Feels So Good

Carol and I bought a bike and a helmet yesterday which we will donate to Toys For Tots today.

We are so excited. Wish we could see the face of the kid that gets it on Christmas morning.

We have been watching the news every night for 9 months now, seeing the heartbreaking stories of broken people.

People who have lost family members to this fucking disease, people who have lost jobs and are about to lose unemployment benefits, people who can't pay their rent or mortgage and face eviction and foreclosure.

People who cannot afford to feed their families. Waiting in line for hours to receive enough charitable food to get them through one more week.

All of this through no fault of their own. Victimized by a random pandemic and the incompetent, cold-hearted response of their own government. 

We have been watching all this and we keep saying "We are so lucky". We both held on to our jobs, we live comfortably, we eat well. For Christ sake, we made money for four months due to enhanced unemployment benefits when I was furloughed, and now have a fatter savings account.

Part of my brain says we deserve this in this stage in our life; we'll take any good fortune that comes our way in any circumstance.

But really, it is ridiculous.

We finally decided to do something about it.

As we walked out of the store yesterday, wheeling the bike to the car, we were floating on air. Smiling and talking excitedly. Not out of pride but out of genuine excitement to know that some kid is going to wake up on Christmas morning and have his mind blown.

We also decided to start donating to the Henniker Food Pantry.

What is happening in this country is so wrong. And it is always the people with the least who suffer the most. Always.

I honestly don't believe in the tortured and overused phrase "we are all in this together". Because we are not. The phrase is thrown out there to imply that we are all part of one big happy family that will pull together in times of crisis.

There are millions of unintelligent, insensitive people who don't give a damn about other peoples' suffering. Don't care if their selfishness results in someone else's death. Blows my fucking mind. I work with some of these people and they disgust me.

On another level we are all in this together. In the sense that what you do could affect my life, my health.

Anyway, I will get off my soapbox.

Carol and I are lucky and we decided to share our good fortune with people who can benefit from it. It is as simple as that. Our decision was driven by empathy.

I wish I could produce empathy like a vaccine and administer it to every human being on planet earth.