Page 12
January 24, 2018
New Prices
Effective
April 1, 2017
O PINION
Martin
Cleaning
Service
Carpet & Upholstery
Cleaning
Residential &
Commercial Services
Minimum Service CHG.
$50.00
A small distance/travel
charge may be applied
CARPET CLEANING
2 Cleaning Areas or more
$30.00 each Area
Pre-Spray Traffic Areas
(Includes: 1 small Hallway)
1 Cleaning Area (only)
$50.00
Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area
(Hallway Extra)
Stairs (12-16 stairs - With
Other Services) : $30.00
Area/Oriental Rugs:
$25.00 Minimum
Area/Oriental Rugs (Wool) :
$40.00 Minimum
Heavily Soiled Area:
$10.00 each area
(Requiring Extensive Pre-Spraying)
UPHOLSTERY
CLEANING
Sofa: $69.00
Loveseat: $49.00
Sectional: $109 - $139
Chair or Recliner:
$25.00 - $49.00
Throw Pillows (With
Other Services) : $5.00
ADDITIONAL
SERVICES
• Auto/Boat/RV Cleaning
• Deodorizing & Pet
Odor Treatment
• Spot & Stain
Removal Service
• Scotchguard Protection
• Minor Water Damage
Services
SEE CURRENT FLYER
FOR ADDITIONAL
PRICES & SERVICES
Call for Appointment
(503) 281-3949
Our Common Humanity Makes Each Culture Great
America loses
by shunning
rest of the
world
J ill r iCharDson
We
recently
learned that Don-
ald Trump referred
to African nations
and Haiti using a
derogatory and pro-
fane term. (Accounts differ, but
all seem to agree it ended with
“hole.”)
Writing off an enormous per-
centage of the world’s landmass
and population as inferior isn’t
just nasty, it’s incorrect.
It’s true that some nations
have oppressive, despotic, or
corrupt governments. Some
have high rates of poverty. I
don’t envy the citizens of North
Korea, as they have both.
But human nature is uni-
versal. Human beings in every
country demonstrate the same
levels of courage and bravery,
compassion and kindness, and
intelligence and ingenuity as we
by
do here in the United States.
I’ve traveled to five conti-
nents (all but Australia and Ant-
arctica) and I’ve met people in
each place who excel in ways
Americans value — such as by
attaining college educations or
succeeding in high paying ca-
reers.
But I’ve also encoun-
tered incredible people
proving their greatness in
other ways.
In Mexico, I visited
boarding schools in which
the children, some as young as
seventh grade, grew, harvested,
and cooked their own food every
single day, in addition to attend-
ing class and completing home-
work.
They did this without tractors,
refrigerators, or stoves. Making
breakfast meant waking up be-
fore dawn to light a fire (with
wood they chopped themselves)
and cooking beans and tortillas
from scratch.
In the Philippines, I visited a
community that was being ex-
ploited by a multinational corpo-
ration. The community called in
an international non-profit orga-
nization to investigate and publi-
cize what was happening. Then
they bravely gave their names
and told their stories publicly,
risking retaliation as they at-
tempted to fight for their rights.
In Kenya, children spend far
more time in school than Amer-
icans do. I stayed with a family
whose two kids arrived at school
earlier and stayed later than I
ever had to — and they went
back for more on Saturdays. In
Kenya, such dedication to school
work is normal.
In Cuba, I found people who
could invent just about anything
from simple materials. One man
created a hydraulic irrigation
device out of a few soda bottles
and some plastic tubing. With no
electricity, the device turned the
water on and off at regular inter-
vals, providing the right amount
of irrigation to the man’s guava
seedlings.
These were not unusually ex-
traordinary people. Just as many
Americans exhibit brilliance,
creativity, and hard work, so do
people everywhere.
However, there is value in di-
versity. By traveling and meet-
ing people from five continents,
I not only encountered diversity
in skin colors, languages, and
cuisines — I also encountered
diversity in ideas.
Americans can only lose if
we shun people from the rest of
the world. When we meet and
work with people from each dif-
ferent culture on earth, whether
here in the U.S. or outside it,
we gain from their unique per-
spectives just as they gain from
ours.
Some of the most exciting
developments I’ve witnessed
have come from two or more
cultures working together, com-
bining the ideas of each to cre-
ate something more than the
sum of its parts.
A nation’s poverty isn’t a
mark of its people’s intelligence
— or their value. By all means,
criticize oppressive govern-
ments. Hate poverty, war, and
disease. But remember that peo-
ple everywhere possess the same
common humanity that makes
each culture on earth great.
OtherWords columnist Jill
Richardson is the author of Rec-
ipe for America: Why Our Food
System Is Broken and What We
Can Do to Fix It. Distributed by
OtherWords.org.