Shipping Hope
For pets and humans
Hi! 😁
I missed Monday’s post, so I wanted to share a few encouraging stories before we get to this coming Monday’s post. It was just a crazy week, so thank you for your patience! ❤️
I also wanted to thank you all for your kindness on last week’s Lamenting post. It was a painful post to write and share, and I appreciate everyone’s kind words about it.
Last thing before diving into stories.
I have been hiding all paid posts from free subscribers. Substack actually suggests writers send out a short preview for each of those paid posts, but I feel like that would be too in your face about paying. So I want your feedback:
Would you like short previews of each paid subscriber post?
Would that feel too much like I’m asking you for money?
Would you enjoy getting a sneak peak?
Free subscribers, please share your thoughts in the comments (open to everyone). Paid subscribers, do you want to share your thoughts, too? Maybe give perspective on what those posts are?
Stories this Week
I’ve got two stories for you this week.
Addressing food insecurity in a war zone
Like I said in my lament, I am far from a foreign policy expert. All I know is I care about people, I want less suffering in the world, and I care about people. Yeah, I mentioned it twice ‘cause it felt like I needed a third point 🤷. In my defense, it’s an important point. 😅
When the U.S. announced an effort (link) to start airdropping food and medical supplies into the Gaza strip, I was incredibly grateful. It is woefully inadequate when the half a million people seem on the brink of famine (same link as above), but the that much suffering means we should send all we can to help.
As a pro-life believer in Jesus’ teachings, I can’t look a starving man in the face and complain how my brother feeds him.
I did some fact checking because I have heard some say the aid is mis-used or not needed. I found The Jerusalem Post making that argument (link), however, their sources say both “There is no hunger in Gaza,” and that the terrorist organization there “…has taken all of the food and [the hungry] don’t have enough money to pay…”.
Fact check me, as always. ✅ 😁
Am I saying I trust a terrorist organization to fairly distribute food to the hungry? Of course not.
I am saying it is our job to be good neighbors. It is our job to care for the hungry. It is our job to find strategies and people who will get the aid to those who need it. Here’s a video with more details if you’re interested.
Like Jim Mattis said when speaking of the U.S. to students at Utah State University, “We are the good guys. We are not the perfect guys.” (link)
As an added strategy, President Biden announced during the State of the Union our plans to build a temporary pier to get more aid to those in need (link). Again, I’m glad because I’m hoping this can provide some much needed to relief of pain because I care about all life. As an added benefit, relieving desperation also makes civilians in Gaza and Israel safer, something all of us want.
Well…that was a longer section than I expected. If you are still reading, thank you for sticking with me. 😁 Let’s get to the next story.
We all love our pets 🐶 🐾 🐈⬛
They really are a wonderful addition to so many of our lives. 😁 Well, we have some encouraging research showing a fairly effective vaccine for canine cancer. The treatment can double the chance of survival for dogs diagnosed with some types of cancer when compared to treatments of chemotherapy and radiation.
What’s also exciting is the treatment could prove effective for humans, too, since the cancers it target also exist in human patients (link). The research is still being done for dogs, but it is cool it might also help people.
If you are interested, it works by binding to two proteins most common in cancer cells (they are EGFR/HER2). EGFR and HER2 are key proteins that cause the cancer cells to grow, so blocking them prevent the cancer from growing.
Cancer is how my family has lost some of our animals, so this development feels particularly close and encouraging to me. Again, anything that can decrease suffering is a plus in my book. 📓
Final Thoughts
I mentioned the President’s State of the Union address. It was very good, focused on what’s working, and highlighted how we can fix problems together. If you haven’t, I would highly recommend you watch it. Here is a link: State of the Union 2024
Thank you again for sticking with me. We are stronger together. 💪
Free subscribers, please remember to share your thoughts on getting previews of paid posts. Comment below your thoughts. Thanks in advance!
As always, I appreciate your time. I will see you again on Monday. 😁
And don’t forget to be awesome. 🎉 👏
You asked if free subscribers would like to receive previews of paid subscriber posts. Personally, I would not because it would clutter my in box with more stuff that I don't have time to read. Currently, your posts stand out in my in box precisely because they only come once a week. That makes me more likely to read them and to take time to reflect on what you have written.