The season hit me today .... and I'm sitting here weeping .....

[Stinky The Clown]

Two threads got me thinking .... both on the Greatest page ......

A few members have suggested doing a charity donation drive this holiday season. We need your help.

Sanctioned Fund Raiser for Straight Story - Please Help, DU

I think, more than anything else for me, personally, this is why I'm a liberal. I care. Not much to say about it. I just plain care. I care ..... and when I realize how ineffectual I am, as but one person, I am made to feel such sadness that I cry. And that's what I'm doing this morning.

I'm crying and I'm raging.

How can a country as rich as ours be so DAMNED poor when it comes to compassion and caring for the least among us?

Why is it that a country with as much as ours needs to have ***charities*** that provide for the BASIC HUMAN NEEDS of MILLIONS of our fellow citizens? These should be RIGHTS ... not priveleges .... not the target of largesse ..... these should be RIGHTS.

Over the years, I've given much to charity. I never questioned doing it. There was a need and i did what i could. In my practice I make it a point to do at least two pro bono projects a year. I know I'm not alone. I am just one guy and my contributions are small.

But damn. WHY?

Today I'm feeling like I care so much that it hurts. And that's just plain WRONG.

Meanwhile .... out at the mall .......

[IndyOp]

1. Have you gotten your PlayStation3 yet? I bought a new DVR!

I bet Iraqi kids would really like a PS3 or a DVR!

:sarcasm:

Iraqi Child Hunger Report Denied



Or wait... maybe some Food and a bit of Peace.

:(

[NMDemDist2]

2. H2S

first of all :hug:

yeah it sucks doesn't it?

I feel so blessed this holiday season in spite of being unemployed (yeah, but that's another story) and broke. I'm heading out tomorrow for Shreveport cuz my dear StepMother is in the dumps. we are taking the tiny $$ we were gonna spend on Xmas for gifts for ourselves and putting it in the gas tank for me to go where I'm needed

It's your time or your $$$ eh? and since I don't have $$ i'm spending my *most* precious commodity - my time

so many people have slipped through the cracks since Ronnie Rayguns admin it's a national tragedy. and criminal in the moral sense

we do what we can, but so many of us just can't. it's a very sad state of affairs which hopefully we can start to alleviate with a Democratic Majority

[wakeme2008]

3. All you can do is donate what you can....

I have to go buy a couple gifts for male and female teenagers for the Roanoke Recue Mission this weekend. :)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. You never know what your small contribution can mean

I had this hit home to me a few years back. I was unemployed and basically broke, but I came into 5 dollars that an elderly lady gave me as a tip for helping her understand computers (I was volunteering at a senior center at the time). I mailed it off to Refugees International, a group I'd heard about that was doing a good job helping others. I figured I wouldn't get a card or anything back. Well, I got a letter signed by the president of the organization saying how much the money meant to them. So you never know....

[peace13]

5. This would on ours is overwhelming!

I send you hugs and thanks for being one of the good guys. Hang in there. Peace on earth, Kim

[OneBlueSky]

6. bottom line is that Americans have too much of everything . . .

and continue to want more and more and more . . . while half of the world's population is starving, our 5% continues to consume a quarter or more of all the world's resources so everyone can have two cars, three tvs, cell phones, Blackberries, DVD players, cheap gas, and tomatoes in December . . .

[Bluerthanblue]

8. and not enough of what matters most-

and this is going to sound moronic, but we are enslaved-

We AREN'T 'free'-

We are prisoners to the materialistic nation that we have created.
And the never ending stress of 'having/getting/needing/wanting' leaves so many of us going through the motions of life, but not truly living.

We don't want to have to stop and really 'think'- or feel- (especially pain) or any other 'negative emotion'-

The thing about sorrow, need, loss and pain is that knowing the depth of any and all of these feelings, also means knowing comfort, fullness, joy, feeling GOOD- having 'enough'

It is amazing how a simple thing like a sip of water can be worth more than all the 'stuff' in the world, when you are dying of thirst- and how a simple act of kindness can last and echo for years, when you have only known cruelty, lack, and apathy.

There is a hole in all people- Americans especially- because so many of our 'needs' are met, and yet that yearning, that emptiness remains... and we can't make it go away no matter what we do-....
I think perhaps that reaching out to others, may indeed be reaching inwardly as well- and what we give away doesn't leave us wanting- it leaves us 'fuller' where it matters....

I'm tired of the consumerism, gluttony, and empty striving .....

better to sleep in the woods surrounded by friends than to live alone in a mc mansion panic room, waiting for the next 'sale'...

We are all such lost children....

[Bluerthanblue]

7. I'm weeping with you- and

SS and all far too many people in this sad weary world-
Imagine ALL the people living life in peace??? Nothing to kill or die for? No greed- no want- enough for everyone, and everyone looking out for each other, so that no one has to hurt others in their quest to look out for themself....

This goes so far beyond politics, religion, nationality.... it goes to the core of 'who we are' and why we DON'T do what could be done.....

Are human beings the 'lowest' life form? Why do we, who seem blessed with the most intelligence, ability to manipulate and change our environment- for incredible good or ill- why haven't we come to the place where we understand that when everyone in the world has the basic necessities for life, that everyone else benefits???
Life is a big enough challenge on its own- disease, physical & emotional needs, natures extremes- why can't we work collectively? why not lobby for the good of everyone????-

This season, with all the hype- all the expectations that people are 'set up' for- all the 'Hallmark' moments that play on the very 'best' of us, for the purpose of selling more 'stuff'.... is so full of pain, stress, loneliness- despair....hidden behind busy-ness and ribbons and plastic cards that we seek to purchase relief with-

If i could have one wish it would be that we could all live out the dream of "IMAGINE"- ALL of us- every single one of us- including * and bin laden and all the broken little people who hide their need and pain and wounds behind cruelty and greed and power- we are far more 'alike' than we want to admit sometimes.

Thank you for grounding me Husb2Sparkly.... it isn't about stuff- or songs- or lights- or anything but the profound invisible common thread that binds us all together- no matter how we may 'fight it' or how 'disconnected' we may feel- how alone life can appear.... we are all a part of each other- and this world, and we will never know peace until we all know peace-

May we all be comforted- and be given the joy of comforting others
and come to know true peace-

blu

let it be, whisper, let it be

[enough already]

9. I agree, and it is quite sad

Hopefully the new Congress will move forward an agenda that makes these things rights.

[JNelson6563]

10. I hear ya Bunky.

And I'm standing with you as are countless other DUers. :grouphug:

Julie

[grasswire]

11. this is why we love you, H2S

You're so obviously a great guy. I wish you and your sons and family a peaceful and blessed holiday.

The other day I was at the supermarket at one of those checkouts where the checker has to tend a row of self-serve checket machines as well as her own line. Things were absolute chaos. Someone had demanded to cash two different kinds of travelers checks, the machines were acting up, I had just been double-charged for a big item and needed a refund, etc. The line was very long and people were getting restless and annoyed. The checker was not quite up to all of this mayhem.

And then there was another problem. A young couple with a baby had a problem -- the self-checkout machine was demanding that they pay $1.50 in cash because their food stamp card was refusing to pay for some one thing costing $1.50. The young man was having to reveal their business in front of the whole line of people. The checker hollered "Maybe your card is out of money!" And the young woman responded "No, it has $200 on it!" It was a horrible moment for them, I know.

I fished in my pocket and gave the young woman $2. I just wanted this embarrassment to end for them, right now. I've felt that sting of embarrassment, having grown up in a poor family. I was no genius, no angel, no "Santa" -- I was just practical: this situation needs an immediate fix, which I can do, so I did. Now I'm kicking myself for not handing her a ten or twenty dollar bill. These kids didn't have a cent, I'm sure.

I think I'm going to go out and look for someone who needs to have some groceries paid for and do it. I often see them in line -- the little old lady who has just a few cheap things in her basket, the disabled man with the tiny artificial tree. Not that I have a lot of resources -- I don't. But by God, we've gotta start expressing our human oneness more.

[Bluerthanblue]

12. .

...
:hug:

:grouphug:

:grouphug: :hug:

:grouphug: :hug: :grouphug:

thank you ...

this is how it is supposed to be-


Imagine it.

[angstlessk]

13. How kind you are, you brought tears to my eyes..I found myself in a similar

situation years ago when I was a single mom, the day before payday. I did not even have enough money to pay for two baking potatoes and a kind person behind me in line just put up the money needed and looked away as if to say..don't fucking thank me...go ..and eat your potatoes. A kind person who was embarassed that a person like me had to exist in a the world we live in. I am doing LOADS better now..so I help when I can, but not enough!