A Loooong Beef

I live in a town where each shopping center houses a
chiropractor, yoga center, acupuncturist and natural
food market. Many mothers walk around with their
babies in a sling or some sort of carrier. They buy
organic foods for their babies and they make visits to
whatever state is hosting the Dahli Llama.

I have also seen these same vegetarian mothers with
big SUV's at the Del Taco drive thru pushing the gas
pedal with a leather sandal.

I am not about to judge these women as I am one who
feeds my child organic foods while sipping on my
Frappacino Light from Starbucks.

But, I have a beef. We can't be perfect. You can be
aware of things and try your best to do the right
things that can benefit your family and the world.
Still, even the most cost conscience will get ripped
off and the most environmentally aware will fail to
recycle a time or two.

My beef is with those who preach about how committed
they are to being a vegetarian as we sit on their
leather couch and discuss the issue "The cow was already dead."

How committed they are to their contribution of decreasing their carbon dioxide, while
their big SUV engine runs as they talk out the window
to their friends.

I kind of just want to draw out the humility in them.
Make jokes about yourself. You're not perfect and you
may make a contribution, but don't make me feel bad
for not driving a hybrid (although I do really want to get one) and for really liking steak (and I do love cows). But, I am not perfect, nor do I claim to be.

I gave an "environmentalist" friend our exersaucer. I
didn't think that we would one day need it for baby
#2. I just knew that we had used it and Logan was over
it and why not give it to someone who needed it. Well,
I was judged two ways. One, was that I was very
thoughtful and generous to give the gift and two, was
that I was pretty wasteful and spoiled that I had to
have a new one for the next baby and wanted to rid
myself of this "space taker". The later, is not the
case at all. Like, I said, I simply didn't even
rationalize that I might use it again. When I gave it
to them, I was also reminded of how great it was to
recycle, because it is such a waste to have an
abundance of plastic. Again, weren't you on the
mission against these plastic environmental hazards in
the first place and then agreed to take mine so that
you wouldn't have to purchase another?

Ok, here's my other beef. I don't like to get ripped
off. I do like to be aware of spending. But, my
husband and I are also not one to take minutes with
each item at the grocery store to compare bang for the
buck. We simply choose not to and in many cases we
feel it is worth it to us to sometimes pay more for
something for convenience. But, I think it's great
that many people do compare and are cost conscience. So what? It is none of my business. My husband and I are lucky enough that we do not have to be thrifty with things. Does that mean we are wasteful. Are we reckless spenders? No. And so what if we were. We're helping the economy, aren't we?

You walk into a little boutique and pay three times as much for a pair of jeans then you would at Target. You either feel good that you helped out the small
business or feel like a schmuck for getting ripped
off.

These are the batlles that often go through my mind.

Am I messed up? Is something wrong with me? I
seriously overanalyze and obsess about these things. I actually get anxiety over these things quite often.

Ok, this is getting long, but I should have prefaced
why this "beef" has been brought out.

We have a professional relationship with some people
that happen to have a baby the same age as Logan. And
we'd really like to kee it just that way. Professional. We are friendly by all means, but they keep asking and hinting towards hanging out with the babies. And I have to be honest. I am scared. I am the type that needs to crack jokes on occassion about poluting my body with Taco Bell and they are the type to gasp and nearly faint by the mention of Taco Bell's processed food.

They are against immunizations, circumcision and using
bottles. They are pro co-sleeping and think it is
cruel if you don't co-sleep and dairy should pretty
much stay out of the question till the kid's like 18.
I really have no problem with any of it. I, myself have my own issues with vaccines etc. But, I did get my son circumcized and I don't feel bad about it. My son doesn't co-sleep with us and I happen to think that us getting a full nights sleep with some sleep training has made all three of us a really happy family, rather than grumpy family.

It's the forcing it onto us as parents that I have the problem with. I find it interesting to hear other viewpoints and I respect them. Truly I do. But, to make others feel bad about not doing it your way is simply out of the question for me and I just can't see how a friendship could evolve from that.

I am going to be very rash right now. It's much like
religion and politics to me. I have good friends who
are Catholic, Christian, Jewish, Republicans etc. But,
I'm not any of those. I really choose not to get on
the subject with many people because it will almost
always get feelings hurt. I don't like being preached
to. I don't see the point. I don't preach myself.
(Except of course on my very own blog where readers
have the freedom to click me off). But, I feel if you have to preach to someone with an alternate view then maybe you are still not convinced of this beleif yourself.

Anyway, it's not such a big deal with these people. It's just on my mind. And I have to figure out how to draw the line, without, "Oh, we're busy that day." It's just not going to cut it for much longer, ya know?

Ok, that's all for my rant. Ah. That felt good. My lungs just took in and let out a really good breath of oxygen. Gotta love blogging.