Uuumm actually it has been illegal to fire anyone based on gender race religion or sexual orientation for several decades in the US unwad your panties and read the employee handbook, and state and fedral laws
I should learn to not read the comments.
But since it’s been brought up.
About half the LGBTQ people I know have been fired for discriminatory reasons. Every person of color I know knows someone else who has been fired based on their skin color. And if you read Patheos or any of the alternative religion news blogs, there’s usually a story about someone being fired for their religion every few months (and more that don’t make the papers).
The thing is that the legislation in many states doesn’t say explicitly that you can fire someone based on their personal identity. But it does say that if you fire someone that you don’t have to give a reason. So you can fire someone just because you don’t like them. And if you don’t like them because of their personal identity you can avoid a discrimination suit by just not telling them.
Which is why they told me ‘its just not going to work out’ the day after I came out of the closet to someone who was disquieted by my outedness. I asked for a reason, they didn’t give me one.
This is why people stay in the closet. This is why people of color have to work twice as hard to keep jobs. This is why people don’t display their religious leanings publicly, even though it’s perfectly acceptable to ask a person what church they attend.
It might be illegal to fire a person based on these things, but if there is a way to do it while covering their ass they will find a way. And that’s how they do it- they don’t give a reason.
So pardon me for being able to put two and two together to get four.
And I’m absolutely baffled that people will use the phrase ‘it’s illegal to do this, so it didn’t happen’ when it applies to us in the margins, but will absolutely use the phrase ‘making it illegal won’t stop people from doing it’ when it applies to things like guns. Or murder. Or theft. But I digress.
The list gets even longer if you’re trans or a person of color or disabled. Or a veteran or homeless.
And this is why our activism needs to be intersectional. And this is why when we were given the right to marry, there was a rumbling cry of ‘this is a first step’ among the cheers of ‘we won.’ Anyone who has ever fought for their rights will tell you that it does not end with a single legislation.
So maybe your panties could stand to be in a tighter wad.
Homeless people are human beings with immense value. They are members of our families, communities, neighborhoods, cities, and, for a number of people reading this, they are themselves (or have been).
The fact that homeless people do not have housing is a wrong done against them, not a sign they did something wrong. To then try and ban them from public spaces and existing in public (including doing things we all have to do, like sleep or eat), is yet another grievous wrong.
An attack on homeless people is not “protecting the community”, it is an attack on the community. Homeless people aren’t my enemy, those who would ban them from things like sleeping in public are my enemy.
So many people make comments on this post about how they think homeless people are inconvenient to them, as if it’s not more inconvenient being fucking homeless and then facing these constant attacks and being treated like vermin by people who see you as an eyesore rather than as a human being and part of the community.
Being angry at human beings for just existing and trying to survive because you find the horrible conditions society puts them in unpleasant to look at makes you an asshole.
It says a lot about you if you see cops, government officials, rich people, landlords, etc. attacking some of the poorest and most desperate members of society and you automatically align yourself with cop and not the homeless person.
Honestly something that bothers me more than most things is having my compassion mistaken for naivety.
I know that another fish might eat this bullfrog right after I spend months rehabilitating it.
I know that turning a beetle back onto its legs won’t save it from falling over again when I walk away.
I know that there is no cosmic reward waiting for my soul based on how many worms I pick off a hot sidewalk to put into the mud, or how many times I’ve helped a a raccoon climb out of a too-deep trashcan.
I know things suffer, and things struggle, and things die uselessly all day long. I’m young and idealistic, but I’m not literally a child. I would never judge another person for walking by an injured bird, for ignoring a worm, or for not really caring about the fate of a frog in a pond full of, y’know, plenty of other frogs.
There is nothing wrong with that.
But I cannot cannot cannot look at something struggling and ignore it if I may have the power to help.
There is so much bad stuff in this world so far beyond my control, that I take comfort in the smallest, most thankless tasks. It’s a relief to say “I can help you in this moment,” even though they don’t understand.
I don’t need a devil’s advocate to tell me another fish probably ate that frog when I let it go, or that the raccoon probably ended up trapped in another dumpster the next night.
I know!!!! I know!!!!!!! But today I had the power to help! So I did! And it made me happy!
So just leave me alone alright thank u!!!!
THIS.
I heard a story about this, a parable I guess.
There was a big storm and a ton of starfish were washed onto the beach, stranded much further up than they could get back and beginning to bake in the post-storm sunshine. A little girl was walking down the beach, picking up starfish and throwing them back into the sea. Some guy comes up and asks her what she’s doing. “Saving the starfish,” she says.
He looks around at the huge beach and the hundreds of starfish, and says “You can’t possibly save them all. I’m afraid you’re not gonna make much of a difference.”
She throws another starfish back into the ocean, and replies “It made a difference to that one.”
Yeah, I mean, we know we can’t change all the things. But have you ever noticed how much better life is when you’re around people who change things when they can?
Kindness is a choice. Even if it’s small, it’s worth it.
This is what I’m talking about, when I say that kindness and compassion do not equate with ignorance, stupidity, or naivety. Being cynical does not make someone more intelligent or more worldly.
Kindness is not weakness.
Kindness is brave. Especially when you also know that your kindness might not be returned, may even be met with anger or cruelty. It’s reaching out with an open hand, knowing that it’s just as likely to be bitten as it is to be held.
Kindness is hard. If you can’t find it in yourself to be kind, then fine. But don’t make it more difficult for those that can.
Kindness is a discipline, a skill like anything else. Don’t think you can simply be nice the odd time and call yourself kind. Kind takes work, ethic, perseverance. It must be pursued even in the darkest of times. Mercy is for those who deserve it the least and vows are for the times when it is most difficult to withstand.
If you aren’t pursuing it every day, then you’re not kind. You’re occasionally nice.
there’s a big difference between “food waste” as in “farmers destroy tons of food to avoid exceeding quotas” or “supermarkets throw away this much edible food because it doesn’t sell”
and “food waste” as in “it is not actually within the capacity of humans to perfectly predict and track household food consumption, so a certain amount of food per household inevitably goes bad and has to be thrown out every year”
the idea that food waste is the product of thoughtless consumers rather than corporate greed is really insidious
Okay guys, let me tell you a thing:
My mom has been a gleaner (aka picking up past pull date bakery, produce, etc. from our local Safeway and passing it around to various food banks and farmers – the scrap stuff that really is inedible goes to the pigs) for over 30 years. It’s been awesome! Everyone in our family has been involved with this volunteer work over these past three decades. I based my high school senior project around it. So many people have been helped.
But then freaking Albertsons bought Safeway and everything went to hell.
Two things happened:
So this might have nothing to do with the whole Alberstons thing, but Safeway started thing produce thing called “Safeway Fresh” where they cut fresh fruit and sell it for a stupidly inflated amount. But that’s not the worst part – because everything they sell has to be PRISTINE, soooooo much food, perfectly fine, absolutely edible, and otherwise very sell-able fruit is just going to waste! They’re putting it in the compost bin and not over to the side for my mom to pick up! So she basically goes dumpster diving to get this perfectly good food to give to people who really need it.
So Albertsons has some agreement or collaboration or something with this organization called Food Lifeline. They’re like an official version of my mom. However…they suck. They have volunteers who go around and pick up from stores. But they only give it to organizations who have done some sort of sign up thing saying they’re an official food bank or something. I’m not sure on the specifics but I think they have to meet some sort of requirements and/or sign some sort of contract with Food Lifeline, blah, blah, blah. But that means that the farmers would no longer get food for their animals. The women’s shelter literally a few blocks from the store wouldn’t get anything. One of the churches in town wouldn’t get anything. A small food bank in the next town wouldn’t get anything. You get the picture. So my mom used to pick up EVERY SINGLE DAY except for Sundays and Christmas and if ever the weather decided to be a jerk. Now she only picks up two days a week, but luckily, she can deliver to anyone she freaking wants so take that! But you wanna know the kicker? She’s come in some days and has learned that sometimes no one has picked up for some or ALL the other days! So all that food that my mom could have picked up and distributed with no problem, like she’s done for about half her life, had to be thrown away.
The moral of the story is: Albertons and Food Lifeline are idiots don’t know what they’re doing and hungry people are suffering for it.
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 
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