The yellow tree beside my window is almost completely naked now. I’ve watched her strip her leaves today, gently releasing them from her branches, freeing them to float to the ground. It’s been lovely to watch, a beautiful cascade of color in the background of my black and white, computerized work…
The thoughts and questions on my mind today are simply, complex:
My question of the week: I’ve not come up with a definite answer, but I’ve been thinking about it. How do I communicate my work and call in a non-apologetic way?
My conviction of the week: I need to make a better effort of purchasing gifts and items that allow me to be a good steward of my resources while also supporting the community/economy and not supporting slave-labor. This conviction was planted earlier in the week after reading the following post by my friend Sean: OK people, please bear with me for a quick update/rant...Stop buying stuff online and support your community!!! Don't click! It is less than 50 days until Christmas and we are solidly in the 4th quarter. In my area of retail, 30%+ of our yearly sales happen in the 6-7 weeks before Christmas. Here are the trends that I've seen... 1) The average ticket price is the same to slightly better than last year, and 2) The number of tickets per day (compared to this time last year) has dropped dramatically. Here is my analysis: The people shopping with us are doing fine (financially), but we are losing our customer base. If our tickets were down and price per ticket were down, then I'd say it was more of an economic downturn. In our area we have lost (local) competitors yet had a growth in population. These people have to be shopping somewhere. I am assuming that they are buying online. If this continues, I will be out of a job and you may see another empty store front. For every $100 spent at a large chain, $13 stays local; whereas, for every $100 spent at a local indie store, $45 stays in the community.
My literary quote of the week: I listened to a dramatization of “Lord of The Rings” this week and pretty much had no idea what was going on most of the time; however, I did hear some pretty awesome quotes. This is one of them. And I think it’s a profound statement of redemption and grace: "He deserves death." "Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it. And he is bound up with the fate of the Ring. My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, or good or Ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many - yours not least." (Frodo and Gandalf discussing the fate of the betrayer Gollum, Chapter 'The Shadow of the Past')
What are the thoughts and questions on your mind today?
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