Spam as a precooked meat product from Hormel Foods, Inc. is tasty, convenient, and not too expensive. It is easy to store. In slices it fits well between two pieces of bread, and it is easy to put on a plate. I can remember eating it years ago in lunches that I carried to school.

But Spam that is received as “unsolicited” “electronic” “messages” that are “indiscriminately” distributed by “electronic messaging systems”, particularly in bulk numbers, is not recognized as being good. In fact Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, indicates that “spamming is universally reviled.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(electronic))

Spam, the dilemma

A can of Spam may be good on the shelf of your pantry or your refrigerator from time to time, but no one wants cartons of it dumped at their door every morning! No one seems to want their email boxes  on their computers or their comment messages on their blogs or their cell phones filled up with such “unsolicited” messages. But it takes some special tools and some persistent work to block the appearance of such messages, Spam, in one’s communication devices. Most of us have probably accepted all of the advertising that is displayed on the television stations that we watch. Except for public broadcasting stations and religious broadcasts, such displays take up too many minutes of television programs; and then the PB stations have their call-in fund-raising drives and the TV preachers solicit contributions. So it is impossible to avoid Spam and a lot of “unsolicited” advertising today!

But many of us would still like to know what there is “out there” that is “good” that we can buy to eat or otherwise consume, or to use, or to view, or to hear, or to read, or to visit, or to enjoy, or to think about, or to experience, or to touch, or to say, or to want, or to receive. Most of us have our “want list”, so we do a lot of searching on the Internet, through the magazines and catalogues, in the printed fliers that fill our local mail boxes every week for what might be “good” that we could get to satisfy our “wants”.  A few relevant ads for some products may help in our searches, but most of us don’t want any Spam!

The particular purpose of this blog is to get individuals engaged in thinking about and talking about what is really “good” in their lives. As we do this, I think that it will make us wiser buyers, more satisfied customers, happier family members, better citizens, and more faithful stewards of God’s resources. I invite you to talk with me about “what is good” in your lives. What is a “good” tool to block spam? What is a “good” ad in your search for resources to meet your wants and needs? Let’s talk about Spam and these other matters that seem to dominate so much of our attention and drive so many of our desires.