“Do the next thing”

I watched the movie “Meet John Doe” a couple weeks ago. I saw it a few years ago then bought a copy to keep. I thought how startling the timing was to be hearing such a speech and realized it was timeless. I’ve pasted this from americanrhetoric.com and am so grateful that they had it all typed up for me!!!

Read and be inspired; Merry Christmas!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am the man you all know as John Doe. I took that name because it seems to describe — because it seems to describe the average man, and that’s me — and that’s me.

Well, it was me — before I said I was gonna jump off the City Hall roof at midnight on Christmas Eve. Now, I guess I’m not average any more. Now, I’m getting all sorts of attention, from big shots, too — the mayor and governor, for instance. They don’t like those articles I’ve been writing. (more…)

It’s good to see that those in which the spirit of charity and helping has “lain dormant for these last eight years” (Keep the poor in your hearts Michael Tucker-Friday 11/21/08) may finally have someone to inspire them! It will be great to have new folks join those who have already been so inclined for many years now. If a leader can do that, there is hope for us after all. The value of a volunteer is unsurpassed!

I hope, however, that this impetus to volunteering and self sacrifice remains a product of inspiration and personal responsibility. Heaven help the country that institutes service via mandate, regulation or obligation. If volunteerism and sacrifice take on that quality we will lose a foundational facet of our free society. If that happens, our country will be in danger of losing its heart.

Let us watch closely to be sure our volunteering doesn’t follow the path most valued in a previous writers letter, (Changing U.S. Policies, Rosalie Paul, 11/14/08.) Her belief states that most volunteerism should come not necessarily in the form of feeding the hungry in our midst or trash picking from the sides of the roads but more importantly in the form of promoting and demanding policy change. To wish that all or most volunteerism should revert from caring for the basic needs to changing policies is to create a mob of debaters while the hungry are left looking for someone else to help them.

(To be printed in the Wednesday, 12/10/08 Opinion page of The Times Record newspaper.)

About that Euphoria. The media seem to believe that the election result was greeted with overwhelming, unanimous glee. Where did they get that idea? No, we aren’t protesting in the streets like the folks in California who once again lost their shot at allowing same sex marriage. That doesn’t mean, however, that we are sitting back contented and appeased by the visions of Camelot painted on the front cover of every magazine.

While 67 million Americans may be euphoric, catatonic even, there are a good 58 million Americans who wanted a different outcome and are downright unhappy. Fortunately our resolve is strong and many of us are coming out of our grieving process about now. We realize that there is still a lot of work to do and there’s just no time for crying.

We are also starting to be honest with ourselves, and those of us who dare, are becoming honest with each other: McCain wasn’t really our guy anyway. We actually, for the most part, wanted someone more conservative!! If you can fathom that. So, anyway, have a heart. Reach across the aisle. Give us some time to heal. Peace and love and all that.

From 18 months to 18 years; where does the time go?
Happy 18th Birthday!!

“Sometimes one has to get very low before he is in a place where he can look up and see hope for a purpose and a place for his life and work. Once he gets to that place, he is the most desperate to make a change inside his heart and to make the strongest attempts at influencing outward change through the gifts and skills that have been bestowed upon him by God. When one is very, very low, the light from above is at it’s brightest.”

I was watching Amazing Grace yesterday afternoon. I had to pause it to get a piece of paper and write this thought down. I’ve been waiting for the movie and the quote and the Sunday sermon teachings to gel into a coherent philosophical treatise. I’m not there yet…..

I now check my notes from my church evening service, however, and see a note I jotted, “Psalm 22:1 prelude…A cry of anguish and a song of praise.” Read that Psalm from beginning to end.