From Where I Sit...

Do Anything

If you're like most people with an email account you get TONS of email forwarded from somebody else. I'm talking about the cute jokes, the funny pictures, the prayer requests, the fake stories about Disney, Microsoft and Oprah, and videos from YouTube.

I see them all. Seldom do I forward them on. I say a little prayer for the sick and/or lost children only after I confirm with Snopes.com that a child is actually lost or sick. Usually the child in question is either a fake or was found or healed years ago.

I laugh at a lot of them. Although I only laugh the first time I see the joke or funny picture. I mean that Tiger Woods Christmas card was funny, but after 10 times, not so much.

Then I got an idea after seeing an amazing video. Could I create an email or blog with enough inspiration that it could help somebody? It is the Christmas season and I believe that any actions, no matter how small, can help somebody somewhere.

I don't have a lot of money. I have even less physical ability. But, I have a desire to help others, I have a mildly popular blog, and I have great readers. What if my readers all did just one small action? Then all my readers forwarded to all their friends and they all did some small action and forwarded on the request.

By the time Christmas came and we added up all those small actions I'd be willing to bet we would have made a big impact somewhere.

This is the video that inspired me:



Now, look. I'm not saying you need to do an Iron Man (4km swim, 180km bike, and 42km run) competition with me strapped to your side. But, If one man could do it, couldn't we all just do something, anything?

I don't think it is that hard to help others.

• You could buy an extra bag of groceries this week and drop it off at a local food pantry.
• You could make an online donation to a variety of charities. There are many listed just to the right of this blog.
• Visit an elder neighbor and just talk.
• Answer a letter to Santa via the Chicago Sun-Times.
• Say Hello to a stranger.
• Smile.

So there. I've asked you all to do something. You are not allowed to say, "I can't."
Then forward my message to others. I want to see if we can make a difference this Christmas season.

Merry Christmas to all who read these words.