I hate Black Friday. I mean, I HATE it.
(If you don't want to read all of this, skip to 'THE PURPOSE OF THIS POST' - or just click this link and read the story)
I've never been shopping during it, and I hope it stays that way. The first time I heard about someone getting trampled to death during Black Friday shopping I was physically sick. It was so sickening to me that people were so focused on the shopping and deals and gimmegimmegimme that they literally killed someone.
Black Friday can literally kill people.
And all of this happens a day after (now the day *of* - which also makes me sick) we are supposed to express gratitude for everything we already have.
The gratitude doesn't seem to last long...
Personally, I try to avoid shopping of all kinds as much as possible between Halloween and Christmas. People are mean, and people scare me.
(For the record - I'm not hating on you if you're a Black Friday shopper. But there's a good chance I'm scared of you.)
Slightly off topic, but not really - I'm a sucker for do-good
stories. I love hearing stories about people helping out people, in big
ways and little ways. Those stories help me not be afraid of people.
I hear about struggles that some people are faced
with and often think, 'there but for the grace of God go I.' Thinking
that, I try to help when I can. I've often described myself as a poor
government employee. And in many ways I am. However, I try to remember
that I am so much more fortunate than so many others out there. Spending
a year and a half in sub-Saharan Africa really helped open my eyes to
that, and I try to keep that in mind when I find myself complaining
about my first-world problems.
Anyway, I'm part of
this email list where this group plans and does awesome things for
people. For a while I was lucky enough to be part of this micro-giving
campaign where I donated just a few dollars a month, and with enough
people doing that, they were able to do some amazing things.
When I was emailed about Giving Tuesday I wondered if I had been living in a hole since I had never heard of this thing. A quick google search found a website and a look at their FAQ revealed that this is the 2nd annual Giving Tuesday.
So I've only been living in the hole for a year.
Not bad.
THE PURPOSE OF THIS POST
I was emailed through this group about Giving Tuesday and helping to spread the word about this little boy and his family whose lives will be dramatically changed if they can get a wheelchair accessible van.
Here's the donation link.
I hope Christian's family is able to get the van soon. What an amazing thing that would be for them. And wouldn't it be amazing to be a part of it?
Give anything. One thing I learned about from the microgiving thing was that lots of little things can make a big difference.
