As much as Steve and I would love to contribute to various things like the ALS challenge, people with Huntington disease who need wheelchair ramps, the homeless, the cold water plunge etc we just cant right now. We are not being cheap, stingy, cold hearted, or unfeeling. We are struggling ourselves. Maybe not the way that some people are but still struggling to make ends meet. We try to help those people we know our meet when and how we can but when it comes to money its really tough for us to help people we dont know, have never met, nor are likely to ever meet. We contribute in other ways. I talk to vets online struggling with PTSD in support groups, we donate our gently used clothing to the homeless, we donate non-perishable food to the food drive at the kids schools, we all look out for our neighbors who need it, and generally just try to be decent people so that when we stand before our maker we can say, we did our best. It may not have been enough, but we did the best we could with what we had. We tried to be good people and do the right thing and tried to teach our children to do the right thing. Steve and I have both been called out a couple of times on some of these challenges and just cant participate right now. We are practically begging for help and doing fundraisers as it is so that Molly can continue color guard this year which has been phenomenal for her self esteem and sense of self worth. We are sorry, the challenges look like fun but we have to stay back from those right now. Maybe when we can start grocery shopping at market basket again, and my car payment is gone, and my crippling student loans are paid for, and the millions of little things that come up every day for school for the kids such as field trips, school lunches, color guard etc, or Rayleens EMT course is paid for we can participate but $10 or $100 there just no room in the budget at the moment. For those who think we are cheap, come pay my bills for a month, and try to budget for the upcoming fall and holiday expenses, with what we have coming in then we will talk. Steve is risking burning out by working two jobs (hes not burning out yet but its a fear of mine), picking up whatever hours he can at the station so I can go to day shift and be here more for my youngest who needs mom home at night. The differences we try to make are to show people that SOMEONE cares. I gave my last $5 and a bottle of water one day to a man who looked like he hadnt had bath in months. May not sound like much to most people but to that man it meant everything. He had tears in his eyes when he grasped my hand and thanked me for caring enough to stop saying God bless you! That to me is worth more than a donation to someone I dont know for a cause that I know little about. If thats unfeeling, cheap, cold hearted, and unfeeling then tough cookies to you. I can look at myself in the mirror and be content in myself and who I am as a human being. Sorry about the rant but this has been building for a while and I saw a post about cheap people who dont step up for these challenges.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 05:17:46 +0000