in it they were convinced it would be a not-so-clean movie. Well, they eventually watched it and laughed historically. I have no idea what makes them tick... but it's amusing so it's worth the attempt to try out Elf on them.

For the spirit: Over the Top. It's a book by a  Russell Fralick. I was driving to work one morning and the radio station was broadcasting him telling his story. Perhaps it was his Irish accent that kept me tuned to the station. He told of being an Atheist and how he came to God through an incredible life intervention while rock climbing. It was a pretty crazy story... so I figured the book might be a worthy read.

Well... yep. That's it. Yay, for Amazon shopping. Oh, I also purchased some cranberry chutney from a little store in Northern Wisconsin. We used to be able to find it in our grocery. Now I search for it every time I go to a new grocery store with no luck. Therefore in spite of a little extra shipping charges it'll be nice to taste a little cranberry chutney again after years without it.

What It Means to Be A Person, Part 3

Understanding.... Being understood...
I like how Robert Fulghum puts it,
"Hide-and-seek, grown-up style. Needing to be sought. Confused about being found."

In continuation of my train of blog posts, like What It Means to Be A Person, Part 2.... 

If a friend were to hand me a book and say, "Please, read this book. I'd like for you to understand me better," I would certainly read that book. It is the essence of being human, this desire to understand others and most especially, the desire to be understood. Yet, I suspect there are people who care more about being understood and less about understanding others. It is not always selfishness in the case of these people but maybe just how their personality works and what their interests are. What the ratio of understanding to being understood is in each of us is probably chalked up to how we were raised, what our interests are and what type of personalities we embody.

For me the desire to understand others is top heavy. Not that I don't not want to be understood, but there is something about humans, who they are and how they interact that fascinates me. I want to know about body language, voice inflections and speech patterns. I want to know what they think, why they think it, what their hopes and dreams are and what they're doing to make those dreams a reality. I want to know about their mothers and fathers, their siblings, their friends, their education, their hobbies, their favorite foods and their feelings on politics. I probably come off sounding like an interviewer and I think a lot of people feel uncomfortable when asked a million questions. Questions make us feel vulnerable, especially if we do not know the purpose that the questioner is asking them. It is only over time that I can prove that my questions are 100%, genuine interest.

Perhaps this interest I have in people is due to my personality? I know that Myers-Briggs Typology isn't the be-all and end-all. There are flaws and misgivings about the science behind the psychology. However, I've read up on my personality type and it feels like finally someone understands me. Or perhaps more than being understood, it is the fact that I'm  not the only one with the crazy traits that define me. I'm not the only person who is care free and childish, at the same time as deeply wishing to understand the universe. I'm not alone in my tendency to procrastinate. I'm not the only one who doesn't one to be follow just one profession, but many chase many interests. There are other like me in the world, and I'm not crazy for being who I am... in spite of the many folks who disapprove of or fear my unconventional ways.

What brings this to my mind in particular is a book I read this Summer titled, The Comprehensive ENFP Survival Guide, by Heidi Priebe. It made complete sense to me and explained traits that I've felt so overwhelmed by or that have made me feel like an unsuccessful human for possessing. I don't say that in the worst sense, but just the frustration we all feel when we're trying to wade through life with our strengths and weaknesses. The book was an eye opener. It showed me that I'm not alone, there are other people who are just like me, and it showed why I am the person I am. It was easy to read and easy to understand. I found myself laughing with delight because I could relate so much to the author's words!

I generally kept to the privacy of my room while reading, as if to guard a secret. Mostly because I am a private person when it comes to my feelings. In fear that my poor, sensitive self will be hurt I gaurd my feelings at all cost. This is of course something I never realized about myself, and hope to overcome one day.... to be less sensitive and more open.
Anyway, one night I was determined to enjoy the company of my family and sat in the living room with them, while reading this book. My older sister asked what I was reading, and when I told her, her first response was and eye-roll and, "You've got to be kidding me...." She wasn't trying to be mean, but it just struck her as ridiculous that I'd be reading about personality and putting so much interest in the matter. Isn't life about being selfless, after all? I understand her thoughts on the matter but if we cannot understand our own feelings and thoughts how are we ever to get along with others? How are we to mature and grow? If we cannot understand how we are different from other people how are we supposed to appreciate others for their differences?

My mother comes to mind. She and I are very different. We're both extroverted and strong-willed, but lets just say she's the type of person that prepares, plans and is precise. Whereas I am the type of person that procrastinates, is spontaneous and go-with-the-flow. Granted we are not always such extreme opposites, but when we have contrary opinions it generally makes for a mini war. For many years I never knew why we disagreed on so many stupid, little, unimportant things. Then I learned about typology and discovered that more often that not, we are coming to the same conclusions from different perspectives. I learned that I we can see the other's viewpoint we can then compromise or try to relate, or perhaps stand our ground to the death.  But it doesn't have to be a mess of confusion.

It seems that what Paul the Apostle write in Romans 12:3-4 relates to the matter,
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:

As I've stated before and will state again, personality stuff isn't the most important thing in the world. It's good to stay open and not let these things dictate your view of others. But if it offers a few helpful hints along the bumpy roads of life, then it's worth giving a chance.

What It Means To Be A Person, part 2

Continuing my train of thought on my post, "What It Means To Be A Person":

Humanity: It's a curious thing. We were designed with the unique ability to evaluate ourselves. The conscience. Further we are able to choose how we act and react to our surroundings. Free will. We are created in the image of God. With a temporary body and and everlasting soul. Born into a world of corruption with the privilege of accepting God's grace and then given the opportunity to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling". Encouraged to treat those who occupy this earth with us with the same dignity and respect we desire from others.

With all of these intricate tasks before us, giving and receiving with other people, it is essential that we understand our own behavior and the behavior of those around us, in order to live in harmony. That is why so many of us are interested in personality tests and languages of love. We desire communication and connection.

Since I wrote my last post on Myers-Briggs I wrote an article for the newspaper regarding the subject (which won't be published till August). In my research I discovered that there are a lot of people who believe Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) isn't as accurate as it should be. It isn't consistent. For example have you ever taken the test a few times in a row only to get different results each time? Also, people don't like the use of dichotomies; that the test allows only for one extreme or another. Introvert. Extrovert. Thinker. Feeler. I agree... generally we are all a mix of two extremes. Anyway, there is are a lot of articles on the web with the opposing arguments if you want to check it out for yourself.

I wouldn't ever recommend putting all of your "trust" in one assessment or test. There are a lot of other personality tests and quizzes out there and you have to take each one with a grain of salt.

BUT... I have noticed, for myself at least, that after enough studying and putting two and two together, a lot of the different personality tests from various perspectives do match up to show the same traits that I demonstrate daily. That I have a particular personality. Here are a few various tests that I think are super cool that I feel match up with Myer-Briggs pretty well:

1. The Color Code

Or another similar test: True Colors
(Explanation here)

2. The 5 Love Languages

Here's one that I keep reading good things about but haven't taken or studied yet:
3. The Big Five

They seem to match well in the end. From the true colors perspective, I was a Blue and Orange tie... for MBTI, I'm and ENFP... my love language is a tie between Quality Time and Encouraging Words.

Each definition of these personality expressions relates well with the others. I'm an outgoing people-person. I like action and spontaneity. I'm a pretty good procrastinator. ...and so-on.

If Myer-Briggs weren't accurate at all then I wouldn't be able to relate so well to the things about my ENFP personality type. Like this hilarious article: Your ENFP Care and Handling Use Guide and Manual
The night before I read it I'd stayed up way too late reading articles on my phone and denying my need for sleep. While reading this "ENFP manual" I was so tired and when I got to the part about making and ENFP go to sleep and taking away any distracting devices I started laughing so hard that I thought I might stop breathing!

Anyway, it's time for me to head to work. This blog post is probably riddled with bad grammar, run-on sentences and other horrors. Frankly, I don't have the time to edit, so please forgive the insanity.

What It Means To Be A Person

It was a Thanksgiving evening a good number of years ago, when my uncle decided that we were all sedated enough by the fullness of turkey, stuffing and pie, to trick us into taking a personality test. Indeed, we were too full to protest to sitting down in front of a questionnaire full of seemingly nonsensical questions, so we agreed to be Uncle David's personality guinea pigs.



In our vegetative state of mind we were quite certain that Uncle D. was full of it and this Dr. Phil phoo phoo was just another post-modern phase.

 

As each of us took the test and read our results we couldn't stifle laughter or the contemplative "ah-ha" moments. It was a little more spot on than we'd figured. Of course, Uncle D. was over our shoulders like the evil mastermind finally bringing into submission a whole planet of minions. Okay... well maybe he wasn't that devious and I'm sure he just wanted to encourage conversation and better understanding among the family (though I thought he'd enjoy that depiction since he's an INFP, aka the personality type that believes fairy tales are real).

Ever since that revealing day, personality typology has been a subject of interest in my family. I am guilty of convincing all of my friends, and most anyone who I think won't be too weirded-out, to sit down to a personality test. Some of the tests are better than others. If you haven't ever discovered what your personality type is, I highly recommend it. Or if you have taken it already, it never hurts to take it again. I discovered that my personality has changed (or maybe my understanding of who I am has grown?) since the night Uncle Dave enlightened us to personality profiles. This one, by Human Metrics, is my favorite right now. This test is based on the Carl Jung and Isabel Briggs Myers typology.



I must say, these tests and ideas are not the be-all and end-all. They aren't going to give all of the answers for your life or completely figure you out to a T. They're more like guidelines. Very good guidelines for understanding who you are better, what it means to be you, why you do things the way you do them... and so on. It's not about right or wrong. It's about who we are as people, and understanding who we are will give us more security and curiosity to go out and understand others better.

It's fun. It's not the end of the world. And who knows... it may give you some much needed peace about your personality as you'll discover that, in fact, you aren't horrible for being a babbling extrovert or an I'd-rather-be-alone introvert. Or for making detailed plans for your vacation... or doing just the opposite and throwing organized lists out the window in favor of spontaneity.

When I first took the test I was probably 15 or 16 and my result was an ESFJ. Now I'm an ENFP... (although I occasionally get ESFP).

I really like this website for an overview description of each of the 16 personality types: Keirsey Temperment Overview. It seems to give a decent, brief view of each type.



I also like this site for a little more detail of each type: The Personality Page. It gives a more in depth look at the different types.

These are just a few of the informative websites on the subject that are available out there. Let me know if you find some that you like better!

Anyway, it's good fun! Take the test if you haven't. Alas, I'm not done writing about this subject but it's 10pm... which is 30 minutes past my bedtime. I guess 7 and 1/2 hours of sleep will have to do tonight. :)

Rest

It's a chilly sort of morning with grey clouds that are giving off a steady mist. It's thanks to this bit of rain that my employers decided to let me stay home this morning. When time off does come I hardly know what to do with the myself. Torn between the many things I should and want to do and the urge to simply rest. It's important to rest and sometimes I think I forget to unwind, relax and do nothing at all. There are so many pressures that make me guilty for just sitting, but I am doing mainly just that this morning.

A little bit ago I went out to the back porch off my house and sat on a ledge; dangling my feet like a child, observing my little flower garden. Humming birds buzzed to the feeder. One took such a long draft of the sugary water that I looked at the level of the liquid, half expecting to see it drop before my eyes. He must have been a thirsty little bird.

The plant leaves were host to glistening drops of rain that caught the light of the sky and sent it back. The earth was a deep blackish, brown color, rich with precipitation. I enjoyed the tree branches with leaves that draped down onto mowed lawn like a soft gown on a beautiful woman, gracing the floor.

I picked up a book from an end-table earlier. It was titled, Everything Is Obvious *once you know the answer* . Sometimes it's good to simply acknowledge that I don't know everything... in fact I don't know a lot, and that I don't need to know all of the answers right now. Learning is a process that takes years and is a journey that must always be traveled but never concluded.

Resting feels wonderful because it allows your mind to stop having to come up with the solutions to every problem on earth and it gives your body time to heal from the constant strains of life. The real amusing part is that there is research that suggests that when you allow yourself to rest, you are actually giving space for your subconscious mind to have the time to work on problems. This can be accomplished through sleep and daydreaming. That's where the real work happens and the real solutions to dilemmas are discovered.

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. - Genesis 2:2-3

Child Sexual Abuse

This is the most recent article I've written for a local newspaper. It's such an important and ignored topic. I hope this article encourages more discussion and effort towards preventing and stopping child sexual abuse.

Why Parents Should Be Brave
Five steps for dealing with child sexual abuse

Last month, a sting operation was conducted in Eau Claire, WI in which 8 men were arrested for soliciting children for sex via online avenues. Stories like this make the news for one day and dissipate as quickly as they come to our attention. Yet, 1 in 10 children are abused before the age of 18, so why is the issue of protecting the innocent from abuse such an ignored topic? While there are efforts being made to raise awareness and prevent this violence, sexual abuse is still grossly under-reported. There are plenty of sources that help to educate children and parents on avoiding predators and sexual abuse. However, predators often do much damage before they are detected. The question we are afraid to ask is not 'how do we prevent our children from being harmed?' but rather, 'what should we do if and when they are?'

1. Believe and protect your child.
Only 4 to 8 % of child sexual abuse reports are suspected to be false and of the children who are abused, 60% never tell anyone. While it's true that children of single parents or adolescents from broken homes are more likely to be candidates for abuse, it doesn't mean sexual abuse can't happen in healthy, happy homes. One of my friends from a stable family talked of the kid who started out as a best friend and became an abusive enemy. This friend said he was abused from age 6 to 10, before he went to his parents for help. A parent of a victim gave me this advice, “If the problem is at school, your child stays home. If the offending party is a relative, you don't go to family gatherings. You remove your child from anywhere the offender might be.”

2. Getting past your pride.

If a child has been abused while under your supervision, you may feel guilty for failing to protect your child. Shame comes from knowing that you let the wolf into your safe-zone and left your child vulnerable. Pride comes into play as we try to protect our reputation and the image of a perfect family. Guardians are mortified that abuse has occurred under their watch and in many cases a child's pleas for help are often ignored by parents who would rather live in ignorance. Please, do not be one of those parents who allows abuse to go on because stopping it would make you or someone you know feel uncomfortable!

3. Nobody is above justice.

The last thing a parent wants to do is call the police, create a wave of scandal, and press charges against someone that they cannot actually prove has done anything wrong. Still, the best thing you can do for your child is expose the perpetrator and ensure that every effort has been made to achieve justice. It should be noted that if a person aids or abets a crime they are usually considered just as responsible as the actual offender in a court of law. Do not be a party to another person's crime. If an offender is a spouse, child, relative or someone you care about you can aid them by making sure they get proper help and cannot hurt anyone again, even if this means they'll serve time in a correctional facility. Whether or not justice can be attained, taking this step will give your child the confidence of knowing that you care. 

4. Utilize your soapbox.

We live in a society where people don't want to rock the boat. Yet, the people who molest children are successful because they're confident that none of their victims will reveal their wickedness. Some parents hide under the illusion that they don't want to make their child feel any more uncomfortable by telling the world of his or her wounds, but in reality secrecy only protects our egos. The male friend, whom I mentioned above, told me that his parents notified the police of the situation, however as the abuser was just under 12 years of age, they could not prosecute. The victim's parents took steps to warn other families who associated with the offender's family. The best way to hinder a pervert is to inform those who will listen of the perpetrator's behavior. Alerting others has the potential to save other families and children from going through similar trauma.

5. Seek professional help.

One victim told me that he was better off than many of his acquaintances who'd been molested, because his abuse hadn't been kept a secret. His immediate family, extended relatives, and friends knew of his abuse. It wasn't comfortable having his injury be made public but because people knew what he'd gone through he didn't feel isolated or abandoned. Children need to know that they don't have to go through hardship alone. They need support, council and guardians who will do everything in their power to take down the perpetrators. It is important to know that most victims of sexual abuse during adolescence do not become abusers. Though for many, being sexually abused is the start to a lifelong spiral into the darkest nightmare imaginable. For these reasons it is often wise to seek out professional counsel for yourself and your child. If a child has been sexually abused it is best to contact social services and the police.

Dealing with child sexual abuse is a heavy matter that takes careful consideration and diligent pursuit of the facts. No journey is identical, other than the end goal of healing and recovery for the abused. Some people use their scars to help others to bandage their wounds and heal their hurt. Over all we discover that others have shared our sorrows and if we stand together, we don't have to let our past dictate our future.

Statistics in this article are taken from www.d2l.org. Darkness to Light is a well-cited website and an organization created for the recovery, prevention and awareness of child sexual abuse.

For 24/7 confidential support, contact an abuse hotline:
-USA National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-422-4453
-RAINN: Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network: 1-800-656-4673
-Crisis Text Line: text 741741

Thankful it's almost Thanksgiving.

The days have been full of milking cows mostly. My knees are hardly getting used to the exercise, although I think my muscles have grown from carrying around those heavy milkers. I do enjoy my job immensely.  The only thing that could be better would be milking my own cows in my own barn. I hope that will come in time.

I think we need a bigger house. Mostly so that we can invite more people to our thanksgiving feast. The head count this year is over 25 people... and will likely increase by the time we get to the big day. Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday. Not that Christmas isn't nice as well but more of the family can come to our Thanksgiving feast. I wish I could make all the pies. I love making pie.... But with my new job I'll only have four hours each day to accomplish things this week. Therefore I'll be making the apple pie. Most people don't really do apple pie justice. They make them flatter than pancakes... but what you need to do is pile your apple slices 5 inches high because when you bake your pie the apples will shrink down.


I'm getting excited already! Well, time for this girl to go get some things done. Coffee break is over.
We have a friend in the hospital, a relative who's in hospice and a friend's grandma who just passed away. It reminds me of how fleeting time is and how precious people are. Spend time with your family. Enjoy the time while it lasts. Be thankful for the abundant blessings we have in this life.
Hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

Hypertension: Keep it from affecting you.

According to the CDC:

High Blood Pressure in the United States:

• About 70 million American adults (29%) have high blood pressure—that’s 1 of every 3 adults.¹
• Only about half (52%) of people with high blood pressure have their condition under control.¹
• Nearly 1 of 3 American adults has prehypertension—blood pressure numbers that are higher than normal, but not yet in the high blood pressure range.¹
• High blood pressure costs the nation $46 billion each year. This total includes the cost of health care services, medications to treat high blood pressure, and missed days of work.²

Knowing a number of people who've suffered from hypertension I decided to do some digging around to find ways to help lower and prevent it. The last thing you want is for your doctor to prescribe for you a blood pressure medication so finding natural ways to fight anxiety, stress, and hypertension/high blood pressure were my goal.

Here are some of the methods that I've discovered, some of which are really easy or at least important to implement:

1. Homeopathic Remedies:
There is one really awesome remedy that could help a lot called Nat. Mur. and you can find it at most health stores or online.

Natrum Muriaticum

If you want to research it you can pop that name into your google search bar and read about it, but otherwise know that it helps with anxiety, stress, depression, worry, high blood pressure... etc.

A secondary remedy is homeopathic doses of Phosphorus. Although it whether this remedy works may depend more on specific indicators of your condition, it would be worth looking into if you can't find Nat. Mur.

2. Herbal Remedies:
Some of the #1's are common cooking herbs! Check out this website. Basil, cinnamon and cardamom are the top three that help.

Also on that list there is celery seed. My brother Jed goes on a fishing trip once a year with his buddies and all they eat is bacon. During this time his chronically high blood pressure goes down.   LOL ... maybe bacon is the way to go? A lot of the naturally cured bacon is made with celery. There are many who say to stay away from bacon and other highly salty foods, still it is an interesting side note. If you're interested in eating bacon I'd recommend reading Dr. Mercola's review.

ALSO.... here are so practical and tasty ways to help yourself out. Try these fun recipes! Notice the first thing it mentions is cutting salt? ....and the homeopathic remedy is like a vaccine. If you look up Nat. Mur. you'll find that it IS sodium chloride. It's such a small does though that it's like a finger print. Barely traceable. Yet, your body recognizes the "finger print" and sends antibodies to fight away the "poison" therefore actually treating your real problem!!! Win/Win situation.

3. Diet:
Salt, Sugar and Gluten....
Sugar is worse than salt for blood pressure! Sugar is like the worst thing we can put in our bodies because it creates inflammation and inflammation causes a TON of issues in our body. The problem is that sugar or a lot of ingredients that come in sugary foods are addicting. It's hard to stop eating it but sometimes you have to decided you don't want to wake up anymore with the health problems that control your life. Mind over matter.

Watch this fun little video about sugar:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4CZ81EmAsw
Another thing is WHEAT. Yes... like sugar it seems to be in EVERYTHING which makes it SO HARD to eliminate. But it's wreaking havoc in your life. According to Dr. Mark Hyman in this article (which you should read or just watch the video) "Health problems caused by gluten sensitivity cannot be treated with better medication. They can only be resolved by eliminating 100 percent of the gluten from your diet." "Gluten is also linked to many psychiatric and neurological diseases, including anxiety. depression, schizophrenia, dementia, migraines, epilepsy, and neuropathy (nerve damage). It has also been linked to autism."

One book you may want to take the time to read is Wheat Belly. Also, Grain Brain is a good book, too. To read a little about the main concepts of Wheat Belly check out this website:http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/against-the-grain-how-wheat-wrecks-your-health.html
And if you're sad because gluten-free means no more tasty foods check out The Gaps Goddess! Her lovely photos of healthy desserts will make you change your mind. :)

4. Reduce Stress:
Find ways to get rid of the unnecessary stresses. Too many activities... focusing on problems... letting them overwhelm you. This isn't something I can give you any particular info on because I'm not in your head. You know your thoughts and which things are causing the most grief. Talk to someone, pray, remove things that cause stress in your life and find time to relax. This will help greatly. Check your daily routine to make sure you're getting enough sleep, proper diet, sunshine and things to keep your equilibrium and tranquility at top notch.

5. Be Happy:
No, seriously... if you're feeling glum maybe you need some B happy vitamins. B12 is a good place to start. B6..... or maybe a B Vitamin Complex? Sometimes we're just deficient, often times due to diet (gluten often prevents the body from absorbing the nutrients our bodies so desperately need). Vitamin D is also important and you can get a test through your doctor to determine if your levels are low. Check out Dr. Mercola's products or some other healthy resources for vitamins and supplements.

ACE's and Shoelaces

A friend shared a fascinating article on Facebook the other day titled, 7 Ways Childhood Adversity Changes Your Brain and it's too good not to share.

It's amusing because the article refers to telomeres which are,"the protective caps that sit on the ends of DNA strands, like the caps on shoelaces, to keep the genome healthy and intact. As our telomeres erode, we’re more likely to develop disease, and our cells age faster."

It's funny because the first time I heard of telomeres my friend Courtney's brother, Chris, was telling us about them and that was exactly how he explained them! A very clear and easy-to-understand analogy.

This article relates our childhood stresses, or ACE's - Adverse Childhood Experiences, with our adult illnesses. Something we've all had a gut feeling about without the science to back it up.

Really, I like information on humanity because I like humans. Understanding people individually and as a whole is a big part of my life. This article is a must read.

Salve

I made salve once again. I first tried making salve two years ago... and my supply (on top of giving a bunch away to friends) has lasted up to this year. It quickly became an essential part of the medicine cabinet so it was easy to decide to make again. I went out and collected flowers and herbs and weeds and warmed them in a crock pot for about a week. Things like plantain, elderflower, red clover, comfrey root powder, yarrow leaf, common mallow and wild rose petals. This time I ordered some cute jars off of Amazon and they arrived just in time for me to add wax to the salve and jar it.

Here are some pictures of the process:

Madea's Quality Relationship Advice

This is great.... well, it's funny but it's so incredibly accurate and true. Good advice about people in our lives. Some people are in our lives for a lifetime and some people are around for a season... and it's important to know the difference between the two.

Listen to Madea's Tree Lecture. It's one you won't forget....

"Look at all this milk!"

As you know, we sold our dairy cows, but being spoiled and rather used to drinking our pure, unadulterated raw milk, we kept a few cows. At first we were only milking three and since we had calves to feed there was no spare milk to drink. Then our most favorite and highest producing cow freshened and we had a surplus of milk! ....and a few days later our pet cow, Maggie, freshened! So we have milk coming out of our ears! Since it is (sadly) still illegal to market and sell raw milk we have had to think of ways to use up what we've been blessed with.

I haven't minded the extra work as I've been able to experiment in the kitchen with recipes I hadn't been able to try before! =) Butter, butter milk, ice cream, sherbert, panna cotta...
I thought I'd share a few pictures.... so your mouth could drool a little, too. ;)

So first it started by letting the cream rise. Jersey cows are know for their high components (i.e. their milk comes with a lot of cream!) and butter was in order:

 

Our antique butter churn with wooden paddles. It does the trick!!

Well, we can only go through butter so fast, even though my family is known for going through (at least) a pound of butter a day. I decided it would be wise to make ice cream:

Vanilla came first.

...next it was strawberry.

I also made some Lemon Sherbert (not pictured), which didn't look as pretty but tasted incredibly good!

Through a perusal of the milky recipes the internet had to offer I learned of an Italian dessert, maybe similar to flan.... though easier to make, called Panna Cotta. 

The reveiws online were raving about how easy and tasty Panna Cotta was. I simply had to try making it. The results were rewarding... and everybody enjoyed it!

Since I didn't have the little dishes, known as ramekins, I made it in a big pan which worked nicely as well. Of course I had to share all of my baking adventures on Snapchat. My poor Snapchat friends. ;)

I used a cookie cutter to make the experience a bit more delightful, and since Valentines Day is this weekend, a heart was the shape of choice.

This is a recipe worth making!

Yesterday was my brother Channing's 18th birthday so I had to bake a cake. It was supposed to be a Black Forest Cherry cake. 

 

I started following the recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens cook book only to get to the dry ingredient section and realize I was supposed to make something gluten free. I had to call my sister and get a different chocolate cake recipe... and I ended up combining the two (since I'd already made the butter & fudge-like batter supplies). I used ground flax meal and coconut flour instead of all-purpose flour... I added extra eggs (like, 6) and added some extra virgin olive oil. It turned out to be the most delicious and moist cake I've ever made. And I've made a lot of cakes!

I made a "Fluffy White Frosting"... which consisted of egg whites, cream of tartar and a sugar-water syrup. It was so tasty that I had trouble keeping everyone from eating it before I was able to frost the cake!

Well.... I thought I'd finished making the cake. BUT.... adding a little chocolate really made a world of difference!! I think it turned out to be the prettiest cake I've ever made as well. :)

 So when are you coming over to try something sweet?! :)

Mullein Flower Oil

In the Fall, as the golden rod is displaying it's yellow hue, you may notice some tall, straight plants with yellow flowers at the top. Mullein plants. You can see them in ditches all over the country side. Unique looking.... with big, fuzzy, wooly leaves.

They are biannual. The first year you can spot their leaves growing among other wild foliage. Then in their second year they send forth a tall shoot, where at the top you will find a lovely cluster of small, yellow flowers. (look up mullein plants on Google for an image)

This past Fall I went on a hike with my friend, Hannah, to pick mullein flowers. We gathered maybe a cup or two and then set them out to dry just for the evening. This was a good idea because there had been plenty of bugs we'd managed to bring home on the flowers.... who, fortunately, crawled off my collection before it was time to bottle them.

After a short airing-out period I put the flowers in a small jar, covered them in olive oil and put the lid on, beginning the cold infusion method of making an herbal remedy. The next day I opened the jar to remove air bubbles that had been trapped (sort of like you'd do when preparing a jar of veggies you are about to pressure cook). Sealing the lid back on I left the jar in a sunny windowsill and let it alone for almost two months. Then, when the time was right, I strained the flowers from the oil, discarding them. I put the oil into cute little jars that I'd purchased on amazon, which may have been the most fun and exciting part. :)

The next step was to wait..... for someone to get an ear ache!

Sure enough as the season grew colder and sickness was starting to plague the community, my brother developed a terrible ear ache.
Now I've heard that antibiotics help fight an ear ache but each year, as the immune system becomes resistant to the antibodies, the ear aches hurt worse and worse. ....and ear aches are painful enough. If the mullein flower oil worked then this would be good news, indeed.

My mom warmed the oil up and dropped it into my brother's troubled ear. He'd had the ache since the day before and hadn't slept a wink because the pain was so unbearable. Literally, within less than 5 minutes, he'd fallen fast asleep and received much needed rest because the oil had provided relief. The mullein flower oil was a success!!

Although I can't say for sure, I believe the infusion is supposed to relieve swelling, pain, and fight infection, though it cannot be used on a punctured eardrum. Some say they use it on other external issues as well. I still have a lot to learn about the mullein plant and it's healing properties but I am quite happy with the results it's flowers produced!

For more information, Google, "Mullein Oil for Ear Pain". I also found a lot of helpful advice for how to administer the oil on Greenster.com.

How To Use Mullein Flower Oil:
-Warm oil slightly, put some into the affected ear with a medicine dropper and plug loosely with a cotton ball.
-Don't use if ear drum is punctured.
-In addition, echinacea and goldenseal are supposed to be effective in helping fight ear aches.

Genesis 1:29, "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth..."

An Article from Imprimis

Here's an article that is worth a read. In fact it is worth a lot more than that. It's something to think about and act upon. 

It presents a case for the disease of victimhood that so many countries have propagated through dirty politics and the promotion of the dependence of the people upon the government. A culture that produces the growth of lazy, low class minions to the diminishing of family life, morals and hard work.

This article is applicable not only to countries worldwide but to individual citizens of every nation. It is a matter of ethics. 

"If at any time all labour should cease, and all existing provisions be equally divided among the people, at the end of a single year there could scarcely be one human being left alive---all would have perished by want of subsistence." 

-Abraham Lincoln 

The Worldview that Makes the Underclass

Anthony Daniels
Writer and Doctor

ANTHONY DANIELS, who often writes under the penname Theodore Dalrymple, is the Dietrich Weismann Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. Born in London in 1949, he qualified as a doctor in 1974 and has worked in various countries in Africa and elsewhere. From 1990 to 2005, he worked as a doctor and psychiatrist in a prison in Birmingham, England. He has written a column for the London Spectator for 14 years, and writes regularly for National Review and the Wall Street Journal. He has published more than 20 books, including Not With a Bang But a Whimper: The Politics & Culture of Decline, The New Vichy Syndrome: Why European Intellectuals Surrender to Barbarism, and Life at the Bottom: The Worldview that Makes the Underclass.
The following is adapted from a speech delivered on May 20, 2014, at a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar in Dearborn, Michigan.
I worked for 15 years as a doctor and psychiatrist in a general hospital in a poor area of a British city and in the prison next door, where I was on duty one night in three. The really dangerous people were in the hospital, perhaps because of the presence in the prison next door of very large uniformed men who exerted a strangely calming effect on the prisoners. In the hospital, I personally examined many thousands of patients who had attempted suicide or at least made a suicidal gesture (not quite the same thing of course). They were overwhelmingly from poor homes, and each patient told me of the lives of the three, four, or five people closest to them—and I spoke to many of those people as well. I could not, of course, have spoken to so many people, and heard about so many others, without some general impressions forming themselves in my mind. One abiding impression was of the violence of their lives, particularly that between the sexes—largely the consequence of the fluidity of relations between the sexes—and also of the devastating effect of prevalent criminality upon the quality of daily existence.
Before I did this work, I had spent a number of years working as a doctor in Africa and in other places in the Third World. I also crossed Africa by public transport, such as it was, and consequently saw much of that continent from the bottom up. These experiences also helped me in my understanding of what I was later to see in England. As Dr. Johnson put it, all judgment is comparative; or as Kipling said, “What should they know of England who only England know?” Indeed, what should anyone know of anywhere, who only that place knows?
On my return to England, I used to visit the homes of poor people as part of my medical duties. Bear in mind that I had returned from some of the poorest countries in the world, where—in one case—a single hen’s egg represented luxury and the people wore the cast-off clothes of Europe that had been donated by charity. When I returned to England, I was naturally inclined to think of poverty in absolute rather than in relative terms—as people not having enough to eat, having to fetch water from three miles away, and so forth. But I soon ceased to think of it in that fashion.
In the course of my duties, I would often go to patients’ homes. Everyone lived in households with a shifting cast of members, rather than in families. If there was an adult male resident, he was generally a bird of passage with a residence of his own somewhere else. He came and went as his fancy took him. To ask a child who his father was had become an almost indelicate question. Sometimes the child would reply, “Do you mean my father at the moment?” Others would simply shake their heads, being unwilling to talk about the monster who had begot them and whom they wished at all costs to forget.
I should mention a rather startling fact: By the time they are 15 or 16, twice as many children in Britain have a television as have a biological father living at home. The child may be father to the man, but the television is father to the child. Few homes were without televisions with screens as large as a cinema—sometimes more than one—and they were never turned off, so that I often felt I was examining someone in a cinema rather than in a house. But what was curious was that these homes often had no means of cooking a meal, or any evidence of a meal ever having been cooked beyond the use of a microwave, and no place at which a meal could have been eaten in a family fashion. The pattern of eating in such households was a kind of foraging in the refrigerator, as and when the mood took, with the food to be consumed sitting in front of one of the giant television screens. Not surprisingly, the members of such households were often enormously fat.
Surveys have shown that a fifth of British children do not eat a meal more than once a week with another member of their household, and many homes do not have a dining table. Needless to say, this pattern is concentrated in the lower reaches of society, where so elementary but fundamental a means of socialization is now unknown. Here I should mention in passing that in my hospital, the illegitimacy rate of the children born in it, except for those of Indian-subcontinental descent, was approaching 100 percent.
It was in the prison that I first realized I should listen carefully, not only to what people said, but to the way that they said it. I noticed, for example, that murderers who had stabbed someone always said of the fatal moment that “the knife went in.” This was an interesting locution, because it implied that it was the knife that guided the hand rather than the hand that guided the knife. It is clear that this locution serves to absolve the culprit, at least in his own mind, from his responsibility for his act. It also seeks to persuade the listener that the culprit is not really guilty, that something other than his decisions led to the death of the victim. This was so even if the victim was a man against whom the perpetrator was known to have a serious grudge, and whom he sought out at the other side of the city having carried a knife with him.
The human mind is a subtle instrument, and something more than straightforward lying was going on here. The culprit both believed what he was saying and knew perfectly well at the same time that it was nonsense. No doubt this kind of bad faith is not unique to the type of people I encountered in the hospital and the prison. In Shakespeare’s King Lear, Edmund, the evil son of the Earl of Gloucester, says:

This is the excellent foppery of the world: that when we are sick in fortune—often the surfeit of our own behaviour—we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars, as if we were villains on necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers, by spherical predominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers, by an enforced obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on. An admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition to the charge of a star!

In other words, it wasn’t me.
This passage points, I think, to an eternal and universal temptation of mankind to blame those of his misfortunes that are the natural and predictable consequence of his own choices on forces or circumstances that are external to him and outside his control. Is there any one of us who has never resorted to excuses about his circumstances when he has done wrong or made a bad decision? It is a universal human tendency. But in Britain, at any rate, an entire class of persons has been created that not only indulges in this tendency, but makes it their entire world outlook—and does so with official encouragement.
Let me take as an example the case of heroin addicts. In the 1950s, heroin addiction in Britain was confined to a very small number of people, principally in bohemian circles. It has since become a mass phenomenon, the numbers of addicts having increased perhaps two thousandfold, to something like 250,000 to 300,000. And with the statistically insignificant exception of members of the popular culture elite, heroin addiction is heavily concentrated in areas of the country such as the one in which I worked.
Heroin addiction has been presented by officialdom as a bona fide disease that strikes people like, shall we say, rheumatoid arthritis. In the United States, the National Institute on Drug Abuse defines addiction quite baldly as a chronic relapsing brain disease—and nothing else. I hesitate to say it, but this seems to me straightforwardly a lie, told to willing dupes in order to raise funds from the federal government.
Be that as it may, the impression has been assiduously created and peddled among the addicts that they are the helpless victims of something that is beyond their own control, which means that they need the technical assistance of what amounts to a substantial bureaucratic apparatus in order to overcome it. When heroin addicts just sentenced to imprisonment arrived, they said to me, “I would give up, doctor, if only I had the help.” What they meant by this was that they would give up heroin if some cure existed that could be administered to them that would by itself, without any resolution on their part, change their behavior. In this desire they appeared sincere—but at the same time they knew that such a cure did not exist, nor would most of them have agreed to take it if it did exist.
In fact, the whole basis of the supposed treatment for their supposed disease is rooted in lies and misconceptions. For example, research has shown that most addicts spend at least 18 months taking heroin intermittently before they become addicted. Nor are they ignorant while they take it intermittently of heroin’s addictive properties. In other words, they show considerable determination in becoming addicts: It is something, for whatever reason, that they want to become. It is something they do, rather than something that happens to them. Research has shown also that heroin addicts lead very busy lives one way or another—so busy, in fact, that there is no reason why they could not make an honest living if they so wished. Indeed, this has been known for a long time, for in the 1920s and 30s in America, morphine addicts for the most part made an honest living.
Withdrawal from opiates, the fearfulness of which, reiterated in film and book, is often given as one of the main reasons for not abandoning the habit, is in fact a pretty trivial condition, certainly by comparison with illnesses which most of us have experienced, or by comparison with withdrawal from other drugs. I have never heard an alcoholic say, for example, that he fears to give up alcohol because of delirium tremens—a genuinely dangerous medical condition, unlike withdrawal from heroin. Research has shown that medical treatment is not necessary for heroin addicts to abandon their habit and that many thousands do so without any medical intervention whatsoever.
In Britain at least, heroin addicts do not become criminals because they are addicted (and can raise funds to buy their drugs only by crime); those who take heroin and indulge in criminal behavior have almost always indulged in extensive criminal behavior before they were ever addicted. Criminality is a better predictor of addiction than is addiction of criminality.
In other words, all the bases upon which heroin addiction is treated as if it is something that happens to people rather than something that people do are false, and easily shown to be false. This is so whatever the latest neuro-scientific research may supposedly show.
I have taken the example of heroin addiction as emblematic of what, with some trepidation, I may call the dialectical relationship between the worldview of those at the bottom of society and the complementary worldview of what one might call the salvationist bureaucracy of the government. In the old Soviet Union there was a joke in which the workers would say to the party bosses, “We pretend to work and you pretend to pay us.” In the case of the heroin addicts, they might say, “We pretend to be ill, and you pretend to cure us.”
One of the possible dangers or consequences of such a charade is that it creates a state of dishonest dependency on the part of the addicts. They wait for salvation as Estragon and Vladimir wait for Godot in Samuel Beckett’s play; they wait for something that will never arrive, and that at least in some part of their mind they know will never arrive—but that officialdom persists in telling them will arrive someday.
Dishonest passivity and dependence combined with harmful activity becomes a pattern of life, and not just among drug addicts. I remember going into a single mother’s house one day. The house was owned by the local council; her rent was paid, and virtually everything that she owned, or that she and her children consumed, was paid for from public funds. I noticed that her back garden, which could have been pretty had she cared for it, was like a noxious rubbish heap. Why, I asked her, do you not clear it up for your children to play in? “I’ve asked the council many times to do it,” she replied. The council owned the property; it was therefore its duty to clear up the rubbish that she, the tenant, had allowed to accumulate there—and this despite what she knew to be the case, that the council would never do so! Better the rubbish should remain there than that she do what she considered to be the council’s duty. At the same time she knew perfectly well that she was capable of clearing the rubbish and had ample time to do so.
This is surely a very curious but destructive state of mind, and one that some politicians have unfortunately made it their interest to promote by promising secular salvation from relative poverty by means of redistribution. Whether by design or not, the state in England has smashed up all forms of social solidarity that are independent of it. This is not an English problem alone: In France the word solidarité, solidarity, has come to mean high taxation for redistribution by state officials to other parts of the population, which of course are neither grateful for the subventions nor find them sufficient to meet their dreams, and which are, in fact, partly responsible for their need for them in the first place. And not surprisingly, some of the money sticks to the hands of the redistributionist bureaucracy.
By a mixture of ideology and fiscal and social policies, the family has been systematically fractured and destroyed in England, at least in the lowest part of the society that, unfortunately, needs family solidarity the most. There are even, according to some researchers, fiscal and welfare incentives for parents at the lower economic reaches of society not to stay together.
Certainly the notions of dependence and independence have changed. I remember a population that was terrified of falling into dependence on the state, because such dependence, apart from being unpleasant in itself, signified personal failure and humiliation. But there has been an astonishing gestalt switch in my lifetime. Independence has now come to mean independence of the people to whom one is related and dependence on the state. Mothers would say to me that they were pleased to be independent, by which they meant independent of the fathers of their children—usually more than one—who in general were violent swine. Of course, the mothers knew them to be violent swine before they had children by them, but the question of whether a man would be a suitable father is no longer a question because there are no fathers: At best, though often also at worst, there are only stepfathers. The state would provide. In the new dispensation the state, as well as television, is father to the child.
A small change in locution illustrates a change in the character and conceptions of a people. When I started out as a doctor in the mid-1970s, those who received state benefits would say, “I receive my check on Friday.” Now people who receive such benefits say, “I get paid on Friday.” This is an important change. To have said that they received their check on Friday was a neutral way of putting it; to say that they get paid on Friday is to imply that they are receiving money in return for something. But what can that something be, since they do not appear to do anything of economic value to anyone else? It can only be existence itself: They are being paid to continue to exist, existence itself being their work.
It has been said that the lamentable state of affairs I have described has been brought about by the decline, inevitable as we now see it, of the kind of industry that once employed millions of unskilled workers, whose wages, though low by today’s standards, were nevertheless sufficient to sustain a stable, though again by today’s standards not rich, society. And I do not think that this view can be altogether dismissed. But it is far from the whole story. One of the curious features of England in the recent past is that it has consistently maintained very high levels of state-subsidized idleness while importing almost equivalent numbers of foreigners to do unskilled work.
Let me here interject something about the intellectual and moral corruption wrought by the state in recent years—and I don’t know whether it applies to America. The governments of Britain, of both political parties, managed to lessen the official rate of unemployment by the simple expedient of shifting people from the ranks of the unemployed to the ranks of the sick. This happened on such a huge scale that, by 2006—a year of economic boom, remember—the British welfare state had achieved the remarkable feat of producing more invalids than the First World War. But it is known that the majority of those invalids had no real disease. This feat, then, could have been achieved only by the willing corruption of the unemployed themselves—relieved from the necessity to seek work and relieved to have a slightly higher subvention—but also of the doctors who provided them with official certificates that they knew to be bogus. And the government was only too happy, for propaganda purposes, to connive at such large-scale fraud. One begins to see what Confucius meant when he said, 2,500 years ago, that the first thing to do to restore a state to health was to rectify the names—in other words, to call things by their right names rather than by euphemisms.
There are three reasons that I can think of why we imported foreign labor to do unskilled work while maintaining large numbers of unemployed people. The first is that we had destroyed all economic incentive for the latter to work. The second is that the foreigners were better in any case, because their character had not been rotted; they were often better educated—it is difficult to plumb the shallows of the British state educational system for children of the poorest homes—and had a much better work ethic. And the third was the rigidity of the housing market that made it so difficult for people to move around once they had been granted the local privilege of subsidized housing.
I will leave you with an anecdote. As Mao Tse-tung might have put it, one anecdote is worth a thousand abstractions.
I had been asked by the courts to examine a young woman, aged 18, who was accused of having attacked and injured her 90-year-old great-grandmother, with whom she lived, while under the influence of alcohol and cannabis. She had broken her great-grandmother’s femur, but fortunately it did not prove fatal. (Incidentally, the homicide rate, it is said, would be five times higher than it is if we used the same medical techniques as were used in 1960.) I asked the young woman in the course of my examination whether her mother had ever been in trouble with the police.

“Yes,” she replied.

“What for?” I asked.

“Well, she was on the social,” she said—“on the social” in English argot means receiving welfare payments—“and she was working.”

“What happened?” I asked. “She had to stop working.”

She said this as if it was so obvious that my question must be that of a mental defective. Work is for pocket money, the public dole is the means by which one lives.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the view from the bottom, at least in Britain: but it is a view that has been inculcated and promoted from the top.

“Reprinted by permission from Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College.”