just onions.

As we walk through life, we are surrounded by people.
We believe all these people to be like ourselves.
and yet.........
upon closer examination, we see that we may be the same on the outside,
but on the inside, we really do not know or understand each other.

We can blame culture, religion, language and experience, education,genetics.
etc.... there are a lot of places where blame can be laid, as to why this is.
But life is about learning.
Every day is meant to learn something new, so you grow as a person.

I remember my first boy.
I sat with him every day doing homework to make sure he learned and I thought he was brilliant. He knew his American history better than most kids his age did.
He read well, he could write well, he could spell,he used to love making cartoons with his own stories in them. I thought he was a great kid but at school he did not show his teachers, what I saw at home. No one could figure it out.

Well after he graduated elementary school I asked him why he always writes about dogs. All 7 years, all he did at school was write about dogs where as at home, he wrote about many things in his play journals.
He told me he wrote about dogs because he did not want to lie.We had dogs and what he wrote about them was the truth. In other words he felt safe writing about dogs. lol
(I always taught him not to lie.)
So for 7 years he thought writing stories at school, which could be make believe, would be telling his teacher a lie and he did not want her to find out and think he was a liar.lol

Another thing. He read very well, so one day I asked him do you understand what you are reading?
He answered........you told me to read. I didn't know I had to understand what I was reading too lol
(shock ...shock...shock) Finally I understood the problem.The school pushed speed reading, so the children grew up not liking books or reading.
So again I had to explain to him well son, don't listen to the teachers. Books are meant to be read slow and enjoyed and understood because the author who wrote the book, did it slowly as well because he had a story to tell.He wants his book enjoyed read and reread.

Now I wonder, how many school councillors would have been able to find out these truths from a child, but they write many things in their little files. He told them he had problems remembering which sent them into a tizzy which was nothing closer to the truth. I had to laugh when they told me my son had problems remembering. I told them you do not demand the best out of kids so you don't get it. If a kid writes sloppy you tell them it's ok. My teachers never did and we all had neat notebooks we could read. We took pride in our work as opposed to today when kids take things for granted and use machines instead of developing their own personal skills.

My second son, born much later, was lucky because he had a school with old teachers who developed a love of books in children. So he enjoyed his books.We sat and read hundreds of them and he was engrossed in them because they opened a world for him.

So I felt my first son was robbed by a system who used kids to be experimented on.
Speed reading doesn't promote anything good.

Now these experiences related to children but then we come to adults.

I was talking to one Dad once.
He was a huge muscular good lookin dude.
We were discussing kids and he told me a story about when he was growing up.

He said My Dad told us kids not to smoke.
So we never smoked in front of him.
This was respect.

My reply to him was no, this was not respect.
His eyebrows lifted.

I told him respect, is when your Dad tells you not to smoke, you don't smoke.

What you did, was disrespect your Dad, by lying to him and doing things behind his back.

As I said this to him I saw something like a veil lift from his eyes and for the first time in his life, it's like he understood something.
I don't think he ever had anyone say anything like this to him before.

We talked about many things that day and I saw he enjoyed all of it.
He shook my hand and thanked me and said I was a very nice person.

Through out life, I met many strangers who I had quality converstations with and they would always say, you know, you are special. Not many would sit down like this with a stranger and talk this way.

I always found this strange because I saw myself as a normal person doing normal things. I did find out however that there are a lot of lonely, lost people out there but to look at them, you would never know.

I found out that people have goodness in them but it takes a special person to walk into their lives to bring it out through a learning experience.

When a person understands something, a light can definitely be seen behind their eyes and you know,understand, that you got through to this person. He will never be the same again as a result.

So I put a picture above of two different onions.
We are all like these onions and so is life.

Life and people may be the same but also very different.
It takes time, patience, understanding and love to be able to sit down and be open enough to hear, listen and learn.

As I grew older and the stresses in my own life became harder to bear, taking care of family and my own parkinson/alzheimer Mom, I didn't have the time I needed to pay attention to people and things I did before, which made me that special person.

My job was about serving my family the best way I knew how and it left little time for me, reflection,and relationships.lol
I barely had sleep time and life can run you ragged.

I was lucky to have a supportive family who suffered along side me.

They also stuck by me and hopefully learned some good things.

But life always changes. It's always the same but it's always different because its all about learning and growing.

Life often gives you pitfalls to fall into, especially these days lol but I always say, don't complain, because
people had it rougher.

My parents had it rougher.

My grand parents had it rougher and so many people in the world today, have it much rougher.

We do the best we can, with what we have presented to us in and by life.

But when push comes to shove, the worlds' salvation, lies in understanding

because it puts us all on the same page.

When push comes to shove, we are all just onions lol

Have a great day!

Onion - Savior or Killer

The Power of the Onion is amazing and here is what some people have concluded.

PS: If you have a question whether a mushroom that you picked is safe to eat, just place it in a pan of water with a chunk of onion leave for a couple hours & if the onion turns black the mushroom is poisonous

ONIONS -- Who Would've Thunk it

In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people, there was a Doctor who visited many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu. Many of the farmers and their family had contracted it, and many died.

The doctor came upon one farmer, and to his surprise, everyone in the household was very healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different, the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home (probably only two rooms back then). The doctor couldn't believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and place it under the microscope. She gave him one, and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore, keeping the family healthy.

Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser in AZ. She said that several years ago many of her employees were coming down with the flu and so were many of her customers. The next year she placed several bowls with onions around in her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick. It must work... (And no, she is not in the onion business.)

The moral of the story is, buy some onions and place them in bowls around your home. If you work at a desk, place one or two in your office or under your desk or even on top somewhere.. Try it and see what happens. We did it last year, and we never got the flu.

If this helps you and your loved ones from getting sick, all the better. If you do get the flu, it just might be a mild case...Whatever, what have you to lose? Just a few bucks on onions!!!

Now there is a P.S. to this, for I sent it to a friend in Oregon who regularly contributes material to me on health issues. She replied with this most interesting experience about onions: Thanks for the reminder. I don't know about the farmer's story...but I do know that I contracted pneumonia, and needless to say I was very ill. I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion. Put one end on a fork, and then place the forked end into an empty jar...placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the morning from the germs. Sure enough, it happened just like that...the onion was a mess, and I began to feel better.

Another thing I read in the article was that onions and garlic placed around the room saved many from the black plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial, antiseptic properties.

This is the other note: LEFTOVER ONIONS ARE POISONOUS! I have used an onion which has been left in the fridge. Sometimes I don't use a whole one at one time, so I save the other half for later. Now with this info, I have changed my mind. I will buy smaller onions in the future.

I had the wonderful privilege of touring Mullins Food Products, makers of mayonnaise. Mullins is huge, and is owned by 11 brothers and sisters in the Mullins family. My friend, Jeanne, is the CEO. Questions about food poisoning came up, and I wanted to share what I learned from a chemist The guy who gave us our tour is named Ed. He's one of the brothers. Ed is a chemistry expert and is involved in developing most of the sauce formula. He's even developed sauce formula for McDonald's. Keep in mind that Ed is a food chemistry whiz.

During the tour, someone asked if we really needed to worry about mayonnaise. People are always worried that mayonnaise will spoil. Ed's answer will surprise you. Ed said that all commercially-made mayo is completely safe. "It doesn't even have to be refrigerated. No harm in refrigerating it, but it's not really necessary." He explained that the pH in mayonnaise is set at a point that bacteria could not survive in that environment. He then talked about the quintessential picnic, with the bowl of potato salad sitting on the table and how everyone blames the mayonnaise when someone gets sick.

Ed says that when food poisoning is reported, the first thing the officials look for is when the 'victim' last ate ONIONS and where those onions came from (in the potato salad?). Ed says it's not the mayonnaise (as long as it's not homemade mayo) that spoils in the outdoors. It's probably the onions, and if not the onions, it's the POTATOES.

He explained, onions are a huge magnet for bacteria, especially uncooked onions.. You should never plan to keep a portion of a sliced onion. He says it's not even safe if you put it in a zip-lock bag and put it in your refrigerator.

It's already contaminated enough just by being cut open and out for a bit, that it can be a danger to you (and doubly watch out for those onions you put on your hotdogs at the baseball park!)

Ed says if you take the leftover onion and cook it like crazy you'll probably be okay, but if you slice that leftover onion and put it on your sandwich, you're asking for trouble. Both the onions and the moist potato in a potato salad will attract and grow bacteria faster than any commercial mayonnaise will even begin to break down.

So, how's that for news? Take it for what you will. I (the author) am going to be very careful about my onions from now on. For some reason, I see a lot of credibility coming from a chemist and a company that produces millions of pounds of mayonnaise every year.

Also, dogs should never eat onions.. Their stomachs cannot metabolize onions.

Please remember it is dangerous to cut onions and try to use it to cook the next day. It becomes highly poisonous for even a single night and creates toxic bacteria which may cause adverse stomach infections because of excess bile secretions and even food poisoning.