VaporStore - April 2006

[buddyh]

Vapor Store - Deluxe Hands Free Vapor Boxes

Read the contest rules: http://www.treatingyourself.com/vbul...ement.php?f=45 (http://www.treatingyourself.com/vbulletin/announcement.php?f=45)

Thanks to our sponsor at http://www.vaporstore.com (http://www.vaporstore.com/) we are able to give away a deluxe, hands free vaporizer every month.

Contest runs from April 1st – April 30th, 2006
Winner will be announced by May 3rd, 2006

Give us your latest story of compassion, whether given, received, or seen
420 words or less

Good Luck

[Elysium]

Well mine was received from a close relation who upon finding out I'd been raided for a few outdoor plants and knowing how much I relied upon them for my well being, of their own free will and without telling me a thing went out and bought a 600 watt growlight on e-bay. It was delivered to my door without my knowing from whence it came and like a gift from God. I spent the next couple of days utterly bewildered but delighted and trying to nut it out....until she came to check up and admitted her generosity with a few provisos that I readily agreed to... ;)

I've read the rules.

[Artful Dodger]

This is one of the MOST COMPASSIONATE things I have ever had towards myself:

I am on SSDI and as anyone that is also on it knows all too well....we do not get enough money to y our rent, pay from all of our prescriptions, pay all of our utility bills, plus buy enough food. The math just doesn't allow for all that we need, so we do without some of the things I mentioned, and do without, juggle our bills, etc....God forbid that we have any emergcies that will cost us even more!!!
The year before last, I was talking on the phone with my good friend Dankdude and we were talking about all of that, and being a close friend as he is to me, I let him in on a little "secret" that I hadn't told anyone else about....I had no food to eat, had lost 20 pounds, and was getting more & more illnesses pop up from malnutrition. I was in hell.
I was just telling him that as friends do with each other, although I didn't tell any of my other friends. Then within a week when we next talked, he told me he had put out the word to a number of people in CW about what was going on with me and that I couldn't afford to eat. I have to admit I was a little pissed at him because I am one of the types of people that do not ask anyone for help, even when I am in dire straits as I was then, The next week I started getting mail......the unbelievable kindness of a few members had each sent me cash so that I could buy food & eat!!!!! Even from a member that I don't recall EVER posting directly to!!!! Out of total COMPASSION & KINDESS & CARE for a fellow member of that community, they sent in total $300 for me to buy food!!!! :)
I didn't let them down....I spent EVERY cent of it on food ONLY and it bought me enough food to last sevarl months!!!!!!
I had never met or spoke to any of these people, yet from thier Huge Hearts, they gave asking nothing in return other than for me to be able to buy food so I could eat. GOD BLESS THEM. Dank also sent some, and I know that he couldn't easily afford to do that.
I cannot begin to say how many times I cried as I fixed meals and/or ate...
Yes, it was VERY hard for me to accept thier help....but that is just me. That is why I neverhave PMed people for help in MMJ even tho I am sure they would....but a couple people have from CW and are now refugees from CW. I am a natural born care-taker and will do without things that I need to help someone else that is in need....so you can imagine the tug-of-war that went on inside of me.

The MJ community is THE kindest, most compassionate community of people I have ever in my 50 years had the HONOUR to have found and be a part of!!! (and the "average joe" think we are a bunch of "stoners"...*sigh* if they only would open thier eyes, minds, and hearts to see what we are...)

Geesh....i'm crying now & it is kicking up my Migraine, so i'll stop this story short altho I have more to say....:(

Namaste,
Art

[Apothecary Angel]

This one young kid, lived in a small town in california. Down on his luck. No job, no money, had to sell his motor home that he lived in. Was out on the streets. On drugs. Sliding down farther and farther every day.

The day hurrican Katerina hit he cried and told me. "Some one has to help them. I though I had it bad. they need help". I found some locals that was leaving to go and help out down there. I called them and they would be more than glad to have him go too. He packed his valuables. What he did not take, He gave to someone that needed it. Down to Louisiana to help he went.
He tells me when we talk. Thank you! if I would not of made that call, he could not of went and made some one down there smile. He has been down there every since. He does not relize that besides helping others, he has helped him self. He is staying clean, has a tent over his head, MRI's in his tummy and friends for life. Now where he is, they have made him apart of their familes. He said" This is where I was to be and MOM you can come down here for your vacation!". There is alway room for you.

[kractor]

i have read the rules ...

My wife and I are currently living on social assistance, and are waiting for her ODSP application to be processed. Needless to say, this doesn’t leave us with much money for anything beyond the bare essentials. This also limits our ability to do things like attend rallies and protest events, subscribe to magazines, buy herb, etc etc … and I don't think I have to tell anyone how frustrating it can be to WANT to get out there and not be able to.

Recently through an online A/V chat I frequent (some TY members came through for the bubble man hash demo awhile back) my wife and I met a kind soul locally who was nice enough to give us a free ride to the 4/22 event in Niagara Falls. She was even kind enough to insist upon buying us coffees on the way up as well.

Once we arrive at the starting point for the march we ran into more friends from the same online chat almost instantly. Some hands were shook; a tasty canna-chocolate candy was received and promptly eaten; a trip to the coffee shop was under-taken. Upon returning to the starting point for the rally, we immediately spot some friends from online and both my wife and I are again gifted … this time with some wonderful oil. It was right around this time I spotted Marco and a few people putting the sign together but he looked pretty busy so I didn’t want to interrupt by coming over to say high.

After the march and while the speeches were bring done, we met back up with a friend from earlier. A small caramel type candy was given to each of us, along with a really tasty cookie. After the speeches were over with and people were milling about, toking and getting ready to leave, this same person gave us even more cookies to take home.

The entire day was one kind act of compassion after another. No stress. No problems. Just peaceful people getting together in an act of political protest. It warms the heart even on the coldest days to see that there are still bright lights out there in the sea of humanity. To all those in attendance, I thank you for sharing such a wonderful event with me and my wife … and I hope to see you all May 6th in Toronto …

[Storm Crow]

I have read the rules.-- I’m not going to win because this is too long, but I wanted to tell you about my friend, Oleta.
Oleta is a small, mildly disabled woman. Have you ever read the book “Gnomes” or “The Hobbit”? Oleta looks like a gnome or hobbit (minus the furry toes, of course). Plump and chipper like a little sparrow, wise in the ways of the Earth, and a heart that is overflowing with love—that is Oleta. She is a respected and well loved pre-school teacher. Oleta once was married to Daryll. They divorced, but remained in contact. Daryll, has a good heart, but makes mistakes. Last year, Daryll realized that the divorce was one of the biggest mistakes he ever made. Another mistake he made was growing without having the papers from all the people he care-took for. He got busted, but now has the letters, so he believes he will be OK on this one. The third mistake he made was about a year ago, just before he realized mistake #1—he had a brief fling with a speed freak. The mother was unfit and CPS took the child, Anastasia, away at birth. She (the speed freak), after the DNA tests were in, conceded in writing, custody of Anastasia to Daryll, but CPS already had the child. CPS gets a big bundle of cash for every child they place for adoption. CPS wants Anastasia. Daryll is a legal medical marijuana user, and he care-took the plants of several people. But because of the bust and (even more) his (legal) use of cannabis, CPS wants to deny Daryll custody of his daughter (for obviou$ reasons). About the time of the birth, Oleta and Daryll remarried. He was up-front about the child and Oleta was horrified! Not that he had had a child by a speed freak, but that his child was “in the system”. As a preschool teacher, she has seen repeatedly what “the system” can do to a child. She began to fight for a child she had never even seen-- a child that many women would have hated or been indifferent to at best. Daryll has done everything that CPS has asked, took parenting classes (even the breast feeding class!), offered to build a completely separate outbuilding as a smoking room, so Anastasia won’t be exposed to second-hand smoke, had the psychological report done…everything they asked and more. He is allowed just 90 minutes a day, 5 days a week, with his daughter. Oleta only sees the baby as she passes through to the visiting room. She, the child's legal stepmother, is not permitted to see the child. CPS objects. Oleta tells me about every move she has seen the child make, worries about her health (there may be neural damage from the drug abuse), and most important, loves this child of her husband’s as if Anastasia was her own. This gentle, little woman loves her husband’s child, with all her heart. This is a child who likely faces a lifetime of problems from her mother’s heavy drug abuse, yet Oleta, her gray braids flying, has come out fighting like a mother bear for her. She has never held Anastasia in her arms, but she holds her in her heart. I worry that the courts will take Anastasia away to be adopted (if she does have physical problems and CPS finds her another home, they get even more $$$). CPS drags its feet on every move. Phone calls rarely returned, they are often late in bringing Anastasia for the supervised visits, banning Oleta from visiting the child, it’s a complete runaround! The next custody court date is in July. I worry that “the system” will crush the heart of my gentle, compassionate friend by denying custody. No other home could provide more love than what Oleta feels for this child. As a preschool teacher, she knows far moreabout small children than most mothers. Even if Daryll goes to jail, Oleta is the child’s stepmother and fully capable and eager to care for this child. She wants Anastasia in her home. She loves her. Oleta will fight for the rights of any child, but when it comes to a child she loves, she is unstoppable. Oleta is the soul of love and compassion.

[soulmate]

I have read the rules.
Over time there have been ill people in need of Med's and if we could and had the Med they would go to these people in need. As there is nothing more compassionate then helping out a follow person in need.

[DadinPain]

I have read the rules:

I guess Karma works in strange ways......I have helped out many people with cash and man power. Im the guy with the car trailer, Im the guy you call when you need a ride. Im the guy who you all ask to BBQ cuz you know Im the best at it. lol Well... I was given a jar of buds from a friend who said it wasnt up to hydro standards. I couldn't believe my eyes....why this friend was being so nice to me.....I guess its just his nature to help others too, and I just didnt have the cash to buy buds. Let me tell you that this bud was some of the best I have had in many years...... well I decided I would just empty the rest of it into a bag and gave it to a friend who had back surgery, and could only afford to pay for his recommendation letter this month and told me he is looking forward to next months check when he could really walk into a coop and purchase meds for himself, so he would not hurt so much. I felt bad and thought of all the people who have helped me.....this was a no brainer. I told him that he looked like he was in alot of pain and he should go and medicate......... I handed him the bag, and just smiled. What a feeling.

Dad,
who thinks everyone should share