A look at why plastic can be a good servant but a bad master

Our relationship with plastic

Plastic is indispensable! We all use it voluntarily or involuntarily. But what is plastic? From whence did it originate? Why was it created? How is it made and why is it so in-destructively destructive?

We, the humans of this world create and consume more plastic than ever! Plastic is littering oceans, cities, and waterways. With its use, we are poisoning the environment, plants, marine life, and each other.

Our dependence on plastic contributes to health problems for one and all!

The Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA) states…

The magic happens here

Undoubtedly, our mouths have the distinct honor of being one of the epicenters of pleasure on the human body.

No matter where or what the source of pleasure or stimulation, the mouth is usually salivating!

This orifice, our primary source of nutritional intake, mastication, and the source of so much joy and pain.

The thing we use to dole out blessings or curses.

That thing most humans cannot seem to tame.

Air, food, words, and many other substances entering or leaving the mouth impacts our lives in untold ways.

The mouth can be your friend or…

A baptism of beauty

Besides writing, photography is another dream of mine.

I love taking photos of nature.

So when I awoke one morning last month to the sound of rain outside my window, I knew what I had to do. Get my trusty phone and head on outdoors.

I began taking pictures of various flowers with the rain drips caught on their petals.

These lilies looked especially beautiful like diamonds sparkled about, enhancing their natural beauty.

So so lovely.

Zoomed in for a close-up or two.

Beauty created for me and you.

Gout

Gout is a very painful disease. My friend suffers from gout and I have seen her pain.

Sometimes it occurs as a result of eating foods that trigger the inflammatory process.

Often flare-ups seem to occur for no particular reason. One thing is certain — their suffering is real!

What is Gout

Gout is loosely considered another type of arthritis. It is an inflammatory disease that mainly affects the joints.

The initially report pain of an unknown origin usually in the big toe. As the disease progresses it affects other joints and seems to increase in severity.

Persons suffering from gout tend to…

While browsing and reading on our favorite platform, something struck me anew.

A movie I saw…

Same Kind of Different as Me —

Book by Denver Moore, Lynn Vincent, and Ron Hall

I truly believe we are all the same kind of different.

One of the benefits of the internet is that it provides a safe space for many of us to be ourselves.

Due to some anonymity, it allows us to feel safe sharing pieces of ourselves with each other.

It can be a great place to meet, learn, teach and grow with each other.

In a world so…

Grandma knows best

“Never let the sun greet you in your bed”, my grandma would say. She would wake us early before the sun came up to do our daily chores.

Grandma came from the old school, one did not laze around in bed while the sun was rising. The sun was to have met you with your already completed chores and taking a siesta to go on repeat.

Later she would ensure that we took a nap because as she said, kids grew during sleep. I would later learn she was right.

For many years I rose at 05:00 a.m. for work…

The tale of the eyes that did not see

A few years ago I was working along with a fellow nurse friend. She is a bit older.

So one Sunday morning we had a patient who kept his contacts in and went to bed. Needless to say, he presented to the ER with red, burning, watery eyes for treatment.

My co-worker also wore glasses.

We attended our work and took care of the patient.

Later as my friend was getting the discharge paperwork ready, she realized she could not see anything. So she began searching for her glasses.

I could…

At any given moment your hand harbors anywhere from 10,000 to 10,000,000 microbes awaiting an opportunity to strike.

While some are relatively harmless others like Clostridium difficile (C-diff) and Escherichia coli (E-Coli) can cause you serious harm.

The pandemic has added another layer of the killer virus to the repertoire and hand sanitizers are the heroes riding to rescue us from illness and even death.

Our hero could be duplicitous, housing another insidious side. While hand sanitizers are touted as one of the ways we protect ourselves, they could have the potential to cause us harm.

Hand sanitizers, what may lie beneath

1. Overuse can lead to…