(from [fight4thepeople.wordpress.com])

You can make a difference. Do something about it today! – By Mike Lucas
[fight4thepeople.wordpress.com]

I recently did some Christmas shopping at a mall here in San Diego. It’s a pretty nice upscale shopping center called Fashion Valley Mall. It was filled with tons of people. By the size of the crowd, one would never guess we were in the middle of a recession, but then again this was an upscale mall.

People were walking by joyfully with MAC computers, Bloomingdale bags, and lots of other goodies. I took a stroll through some of the stores to check out some deals. As I stood there, I was amazed to see a crowd of people yanking jeans off a table like they were going out of style. Wow! They were $170 a pair! Most of these folks didn’t even look at the tags. They picked them up, held them against themselves to check the fit on them, and then headed towards the next table.

I continued to look at clothes. $400 dollar jackets….$80 dollar shirts…..$250 shoes…THESE WERE THE SALES PRICES! My next thought was “Jesus, I need to get out of the place I can’t even afford to breathe the oxygen in this store.” As I ran for the doors, I looked back one more time and saw line upon line of happy shoppers buying it all up.

As I walked back out to the parking lot to leave, I strolled past the Valet parking area to get to the parking garage. I noticed some really cool cars. A brand new BMW right off the lot, a Maserati, and even an Aston Martin. They were parked neatly at the very front of the mall. The valet was full of these cars…It looked like the ultimate Matchbox collection! I thought to myself, “Wow! No evidence of hard economic times at this place!” I finally reached the car in the parking lot and put it into drive. As I was heading out, I had to wait in a long line in the parking lot area.

I noticed a man standing on the corner. He was holding a sign that read “I’m so broke and hungry it hurts.” You can tell a real person in need from a fake. This guy didn’t strike me as a drug addict. He didn’t strike me as a con artist. You could tell this man was the real deal and that his body was worn from the cold and many miles of wandering he’s done. Ahead of me in this line was a Mercedes….a Lexus…..an Escalade….and a few other very high end SUV’s stuffed with presents. Each and every single vehicle that drove by did so without a single driver or passenger acknowledging his existence as a human. Car after car they drove right by.

When it came to my turn to make my right at the light on the corner he was standing on, I stopped. I rolled down the window and pulled out everything I had in my wallet and handed it to him. He looked pretty shocked and said. “Thank you sir. God bless you for this.” Those words meant more to me than any $170 dollar pair of jeans could. It meant more to me than being able to park in the front of a high end mall. As I drove away I looked back in my rear view mirror…The cars…continued to pass him without acknowledging his existence. In the car, as much as it pains me to write this, I began to cry. Tears literally rolled down my face. I live in the wealthiest nation on the planet and it is the time of giving. Well, nobody was giving that day I guess. It hit me really hard watching that and I felt compelled to share that with you.

My hope, is that you will read this blog today and do some thinking. My hope is that it will inspire you to become the person that stops and rolls down the window to help another soul. What if that person on the corner was a friend or family member of yours? What if you lost everything in the economy and that person was you? I challenge you to do something good this Christmas. You don’t have to have a lot of money to do something good. It can be a gesture. Invite a soldier away from home to your house for Christmas dinner. Find some food in your kitchen cabinets to drop off at food drive site. Hit a toy store and help a child smile this Christmas. Drop by a hospital and dress up as a clown to make kids in a sick ward smile. There are a lot of people in need out there. Do something about it!

I will close with a line from one of my favorite movies…(Gladiator) “What we do in life echoes in eternity.” – Maximus Do something today and set an example for the youth of tomorrow!

Today, I plan on driving to a Toys for Tot’s site so I can put some action figures and other cool toys in for the kids in need. I will also donate to the Polinksy center for kids. I plan on dropping off some canned goods at a donation site and making a monetary donation online. I plan on dropping green in any red bucket I see where a bell ringer stands. I challenge you to do the same. If you do, you’ll sleep as good as I will tonight knowing you made a difference.

“One raindrop may not grow a tree, but thousands of raindrops will grow a forest. The deeds of the many can make a big difference.” – Mike Lucas

kwan,

Thanks for posting. There was a gut-wrenching article in the Detroit Free Press over the weekend describing the dire straits a few Detroiters chosen at random are in, one of whom was a young, single working mother about to lose everything but the shirt on her back. In today's paper was a follow-up article about how dozens of mostly anonymous individuals had contacted the paper to forward money, gift cards and services to this poor woman. The thing that most struck me was how, in the included interview with her, she pleaded with Good Samaritans to find people other than herself to help, because their generosity had already helped her as much as she could be helped. She declared that her next move was to volunteer her time or some of her newfound monies to charitable organizations. She will probably be still living hand to mouth in a few months, even if she finds another job, but it mattered to her to pass the goodwill on. It was very touching.

Very nice Kwan and Tamukha. Thanks.