Toilet Paper

It was not because it was American Thanksgiving yesterday that I started thinking about this, although it is something to be thankful for, and I am.  Nor is it the fact that today is so called Black Friday and several million people are out frantically shopping for great bargains on things they mostly don't really need, (Just saying).  This reflection started simply because the toilet paper roll was empty. I opened the cupboard to get some more and there they were, several rolls all lined up just waiting until they were needed.

 At the risk of sounding really, really, really old, when I was a child we did not have toilet paper.  We didn't have a bathroom for that matter.  What we had was a well ventilated outhouse, especially in the wintertime!  I know some of you will have similar memories, while others are probably appalled.  To my childhood mind, the lack of indoor plumbing and toilet paper did not make us poor since all our neighbours had the same.  My grandmother told us that when she was a child they had to go to the bush!  We really had nothing to complain about. Of course toilet paper was not unknown to us, but it was beyond our family budget.  Instead we had last year's Eaton's or Simpson's catalogue.  It was the 1950s form of recycling paper I guess.

At S.S. # 2 Eastnor school, toilet paper was provided but students were always cautioned to use it sparingly.  I can still here the teacher saying to use "just one square!"  We didn't.

In preparation for a trip to Honduras for a World Accord build last January, one of the things we were told to take with us was toilet paper.  In that not-so-far-away part of the world, T-paper is still a luxury item for many people and not readily available, so we should bring our own.  We did.

How many people in our world today still do not have toilet paper, I wonder?  How many people use an old catalogue or newspaper, or magazine or whatever they can find?  Probably millions.  How many people must go beyond the treeline to relieve themselves, then use leaves or long grass? 

Some readers may find this a weird post and wonder what on earth I was thinking, but I am grateful for a heated, indoor washroom with hot and cold running water and flush toilets, especially on nights like tonight when there is a cold wind blowing with snow in the air,.  And I am thankful for a cupboard well stocked with toilet paper.  I do not want to forget the disparity in which we live or take this simple item for granted. 

Do we realize the myriad ways in which we are fortunate? 

Posted by Carman

Gobble Gobble

Today, Monday, is Thanksgiving day but most of you will probably not see this until Tuesday. That is okay, I am actually preparing the post on Sunday, and only anticipating that it will be Monday or Tuesday. (If that confuses you, just wait until you figure out that most of it was actually written a year ago!)

I confess that I am wondering how many people will not have family or friends to celebrate Thanksgiving with this year. Is there someone I personally know who will be alone, and as my friend Bryce Taylor would say, living on "tea and toast"? Our home will be full of family and friends, but there is always room for one more, and they would be most welcome. I suspect you feel the same.

On a personal note, a year ago one member of our extended family who serves in the Canadian Forces had Thanksgiving in Afghanistan. This year he is home, and we are very grateful. Still, many are not. Lets spare a thought or a prayer for them today.

What follows is the post from October 12, 2010, which was the day after Canadian Thanksgiving last year. When I looked back, I rather enjoyed reading it again, and The Gobble Song still makes me smile. I hope you enjoy it too.

Happy Thanksgiving, or if this is Tuesday, Happy Thanksgiving plus one.

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Definition:
1. The gurgling sound made by a male turkey.
2. To devour in greedy gulps.

Canadian Thanksgiving is over. The hours of stuffing and cooking the turkey, making the cranberry sauce, peeling the potatoes and turnip, baking the pumpkin pies and whipping the cream are done. The meal has been eaten and the family has left for home. The house that bulged with the sounds of eighteen people talking and playing is now strangely quiet. The only sounds are the keys on my computer and the quiet splash of the dishwasher doing the last load of dishes for the evening. Ah bliss!

Despite good intentions about not overeating, my waistband feels a little snug at the moment. It must have been the fact that there were four different desserts on offer, and I knew I would be asked my opinion on at least three of them! I am happy to report that regular pumpkin pie with a healthy dose of spice and a dollop of whipped cream is still far superior to cream-cheese pumpkin pie. I can further opine that apple crisp made without wheat flour should only be eaten by people who are wheat intolerant. They will be very thankful for a dessert they can safely eat. The rest of us should stick to regular apple crisp!

All in all, today was a good day at our house. We have greeted each other, talked, laughed, eaten, enjoyed the children, and even celebrated three October birthdays while we were at it. Now we have sent everyone safely on their way home to bed. No better day than that!

Now, so that we don’t forget how and what we gobbled too soon, click on the following link for a very cute You Tube video called The Gobble Song.

Thank you

This morning’s post is to express my appreciation and to give you one last update on something that started out almost by accident. About three weeks ago, I mentioned in a post called Camp that there was a larger than normal number of would-be campers this year whose families were unable to afford the camp fees. I had not consciously planned to include that information; it just sort of wrote itself from my fingers to the screen. I looked at it and decided to leave it there to see what would happen.

The first call came in immediately. I briefly mentioned the situation again the next week in a post entitled Camp II, once again as an add-on. More people made enquiries and pledged to help send a kid to camp. A week or so later, I wrote the post Camperships. This was really to express my appreciation for that response, and to provide a slightly fuller description of the situation. Once again, an immediate response occurred.

What an amazing group of generous disciples you are! As of now, we have received enough money to cover the camp fees of every child or youth who has requested assistance! I am not really surprised, but I am overwhelmed. Thank you sounds so inadequate to express the gratitude we feel, but I don't know what else to say.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

In the past, local congregations and the Frank Clifton fund have helped send kids to camp, but this year they were unable to fill the gap. You have stepped into that breach and done the job.

If you are one who provided the means to make this happen, I want you to know that you have made a huge difference in the life of a child. I have personally met many of these children, so trust me when I say that you have done a very good thing.

With heart-felt appreciation,

Carman

Thanksgiving

As Thanksgiving Day approached this year, I decided to attempt a list of what I am thankful for. It was soon quite a long list. I thought perhaps I should try to prioritize or rank these elements, but in the end, I decided I did not know how to decide for which elements I am the most grateful.

Then I made a list of what I am not thankful for. That was a short list. Because it is a short list, I supposed I should decide if I wanted to do something about these few elements. I certainly could. Would it be for the best? Again, I decided I did not know, so went back to the first list.

In the end, perhaps thankfulness is like happiness. Just as we can affect our happiness level by deciding to be happy, in the same way, perhaps it is less important to know what we are thankful for than it is to simply be thankful. Despite my lack of conclusions, I still found this a useful exercise. I recommend it to each of you. What are you thankful for? I wonder how similar your list might be to mine.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. May gratitude be part of your day today, and everyday.

Posted by Carman

Sr. High

It may be a result of advancing age, but like just about everything I encounter these days, this year’s Senior High Camp at Noronto was the source of many memories and reflections.

I first attended Noronto Senior High as a camper; I believe it was in 1965. I would have just turned seventeen. In those years there was no A-frame dorm, and the boys all slept in tents, which we pitched and trenched ourselves, next to the chapel. As a teen I had a lot of anger, or what we would now call ‘attitude’, mostly due to the natural process of growing up but also because of what I then saw as injustice during my early years. I had not yet learned that trials and difficulties may be blessings in disguise, or that how we handle those will shape and reshape our character throughout our lives. Senior High camp was one of several occasions when love broke through my anger and made one of many needed course corrections to my life’s path. Thank you, God.

The staff member I remember most clearly from that camp is Paul Winegarden. Paul, as a young adult, gently and patiently talked to me about my habits and choices, and gradually helped me bring them into some kind of perspective. I will always be grateful to him for that. I’m sure it would have been easy to write me off as hostile and uncooperative, but Paul’s gentle caring was and is a blessing I have never forgotten. Without Paul and many others who gently cared and guided during those difficult years, I doubt I would be here today. Paul, should you ever happen to read this, Thank you!

It is now forty-five years later and in some ways not much has changed. Oh the grounds are different with dorms and bunks instead of tents with bedrolls on the ground. The chapel has a lovely wooden floor instead of sand, and there are plastic chairs instead of rusted old theatre seating.

Yet the more things change, the more they stay the same. Campers still come to camp from many different places and circumstances, and with a wide variety of experience. Some of those campers come with wounded souls and problems that are very real; much more serious than anything I experienced at that age, although I probably would not have thought so then. Life in 2010 is no easier than it was in 1965 and for many it is significantly harder.

And yet there are still caring staff members who reach out to campers in love and patience, offering a hug here or a word of encouragement and hope there. They believe that even the most wounded souls can find healing and peace in this community. Perhaps the most amazing and wonderful element of this is that many of the current staff members who heal so effectively were themselves wounded campers just a few short years ago. They were slowly and carefully loved into healing, and now they do the same for others. It is a wonderful process, and I thank God for the wounded, the healed, and the healing!

Posted by Carman

Washing

I was recently a bystander to a conversation about hand washing. It began with one of the parties commenting upon a sign in a restaurant reminding employees to wash hands before returning to work. Of course, the conversation took a couple of predictable turns around the idea of a need to enforce those rules and whose job it is anyway, and just how very poor many people are (at least the folks these conversationalists observe personally) at washing their hands.

Then the whole thing took an interesting sideways turn, from washing hands before eating, to offering thanks at meals! Do you know that people who say grace, or who pause to give thanks in some way before eating actually have better digestion than those who don't?

Are you more likely to wash your hands or to say a prayer before eating? A little informal survey indicated it was about fifty/fifty. But all agreed that a pause to feel thankful is as important as washing hands.

We often write about a need to slow down, to pace ourselves, to take time to be appreciative. And yet, we also realize that more often than not, we're too rushed, too busy, too preoccupied. Perhaps we need to put up a mental sign that reminds us to wash hands, take time to be grateful, slow down.

You may recall as I do, during one of our regular pandemic scares, being told to be sure to wash hands often and thoroughly. Sing "Happy Birthday" to yourself to ensure you've washed long enough. That's what they teach you in kindergarten. Instead of that, let's all begin to move to a state of prayerful gratitude "for what we are about to receive." Whether or not you speak an audible grace before meals, you can think thoughts of blessing while you wash your hands.