OK, what is this about?? My father instilled in me a love of my country. Respect veterans, always fly the flag, and celebrate all American holidays. Always buy American when you can. Nothing is made better then stuff made here. We were only allowed to buy American made cars growing up. I still adhere to that and proudly own 2 American cars. He tried to make all major purchases, TV's, appliances, cameras, from reputable American companies.
Growing up in the 80's materials came from Taiwan or other foreign countries but you could still find things "Made in America". That was then....now EVERYTHING is made in China. My toothbrush, my shoes, my soap, my fruit, all my clothes, etc... I finally broke down when I went to put out my American flag for Memorial Day and discovered it was Made in China!! Really, we can't even make our own damn flags??
Since then I have started checking random things to see where they are from. Nine times out of 10 the items I am checking are not produced in this country. Why is that? We are one of the richest countries in the world, why do we outsource so much? Can't we do it here? We can, but it would cost more. Rather than give the jobs to Americans and pay a little extra, we outsource for cheap labor.
Now my girls check the labels of everything we buy and I keep on hearing Made in China, Made in China from the back seat. Momma, why is everything from China? Now they are 6 and don't understand economics but I want to know too - why?
So my husband and I came up with an idea to only buy or use things that are made in America for the month of July. Sounds easy right? It's not. I started checking all my clothes and I own 3 articles of clothing made in this country, my girls own 6 and my husband has a pair of underwear he can use. OK that's crazy, existing clothing and shoes is the only exemption. But no new purchases of anything not made here. I hate exemptions but I also hate being naked - so I will let this one slide.
So we start tomorrow. My dad would laugh and say I was crazy. He's gone now, celebrating life in heaven, so I guess this is for him. To show him I can do it, I can only buy American. I can not buy shoes (my downfall) for a month to prove a point. To try to make a small difference to my girls, to show them to be proud of their country. Thanks dad for making me - me. Wish me luck!
