Junk Mail @ MindSay

i read a forward today that kinda bugged me. it was your typical 'if you really love God you'll pass this on' kind of e-mail.  as i read it i found that what it was trying to say and it's purpose were good but i don't see why we can't make up a forward that people will laugh at and enjoy instead of getting them offeneded, anioed or mad in my case.  i hate these kinds of e-mails for these reasons

1  just sending them is a cop out to trick christians in to 'sharing' their faith in a gutless way instead of actually getting their hands dirty and helping people for a change

2  they are in-affective, even christian begin to resent them

3  they rely on guilt tripping, defeating the purpose of them in the first place

4  and finaly, my faith does not relly on e-mails!

these are the reasons why i will delete or drastically change a forward that regards faith.  i think it is good to have some christian forwards going around but please at least make them interesting to the majority of people, christian or not, and stop with the guilt tripping, it pisses me off.

            Last week I shared with you my idea of requiring the U.S. Postal Service to place recycling bins in their facilities for the depositing of unwanted sales papers and other junk mail.  I also shared that of all the elected officials I had contacted concerning this, the only one to respond was Sen. Elizabeth Dole.  I stated that I hadn’t expected much from her or Sen. Richard Burr, meaning that the Republican Party isn’t synonymous with environmentalism.  I now believe that I spoke too soon as far as Sen. Burr is concerned.

            I suppose I should have been more optimistic about Burr.  After all, he had already served the people of North Carolina for ten years in the U.S. House while Sen. Dole took the Hillary Clinton carpetbagger route to the Senate (yes, I know she was born in North Carolina, but nearly 40 years in Washington, D.C. and Kansas, a North Carolinian do not make).

            Dole’s letter to me began, “Thank you so much for taking time to write to me with your concerns.  Receiving your ideas and concerns is so important in order for me to represent you, and our state, to the best of my ability in the United States Senate.”

            Okay.  So far, so good.

            She continued, “The issue you describe is indeed important and deserves review.  I very much appreciate you sharing your opinions and thoughts with me regarding this matter.  Please be assured that I will keep your insights in mind should pertinent legislation be considered in the Senate.”

            Now I’m no expert on Senate procedure, but as a senator, couldn’t she introduce the pertinent legislation herself?

            She concluded, “Thank you again for taking the time to share your ideas and concerns.  If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.”

            Further assistance?  She wasn’t of any assistance!  The only thing we established is that she’s thankful I wasted my time on her.

            I received Sen. Burr’s reply over the weekend.  While he did take three months to get back to me, his letter was a lot more positive.

            “Thank you for contacting me about requiring recycling bins in the Post Office.  I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this issue.”

            I like that he specified the issue, which indicates that he actually read my letter and took the time to respond instead of signing off on a form letter.

            He continued, “I certainly understand how frustrating it can be to open a mail box only to find it packed with advertisements and other junk mail.  I also recognize the amount of waste associated with this issue.  Your solution to the problem makes a whole lot of sense.  In fact, I have asked my staff to inquire with the Postal Service to see if it has any plans to provide recycling bins in local branches.”

            Isn’t that a whole lot better response than that drivel I received from Sen. Dole?  Okay, so it’s doubtful Sen. Burr is another Al Gore when it comes to environmental issues (that’s not necessarily a bad thing), and his response in no way guarantees a solution to the problem, but at least he recognizes there is a problem and is willing to try and do something about it...unlike his senior colleague.

            I apologize to my readers, and to Sen. Burr, for jumping to the wrong conclusion and disparaging his constituent service without his having a chance to respond to me.  Hopefully with his help, something good might yet come from the nightmare of junk mail.

© 2007 by J.D. Lewis

            Never mind Rudy Huxtable.  Forget that silly frog.  Being green is easy!

            Don’t get me wrong.  I’m no Green Peace terrorist out to blow up whaling ships; I’m as worried about global warming as my father and grandfather were about global cooling in the ’70’s and ’40’s; and the earth is not my mother...but it is my home.  I think it is our duty to be good stewards of the earth, and there are some simple things we can do that require little time, effort, or expense, and are good for the environment at the same time.

            We use energy efficient light bulbs in our house.  They’re rather expensive—at least by unemployed student standards—but they save us money on our utility bills and last longer than incandescent bulbs.

            Perhaps the easiest thing we can do for the environment, as pointed out in Tuesday’s Southerner, is recycling.  I became interested in this when I learned of those monthly fees on our utility bills whether we use our curbside recycling bins or not.  The wife and I didn’t even have a bin, so I called and had one delivered.  It’s a paltry amount, but if we’re being charged at all, it’s stupid not to use it.

            How many plastic drink bottles and steel food cans does your household go through in a week?  We eat three meals a day and have something to drink with each one.  It adds up.  Why send all that perfectly good refuse to the landfill when it can be used again?

            We recycle our plastic grocery bags.  We use some of them again for lunch bags and trashcan liners, and the rest we take to the recycling barrel outside Food Lion.  Perhaps I should check to make sure they really are recycling those bags.  When I worked at Harris Supermarket, we had a barrel that the store manager would have someone go empty into the dumpster when it was full.

            If you’re reading this, you have a newspaper to recycle.  My bin contains almost as many newspapers as it does bottles.  Cardboard can be recycled, as well as the reams of junk mail we all hate.

            At least once a week, our mailboxes are stuffed with the same coupons, circulars, and insurance ads that are stuck in our newspapers.  Those of us with P.O. boxes get triple the aggravation.  Throw in the daily credit card offers, and that’s a whole lot of trees dying needlessly.

            Each time I check my box, I see the trashcans in the post office overflowing with junk mail, so I came up with a simple solution: requiring the U.S. Postal Service to provide recycling bins in their facilities.

            I wrote to Rep. G.K. Butterfield, Sens. Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, and Postmaster General John Potter, as well as Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), who chair their respective chambers’ subcommittees dealing with the USPS.  I shared my idea with each and pointed out how this would be a good opportunity for the federal and local governments to work together since most municipalities have some sort of recycling program already.

            Three months later, I have only received a response—if you could call it that—from Dole.  She never once mentioned my issue, but did thank me three times for sharing my concerns.  I didn’t expect much from her or Burr, though any acknowledgement is better than none.

            I’m really disappointed in the three Democrats, especially Butterfield.  My own representative—the first line of defense, so to speak—should have the gumption to respond in a timely manner.  I thought any green issue drew Democrats like an outhouse draws flies.

            I voted for Dole, Burr, and Butterfield, and they can count on my remembering their shoddy constituent service when they come up for reelection.  But, even without the help of the government, I can still have an impact on the environment in my own small way.

            Go thou and do likewise.

© 2007 by J.D. Lewis