Kitty is ready for Boxing Day
So as you rush around buying those last minute gifts thinking that the holiday will be a bust if you can't get scarf for aunt June or that book uncle Harry wanted, stop for just a sec and remember what this was all supposed to be about. It was all supposed to be about hope. Hope that somehow with the execution of one man that by some strange magic those who have been beaten down by life's ills will have hope of a better life. That somehow cruelty and greed would be washed aside if only for just one day. That people would stop focusing on themselves long enough to see the suffering around them and do something about it.
And there is my Christmas present to you.
9 comments:
"That people would stop focusing on themselves long enough to see the suffering around them and do something about it."
It's there if you look. It's as close hereabouts as the newspaper's annual toys-and-food drive for the needy, on track to meet its $500,000 goal even in this awful economy. And that's just one local example. There are plenty more.
Not so locally, did you watch Lawrence O'Donnell's Last Word show on MSNBC this week? He created a fund to buy school desks for children in Malawi, so they won't have to sit on hard concrete floors seven hours a day. The desks cost $24 each. In less than two weeks, the fund has raised nearly $1 million. The kids sit two or three to these desks, so his simple effort is going to get a lot of kids off of floors, and continue doing so for decades.
Doing something about the suffering around us is never complete, never really enough. And of course, we'll never get everyone doing their share. But if you look around, it's remarkable how many are doing something.
Happy holidays to you and yours, Demeur. You deserve a better year ahead than the one behind. I can't give you one, but I can say a small prayer for you and for so many others, and I will.
in the clearing stands the boxer...merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas, Demeur. Tanya sent me out of the kitchen so I wouldn't "help" so am catching up on blogs.
SW, that is awesome about the desks for Malawi. I wanted to start an NGO called "We Give a Shit" to raise money for latrines in the slums of Narobi but the group I approached to sponsor it weren't interested.
A good solid double latrine, costs about $125. Water pollution from human waste in the sewage water is a major cause of so many diseases and much childhood mortality.
I gave a homeless guy $5 yesterday as I was walking out of work with 2 co-workers. They looked at me like I was crazy. I looked back at them like "why didn't you??" I refuse to feel bad about giving someone a buck when I have it.
Merry Christmas Demeur :)
I just have to ask why it is that so many of us in the middle are more than willing to help out while those at the top who could really make a difference could care less. I gave a homeless vet a buck and I have no income at present. Even as snarky as Billy is I know he helps people.
The truly frustrating thing is that it doesn't take that much. A group of us some years back bought a washer and dryer for an orphanage in Russia. They were using rags as diapers and had no way to wash them. We managed to get school kids here to save pennies in baby food jars. They got their washer and dryer and plenty of diapers too.
Merry Christmas to all and better times for all of us.
Hear, hear.
From a June 2010 news story:
Warren Buffett, Bill Gates ask billionaires to give away wealth
(Reuters) - Investor Warren Buffett and Microsoft (MSFT.O) founder Bill Gates announced on Wednesday that they are asking hundreds of billionaire Americans to give away at least 50 percent of their wealth to charity.
Buffett, who made his fortune with insurance and investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N), Gates and his wife, Melinda, have held a series of dinners with a couple dozen rich Americans in the past year to urge them to make a philanthropic pledge.
They have named the campaign the Giving Pledge and are asking those who commit to giving away at least half their fortune during their lifetime or after their death to publicly state their intention with a letter explaining their decision.
Patty Stonesifer, a former chief executive of the Gates Foundation and now adviser to Gates and Buffett, said that four families had agreed to announce their pledge on Wednesday -- real estate and construction billionaire Eli Broad, venture capitalist John Doerr, media entrepreneur Gerry Lenfest and former Cisco Systems (CSCO.O) Chairman John Morgridge.
Broad and his wife Edythe said in a statement that they will pledge to give away 75 percent of their wealth during and after their lifetime. Forbes has estimated Broad to be worth $5.7 billion. . . .
That's quite an initiative by two extremely wealthy men who've maintained their decency and humanity, IMO.
Shit.
waiting for upcoming festivals.
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