Sew Much More Than A Dress

Ms. Weber hard at work, photo credit WQAD, full cite below, fair use/public domain claimed

Greetings All:

There is a LOT of negative news out there.  In fact, it's more than negative, it's b-a-d news.  From the savagery of ISIS to the Ukraine, to the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri to Ebola, there is plenty of things to get us down.  Although I try to keep my Facebook feed non-political and upbeat, I just posted something about an American Marine being shoved in front of the White House during a protest.  Needless to say, that angered me.

Anger.  It's an emotion that is powerful and negative.  Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich listed anger as one of the seven emotions to be avoided, and with good reason.  However, avoiding anger is easier said than done, especially when it comes to the news.  

So what's the solution?  Are we doomed to be confronted by bad news and be angry?  Mark Twain famously quipped that, "Everyone talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it."  So taking some inspiration from Mr. Twain, I will offer this modest proposal to address the issue of bad news and its accompanying anger:  Replace bad news with good news.

I think I've found some.

Ms. Lillian Weber of none other than Bettendorf, Iowa is 99 years old.  Ms. Weber is also a seamstress.  She makes dresses for girls in Africa.  She's made 840 to date and is on track to hit 1000 by the time she turns 100.  As for retirement, forget about it, she told WQAD-TV that if she's able, "...I’ll go at it again.”

Ms. Weber's dresses are distributed by Little Dresses for Africa.  According to the organization it has passed out 2.5 such dresses since 2008.

How wonderful.  This truly is a good news story.  

If you would like to learn more about Ms. Weber, please check out the link below to the story at goodnewsnetwork.org.  While you're there, you might want to check out some of the other stories.  I bet you'll feel better after reading them.

I know we need to be aware of our world and its events.  I also believe than anger is unavoidable and certain situations warrant a strong response.  I've got a blog post in the works about someone who did respond in his own way to oppression.  Yet it is a fool's errand to think that there is not a cost to our well being in dealing with anger.  It depletes us, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.  Conversely, good news stories like this can replenish our well being.  Simply put, it helps us feel better.  In that context, this story is about "sew" much more than a dress.

Be well my friends,
Jeno

Sources:

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/99-year-old-lady-sews-dress-african-child-every-single-day/

The photo of Ms. Weber is from the website above, again, fair use/public domain claimed.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/nth/tgr/tgr17.htm