|
|
|
|
|
This brilliant idea was proposed by a dear friend. Saving the World on a Dollar a Week - Support our Troops!
|
|
|
Can you spare a dollar a week to make someone else's life happier, healthier, and give them hope? What's a dollar a week, after all? You probably have that much pocket change lying on the floor of your car. Can't afford a dollar a week? Come on, you probably spend much more than that on cigarettes or beer or candles or some other vice/luxury. Every week, on sundays I watch This Week With George Stephanopolous. At the end they have a piece called In Memoriam, an obituary for the folks who have died over the past week. And at the end of that, they list the soldiers killed in action in Iraq. It hurts my heart to see how many men and women have been killed in the name of freedom. Every week, I cry. Whether or not you agree with the war in Iraq - and I'm definitly not in favor of the reasons/timing about why we went in - our troops and their families are still worth supporting. Many of them have lost jobs, lost homes due to mortgages that couldn't be paid on military salaries, their wives/husbands are forced to support their children on reduced funds . . . not to mention the horrifying loss of life. I'm old enough to remember Vietnam, and the thing I remember most about that, was the lousy way we treated our troops - our sons, brothers, fathers and uncles - when they returned. Take your ire out on the people who deserve it - the politicians who sent our kids to war, but remember that these people are there because of their sense of service to our country. And for that, they are giving their lives and their limbs. Did you know that at present the death benefits for soldiers killed in action amounts to a mere $12,000? (That's not even enough to send a child - ONE child - to a decent college for a year, and certainly not enough to compensate a family for losing a bread-winner and beloved family member. ) There's legslation considering raising that to $100,000, but who knows if it will pass - or if it will be retroactive. In contrast, in wrongful death suits, the amount a person is "worth" is calculated by their earning potential. I'm not sure exactly how they arrive at those figures, but let's say that someone's death is worth a year's wages (hardly compensation!) even so, $12,000 for one year is far below poverty level. This week a dear friend of mine happened to notice an article on CNN news regarding the fact that the Cleveland Browns had gifted 50 tickets to the Superbowl (averaging $500 or so apiece) to Marines who had been or would soon be deployed in Iraq. Now I could care less about football, and neither could he, but it was the gesture itself that was important. Some of those Marines really DO care about that sort of thing, and beyond giving them an experience that they could enjoy, it also gave them the experience of feeling that someone, somewhere cared. That gave my friend a brilliant idea. How about donating $1 per week to helping out the families of those folks who are for better or worse, "defending" our country? If 1/3 of our nation (approx 100 million people) donated $1 per week, that would be a little over 5 billion dollars per year. How about a quarter a day? If 1/3 of our nation donated a mere 25 cents per day - $7.50 a month, that would come out to nearly double that - approximately 9 BILLION dollars per year. Have children? Get the to scrounge up 25 pennies a day, between them and their schoolmates and take that money down to the bank at the end of the month and turn it into bucks that they can donate to other children who have lost thier parents. THAT is a "moral value" that our children would do well to learn. Here are a few of the worthy charities I've found: The Enduring Freedom Fund for the children and families of soldiers killed in action. (Okay, maybe for some of you, you have moral issues with supporting a war - if so, then find some other charity you believe in to donate your dollar a day or quarter a week to, and make the world a better place. Give! Do something! Make a difference!)
|
Main
Page
|
|||
|
|
 |
 |
|
Graphics and articles © Lionrhod 1997-2003 PHP magic made possible by OakRaven.com
|
|||
|
|||
