SANTA TRADES IN HIS SLEIGH…

In the spirit of a Green Christmas, I’m re-cycling some cartoons I drew back in the 70’s.

At the time, there was an ongoing “intellectual” discussion at the office about the number of miles Santa must have on his sleigh. The conversation mostly centered on how many miles he had to drive to get the job done.

I had an older car at the time and was thinking about getting another vehicle. I was in the process of trying to get enough for my old clunker to justify making a deal. A used car was on my radar. Naturally, my thoughts turned to the problem Santa would have getting fair value on a trade-in when he needed a new sleigh.

I suspect Santa would do like any car-owner trying to get the best deal… play-up the positives on his trade-in. You know, along the line of: “I really love my old car and hate to let it go, but my wife wants a new sportier model.”… That kind of positive. Like, “There’s nothing wrong with this car. If it were up to me I’d never let it go…It’s my wife, you know?”

Everyone knows the only reason guys buy new cars is because their wife makes them, right?

I’m not sure if Santa was able to make his deal. If he did, I’m guessing his trade-in started a new business…CARFAX!

JIM’S NEW WESTERN HAT

I bumped into my friend Jim at breakfast the other day. It was a blustery, rainy day and he was sporting a short-brimmed, leather Western-style hat.

Jim, like myself, is “hair impaired” and talked about how great the hat was in the rain. He bragged about how well it protected his (hairless) head. I pointed out the relatively narrow brim didn’t put the drip line outside the parameters of his body. He’s a pretty big guy and we discussed how wide the hat brim would have to be to accomplish that.
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Baby Boomers: Will there be enough gold for the “Golden Years”?

The Baby Boomer generation is creating “Battle of the Bulge”. Baby Boomers might not like it but they are a bulge.

I was listening to a commentator recently who was talking about the current economic crisis and the implications for the Baby Boomer generation. He described them as the “bulge going through the snake”. We’ve all heard variations of this theme.

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CONGRESS… A BAD REALITY SHOW!

The current rage for TV and Cable Networks is to produce “Reality” shows. I have yet to watch one that reflects real life. The reason they are popular is that we love watching someone else do stupid things… pretending to be serious.

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DUMPSTER DIVING… A SIGN OF THE TIMES.

Dumpster Diving has become a way of life in the U.S. Unfortunately, for some people, it is also a matter of survival.

I was in a business networking group yesterday and they were discussing the quality of sticker needed to survive the elements and rough handling of dumpsters. Someone joked about needing a sticker that said, “No Diving” for dumpsters… a cartoon idea was born.

As I drew the cartoon, I had several choices to make. Did I want to focus on College kids in the process of furnishing their off-campus apartment or someone looking for food? Was the person to be portrayed as desperate or simply looking for a treasure? I decided to take the middle road and let the viewer fill in the blanks.

In reality, it made me think… I reflected on the fact that even on my worst days, I never had to consider dumpster diving for survival. How desperate would I have to be to go looking in a dumpster for a meal? Or clothing? Or a place to sleep on a cold winter night? The fact that we have the term “Dumpster Diving” in our language says something about us.

If we want to put a positive spin on it, we call it “Re-cycling”… part of going Green. Going Green is not always a good thing, especially if it’s the meat on the burger you just fished out of a McDonald’s dumpster. We live in the wealthiest country in the world and seem to ignore the plight of a growing segment of our society that considers dumpster diving as a viable way of survival. What’s wrong with that picture?

Part of what we CAN do is support ongoing efforts to attack issues of poverty, hunger, obesity and diabetes by supporting efforts to provide basic needs of food and shelter for everyone in our great country. Support local Food Banks, Homeless Shelters and other organizations that make a difference. The greatness of a country is defined by how it treats its population that is the most at risk.

I would love to see the day when dumpster diving becomes a matter of choice instead of a necessity. A treasure hunt, not a last resort…. We can make it happen.