The Three Turtles

Today's subject is thinking of others. You know during the holidays we do a lot of good for other people. We might put money in the red can for the Salivation Army, Donate food for Thanksgiving, Donate presents for children, Make special donations to varies charities, Pass out supplies to the homeless, donate warm clothes to shelters and lots of other things that help others in need. According to USA Today in 2009 (which we all know was a terrible year for everyone.) Americans gave 303.8 billion to charity. Now some of you will say that large corporations probable gave most of that and they did give a good amount but they didn't even come close on what the general public gave. Corporations accounted for  . . . you better sit down . . . 14.1 billion. We the general public gave an average of  233.1 dollars per person. Now that's a lot of money but maybe I shouldn't have told you all of that information but I only thought it was right to start with the facts so you wouldn't feel too guilty.

In America we spend a lot of money on nice things because we can and there is nothing wrong with that. After all Americans work a lot. Of course people try to convince us that we don't work enough or that most Americans are lazy but the facts are that most countries think we are crazy with the sheer number of hours and days that we put in at the job. If you read my article OZ then you know it is to the advantage of the government and corporations to keep us working as much as possible. The more you work the more money that they make and it gives you less time to think about what's going on behind the curtain. Sorry I got side tracked again so let me step off my soapbox and try to stay on point.

We spend 5 to 8 dollars on one cup of coffee and still to this day that is a weeks salary to a majority of the world. Like I stated before I'm not trying to make you feel guilty I just want you to realize that compared to the rest of the world even our lower middle class is filthy rich so we should be able to afford to give 233 dollars to charity a year. Did you know that if we took the money that America spends on Christmas Gifts in one year we could feed the hungry for that whole year. I think most of you believe that because you just found out how much 233 dollars per person adds up too but I wasn't talking about the hungry in America I was talking about every single hungry person in the world. Wow! Could you imagine not one single person in the whole world being hungry. I can.

According to Global Issues web site:
1 child dying every 4 seconds

14 children dying every minute

A 2011 Libya conflict-scale death toll every day

A 2010 Haiti earthquake occurring every 10 days

A 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring every 11 days

An Iraq-scale death toll every 19–46 days

Just under 7.6 million children dying every year

Some 92 million children dying between 2000 and 2010

Now I'm not going to lie to you I hate those commercials were they show starving children. I don't even watch them anymore. If they come on I turn the channel, mute the volume or go do something so I don't have to watch. I've seen enough crap in my time here on earth and if I never have to see something like that again it will be to soon.

Now I'm not trying to guilt you into not buying presents or donating all your money. I'm just saying if I needed help I would hope that somebody would step up and help me. The American Red Cross has been serving this country since 1881 and they respond to every disaster that happens from family home fires to tornadoes, floods, and earthquakes. I would challenge you to find somebody that didn't at least know someone that hasn't been touched by this organization in that aspect and if you add in there blood drives I would say it's impossible. Did you know that the Red Cross is operating with no money a lot of the time. How is that even possible. The Red Cross is the third most popular charitable organization in the united states. How do we not support an organization that has helped so many.

Now I know that a lot of you spend every dime you make between housing, food, clothes, kids and so on. Believe me I've been there. At one time while I was in the military I was so broke that I didn't have even one dime for entertainment. Every time I did anything such as go to the movies or eat out or bowled it had to go on a credit card. Heck I couldn't even afford to pay for McDonalds without my credit card. Now that's bad. I won't tell you how much I ended up owing but it took me 8 years to pay it off. So I do understand what that is like.

During that time, not the eight years, when I making exactly what my bills were I didn't give one dime to charity because I didn't want to use my credit card. That might have added two more years! I did give a lot though. I volunteered all the time. When your in the military you are expected to do volunteer work so I can't really take any credit because it's always easier to clean a highway if you know all your friends will be there.

There was a group of friends driving down a two lane highway when they saw hundred of turtles crossing the road. Already lots of turtles were already dead from  the heave traffic. The driver slowed down and drove around as many as he could but when he got almost all the was through the crossing area there was no where to go. One of the passengers told the driver to stop and got out of the car and ran up to the road block and ran back and forth clearing the road until they could pass. When he got back in the car one of his friends said "what was the point to that. It's not like you made a difference."

He just smiled at his friend and said. "It made a difference to those three."

There's a lot of things in this world that we cant change but this isn't one of them. Every once in a while do yourself a favor. Helping someone else is one of the most rewarding things you can ever do.
Now maybe I was telling you this so you could better yourself but most likely I was just talking to my self because I have been slacking lately. Just Remember that you can't walk on water if you don't get out of the boat. Who know maybe I'll see you out there.