I received an email today from Ryan at Thankful For Freedom, a new organization with a mission of supporting our troops through donations to four respected and beneficial organizations. Please visit and read their materials. It won't take but a couple of minutes, and I think that my regulars will be in support of this endeavor.
Brings me around to the post below this one, where I encouraged participation in another worthwhile cause. First, it turns out that Ryan is a brother in Pi Kappa Phi, and I am sure there is no coincidence that I posted that today. I guess he did a search or something. Anyway, it also brings me to a point I made to some friends in an email the other night.
My little city of Helena, Al was rated by Money Magazine as the #1 city to live in Alabama, and in the top 50 of cities in the country with populations under 50,000 in the "best place to raise a family" category. It would be impossible to convey to you the Mayberry atmosphere in a city only a few miles from the largest city in the state, but the condition here is exactly like that, except our police chief carries a weapon...lol.
I got an invitation Monday to attend an organizational meeting for a Civitan Club in the Buck Creek Area, which will be based in Helena and serve two other communities. I joined a a charter member, and I am looking forward to being able to serve my community with my hands, and not just my words and an occasional donation.
So my point is this: The quality of life in any particular place is due to the inhabitants of that place. A cul-de-sac, a city, a state, a region, or a country. Individuals work to make things positive. The Buck Creek Civitan Club will take a few hours each month, but by building to a hundred members that will be hundreds of hours each month to build wheelchair ramps or sponsor baseball teams or work with the Special Olympics or other projects. Life depends on us to take a few minutes and contribute.
The post earlier just required a change of search engines. This post requires the click of a mouse and the optional purchase of a t-shirt. Little things go a long way.
I am thankful for the men and women who carry the torch and guarantee my freedom. They receive enough negatives from so many - please take a minute or three to look at the site for a few people who want to do their few minutes to support heroes.
You Are Among The Elite!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Thankful For Freedom
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7 Posts From Readers:
An article that caught my attention:
The American middle class was built on New Deal investments in education, housing, infrastructure, and health care, which produced a very "prolonged period of objective economic and social development." People were optimistic; generations of growing prosperity raised their expectations that their children would do even better. That era instilled in Americans exactly the kind of hopeful belief in their own agency that primes them to become likely revolutionaries in an era of decline.
And now, thanks to 28 years of conservative misrule, we are now at the point where "manifest reality breaks away from anticipated reality;" and the breach is creating political turbulence. The average American has seen his or her standard of living contract by fits and starts since about 1972. This fall-off that was relieved somewhat by the transition to two-earner households and the economic sunshine of the Clinton years -- but then accelerated with the dot-com crash, followed by seven years of Bush's overt hostility toward the lower 98 percent of Americans who aren't part of his base. Working-class America is reeling from the mass exodus of manufacturing jobs and the scourge of predatory lending; middle-class America is being hollowed out by health-care bankruptcies, higher college costs, and a tax load far heavier than that of the richest 2 percent. These people expected to do better than their parents. Now, they're screwed every direction they turn.
In the face of this reversal, Davies tells us, it's not at all surprising that the national mood is turning ominous, from one end of the political spectrum to the other. However, he warns us: this may not be just a passing political storm. In other times and places, this kind of quick decline in a prosperous nation has been a reliable sign of a full-on revolution brewing just ahead.
Here is the link
Anyone care to discuss?
Robert: This sounds terribly apathetic, but I am a year or so from getting back involoved in teh community. No excuses to say, just not there yet. The better part of my life has ben spent volunteering or helping in one manner or another, but you had a great point.
"but by building to a hundred members that will be hundreds of hours "
those are the boots on the ground we need here in the States.
eco - I know I have to work harder and I expect nothing from the government.
I think the Civitan Club in Helena is a great idea!
Hewy, please feel free to visit and become a charter member of the Buck Creek Civitan Club. As a neighbor in Helena, you know how great this city is! If you can't join, now, drop in anyway and you will know enough to tell your friends. At worst, you get some free appetizers and spend an hour of your day meeting some neighbors.
Tuesdays at 6:oo pm for social
630-730 for the meeting.
We are in the private meeting room at Incahoots there by Buck Creek bu the railroad tracks.
Obob, I have not had time to volunteer for much the last six years. After 9/11, I worked for DHS and put in 60-90 hours per week. The last year, my teaching has taken up my spare time. I still am busy as we all are, but I have to take this opportunity to be a charter members fornot only my community, but for the good works. I blame no one for their circumstances if they don;t allow for civic duty. After all, the greatest responsibility we have is to our families.
ECO - I only have a minute, but I will engage you in that conversation tomorrow. I haven't even clicked the link, but I already have two isues with the part you posted. So for now, just an IOU.
Robert,
Its funny that at times we latch on to something anciliary to the theme of the post. I've been "visiting" your little town via a few links on the internet and I must say, it is a beautiful place, it really is.
Its right there with 2 other places I've "earmarked" for my retirement years :)
Thanks for the heads-up (LOL!)
Sounds like you reside in a terrific part of the world. The qaulity of life is in the detail, the many individuals whose contributions make the whole. Now I'll check the link...
ECO, I still owe you.
T-P, I presume you mean that you have added Helena to your list? You should really consider it. This place is truly Mayberry-like. You know the police officers by name. When we moved here five years ago I went to the City hall building to get my water turned on, and the mayor walked out to meet me when he heard that I was a new resident. We chatted, he took me to his office, and when he found out I was prior law enforcement and worked for DHS, he called the police chief in to meet me. We know the names of all the neighbors within 2 blocks. Four of our nearest neighbors brought us food the day we moved in. We help each other with yard work and repairs and raising children. It is not uncommon for a parent to buy ice cream from the truck for 10kids who are outside playing together.
Incredible. This place is incredible. I will do a post in a little while with some pics and links.
AI, when you want to come to the states, let me know and I will put you up for your stay and you can sight-see around here!
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