There's people starving and you're wasting food!

[NINA]

This is what someone said to me after seeing some of my WAM pics and they are right I thought there's people doing much worse things in the world than wasting food in the way we do. Maybe we should just go for out of date food so we feel better about it?

What do you think?

[Pacman]

I wonder if they criticise people who go swimming for wasting all that water in the pools, when there are people in the world suffering through drought

Yes, it is a waste and it is sometimes a bit of a worry for me, but as you say there are far more wasteful/damaging things going on in this world. Maybe someone should start an 'eco-friendly' sploshing thread

[muckypup]

This gets discussed every so often, like viewtopic.php?f=1&t=463&p=6765

[BillShipton]

As her ladyship said in the thread Muckypup mentioned...compared to the 7 million tons put into landfill by the supermarkets, we sploshers are a very minor problem. Feel free to donate to charity though as well if you like.

[SimonW]

Yes, a tricky question, and not one with a simple answer.

OK, sploshing is a luxury, but a large part of everything we do is not "essential" and uses resources which less fortunate people do not have. If I watch TV tonight, or go to a classic car rally at Easter, should I feel guilty for using energy from electricity or petrol "for fun" when some people (even in the UK) cannot afford to keep their house warm? And do I really need more than one sweater and one pair of jeans when some people cannot afford clothes? I don't know the answer.

[messylaura]

different way people live, it happenes though all societies, there are old folks how cant afford meals on wheels and footballers are being paid stuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupid amounts
thats life, it sure sucks when you cant afford stuff and in debt but what can you do
wish i was rich enough to not have to work, by the time i'm 65 i'll be poor and fucked

now, where can i get 10 liters of spag boll for free.................

[sweetnpied]

Yes, a tricky question, and not one with a simple answer.

OK, sploshing is a luxury, but a large part of everything we do is not "essential" and uses resources which less fortunate people do not have. If I watch TV tonight, or go to a classic car rally at Easter, should I feel guilty for using energy from electricity or petrol "for fun" when some people (even in the UK) cannot afford to keep their house warm? And do I really need more than one sweater and one pair of jeans when some people cannot afford clothes? I don't know the answer.

I know guys, I worry about all that a lot, too. But my way of rationalizing all this is... I could give away every penny I have... and it wouldn't even be a drop in the fucking Grand Canyon to solve all the problems in the world regarding hunger and the unequal distribution of wealth. Yes, I lucked out to born into a country (US) and a race (white) and a nationality (1/2 dutch, 1/4 french, 1/4 english) and a location (northeast US) at a time in that country's history where a great majority of the population live in comfort beyond the imagination of billions of others in the world. Is the answer to deny myself the pleasures I've earned by my hard work? And I do work very hard, as does my husband. I know it's not fair, but as I've gotten older I've learned our existence on this earth is way, way too short to get too caught up in all of the inequities of existence on this planet. And I know that sounds HORRIBLY elitist, but I'm not an elitist by ANY stretch of the imagination. I came from a VERY LOWER middle-class family and was the only one ANYWHERE in my family to ever go to college, much less get through grad school, which I did. And I paid my own way throughout. I've worked all my life since I was 8. Was in debt for nearly 10 years after grad school because of all the loans I had to take out to get through. (And thank god for my finding a hubby who was willing to help pay off some of those loans that he was under absolutely no obligation to do.) So I had to have a TON of initiative because I didn't have parents or siblings or other family members to show me the way to get it all done. And I CERTAINLY didn't have their financial support. I had to figure it all out myself. And yet I still find many ways for the last 7 years since I've been out of debt to give literally thousands of dollars each year to worthy causes and give up my time, for no money, to help others. (I'd give less money in the years before that, but I've always given money and my personal time to charities even when I was in high school.) Bottom line... we still live in a very unfair world today, and maybe one day the world's population will find a way to make the playing field more equal for everyone. But that time isn't now, that's for sure. So I accept my indulgences as something I've earned, just like I've earned occasional vacations to exotic places, as unfair as that is for all the people who work so hard to serve us privileged people who can afford to go to their resorts. But which helps provide them with incomes they probably would never attain if we didn't visit their paradises. Or even as obscene a location as Vegas, where I'm going on this Friday with hubby for his extended business/personal trip for a week!!! My first time in Vegas! (Viva Las Vegas!!!) Friday to Tuesday of total fun for the two of us, and I return Wednesday while he stays for the rest of his conference, which begins this coming Monday. (He only has to go to some of the sessions on Monday and Tuesday, so it's worth it for me to stay those first 2 days of the conference!) I've been sorting out the naughty stuff I'm wearing, both in public and in the bedroom, for several days now! And should I feel guilty for that? Probably. But I don't.

[Richard]

@ sweetnpied, applause, applause,xxx . I couldn't agree more! Enjoy Vegas and break their bank to buy lots more sploshing stuff


Rich

[Richard]

This gets discussed every so often, like viewtopic.php?f=1&t=463&p=6765

I enjoy looking back at old threads, mainly to see the people posting at that time and wonder where some of them have gone. Have they lost interest in sploshing? Got married and been forbidden to participate? Gone up to splosh the angels?
On the above thread, notable names are 'welshcakes' and 'nx' among others; it would be nice to know whats happened to them.

[sweetnpied]

:D @ sweetnpied, applause, applause,xxx . I couldn't agree more! Enjoy Vegas and break their bank to buy lots more sploshing stuff


Rich

Richard
Awwww, thanks. Aren't you a sweetie.

But you know, I felt soooooo fucking guilty after writing that post, above, last night, that I spent the remainder of last night rounding up a number of the brownie cake mixes I won't be wamming with and then thought, "I just can't walk in there with 25 or so boxes of cake batter." So I tore through every area of dry food storage we have in the house and cleaned out everything that we had put away but I knew we'd never get to any time soon. Thinking I still wasn't contributing enough, I then started grabbing stuff we wouldn't get to in at least a week or two (cans of soup, crackers, cereal, canned vegetables & fruits, etc., etc. etc.), thinking I'll just go out and buy some more next time and replace it. I stuck it in my car overnight. The trunk was so full, I had to stick bags in the back seat. At lunchtime today, I drove down to our nearest soup kitchen and gave it to them and wrote out a big check, too.

I've always contributed food and money for our area's soup kitchens from afar (usually at our church). I'd never seen a real-life soup kitchen before. OMG. It was horrible. People desperate for a meal. The cafeteria style room they use to feed them was filled to overflowing. There were people standing out the front door waiting for an open spot at one of the tables. I spoke to one of the workers as to how many meals they prepare a day, and he said over a thousand.

They even have showers there. The woman ahead of me on line asked the woman manning the front desk (whom I wanted to ask where to drop off the food) to sign up for the shower. The desk woman said, I'm not sure you're going to be able to get one today, and pointed to the list of names ahead of her. There had to be at least 40 or 50 names on the list.

I immediately signed up for volunteer work on one weekend a month. I know I shouldn't feel guilty about all the food I wasted sploshing recently, but I did feel I had to do SOMETHING in return to balance the scales a little.

[Mike Nomic]

I only use free-issue non-edible outdoor mud and quicksand.

There doesn't seem to be a Smiley for 'Polishes halo'

Mike.

[Richard]

I only use free-issue non-edible outdoor mud and quicksand.

There doesn't seem to be a Smiley for 'Polishes halo'

Mike.

Hang on while I get my catapult and half a dozen eggs to fire at that halo

Get ready to duck, Sammy-Jane!