Puffs

We’ll end this year’s observations with another comment on technology.

I’m sure when the farmer about a 100 years ago made the change from using horses to plow their fields to tractors there was a lot of complaining when the tractor broke down and didn’t work. Horses were looking across the fence laughing.

Well, maybe not laughing, but the farmer was wondering just why they went out and purchased this new technology.

Last week, several items were missing from the Locomotive Gazette that I will blame on ‘technology.’

As with most of the world now, we rely on our technology to do our job, but sometimes it just does not do the great job it is supposed to do. Several items I send down did not appear in the paper last week. I inquired as to the reason and found out that not all I sent down . . . actually got there and when the people who were supposed to receive the words I sent them, they had to search for them . . . but they did finally find them, just not in the usual place.

Seems they received part of what I sent, but not all. They realized that maybe there should be more, but at times what I send them is not a large amount, so they assumed they got what I sent.

In talking to them later, they did find what I sent and I hope they saved it for this week.

Yes, technology is really great, as long as it works as it is supposed to work. Sometimes we just have to rely on old fashioned ‘common sense.’

A O

My other year end comment also involves technology, but it is the use of technology that I find bothersome.

Most non-profit organization do a lot, and I mean a lot, of advertising on TV in December in the hopes that people chose them to make a donation to. A lot of them use Christmas music as a background sound as they make their pitch for your money, time or both. Most are well done as I don’t mind being reminded of the birth of Jesus any time throughout the year, but especially during this time of Christmas celebrations.

However, I do object to some using the music that reminds me of what a “Holy” season this is to ask me to support something anything but holy.

The organization I object to the most is Planned Parenthood (PP). This year, and I think this is the first year, they are being sweet and modest as they request money so they can continue their killing of unborn babies via abortions.

To ease your feelings (and so you don’t know about their abortions) they talk about “Women’s Health Care.”

Now, who can be against good health for women?

Don’t you want to help all those poor women who can’t afford health care?

Isn’t that kind of like “Black Lives Matter?”

Of course, Black Lives Matter and . . . of course we’d all like to insure women have proper health care.

However, the proper way of thinking is that . . . “All Lives Matter.”

Planned Parenthood asks for your money for women’s health care when their chief source of income comes from abortions. There are literally hundreds of women’s health care clinics throughout the U. S. not connected to Planned Parenthood, and many of them are funded via our tax dollars already.

I resent PP using the Christmas season to confuse the public about their primary purpose . . . that of killing unborn babies. I certainly hope our readers don’t fall for their false advertising.

I mentioned ‘Black Lives Matter’ (BLM) above and would like to comment on that item. I don’t know who, or how, this BLM group got started, and I agree with the original object of the group. It came as a number of black people were being killed or abused and that was wrong. They deserve the same dignity as anyone else, regardless of the color of their skin. However, someone started using this concept to start “Protest” movements under this idea that quickly turned into destructive “Protests” that did major damage to many places. They took over a “good” idea and turned it into something bad.

The final TV commercial I find “bad” is the one repeated many, many times by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. (ASPCA).

They spent a lot of money (I’m guessing) to tug on your heart strings. Beautiful Christmas music and a sweet talking person try to convince you something horrible is happening in our world. A person thinks of all the horrible things going on in the world . . . war, abortions, peaceful protest not so peaceful, corruption, rape and slander to mention just a few.

No, they want your money to help save animals that have been abused.

Now, I agree that any abuse of any animal is a great wrong, but if I’m going to donate money to a cause I want it to go to a cause that affects the human population. My limited resources do not allow me to donate to every cause out there.

They use “good” to influence people for their cause. It is not the same as PP, but the effort is the same. If I had only the ASPCA or PP organizations to choose from I’d select the ASPCA. But we do have other organizations we can donate to that will do a whole lot more good in this world.

The untold story of 2023 is the work that thousands, no millions of people do every day that never get noticed. The good people do greatly overwhelms what a few bad people do. However, you know who gets the publicity in so many cases.

A O

I pray you all have a Merry Christmas (the Christmas season is not over on December 25, it lasts into the New Year). Please remember that charity is the greatest of all virtues and there are several ways you can be charitable right here. Donations to the Lawrence Community Center are needed and the same with the Sacred Heart church with its fire damage.

A O