Wondering on Wednesday (v157)

I'm thinking maybe we'll do something different tonight, and not talk about anything having anything to do with anyone who's anyone, and instead wonder about completely different things, how does that sound?

I wonder how many people believe in the spirit of all of the holidays people celebrate at this time of year?  I'm not talking about religious beliefs, I'm talking about people who believe in the true spirit of opening hearts and homes (and yes, wallets too) to help others, to entertain them, to encourage and support them?

For example, there's the man in West Virginia who paid off a woman's mortgage so she and he sons wouldn't lose the only house she had ever owned. The anonymous donor is now five years into this tradition of helping someone else out of the goodness of his heart.

It looks like I came and gave a great gift to someone, but in fact the gift is to me because if you never felt the spirit of giving, there's nothing like it. It's the best feeling that you can have. This is the best Christmas present that I will receive this Christmas.

I wonder how much longer he'll be able to keep this up, and I hope that there's another Santa waiting in the wings to take his place when the time comes.

This type of charity is similar to what we've seen around the country in recent years, when people walk into a Walmart and pay off the entire layaway balances - $40,000 or even $50,000 at a time.  It's both an anonymous thing, and a famous person thing now. Tyler Perry and Kid Rock are among the celebrity types who have done this.  I don't know about you, but I think it's pretty cool when no one knows who did it, vs. it being a household name.

Need another example? There's a website run by fans of Syracuse University sports - nunesmagician.com  - which combines a love for the Orange with an irreverent streak with a charitable streak. The last time SU went bowling, the guys at Nunes Magician ran a campaign to get folks who weren't going to the game to put up money for tickets so kids in the bowl town could go tho the game.

They're at it again this year, seeking to raise $14,444 (44 being an important number in these parts) to hopefully send at least 130 underprivileged Orlando-area kids to the Camping World Bowl.  The kids get to sit in the SU section, get SU merch, food while they're at the game, and get to be part of something they'd otherwise have no way to experience. So far, more than half the needed funds have been raised via a gofundme page and a hashtag - #cusetixforkids.  I wonder if folks would be willing to share the hashtag and the fundraising page?  That would help.

Need more examples?

• There was the woman who set out food for a dog that was waiting for its owners to return home after the Camp Fire in California; she also located the homeowner's other dog almost 90 miles away.
• Or the man who gave up his first class airline seat to a mom and her sick child. 
• Or the Cabela's Santa who got down on the floor with a blind, autistic child and allowed the child to feel his clothes, his beard and his 'twinkling eyes'

This type of stuff happens all the time, in my neck of the woods and yours. Just as, we know, all that other stuff we're NOT wondering about tonight does: the palace intrigue, the inside baseball stuff, the sausage making that is politics and government in this day and age. 

Enjoy the interlude - we'll be back to the regular wondering next week, if not sooner. 

National Bullying Prevention Month

The First Lady and the Secretary of Education are off to Michigan, we're told, as part of National Bullying Prevention Month.

They are kicking off a "Week of Inclusion" at West Bloomfield's Orchard Lake Middle School, with plans to participate with students on topics including respect, kindness and inclusion. They'll also visit students in the cafeteria to promote making sure no one eats alone and that new students are made welcome.

A statement attributed to Mrs. Trump said (with emphasis added)

As part of my ongoing commitment to the overall well-being of children, I am looking forward to today's visit. By our own example, we must teach children to be good stewards of the world they will inherit. We need to remember that they are always watching and listening. It is our responsibility to take the lead in teaching children the values of empathy and communication that are at the core of kindness, mindfulness, integrity, and leadership.

Meanwhile, her husband, well, you know. Her husband...

Additional statements made by the First Lady included these, reported by CNN:

I always believe that you need to treat each other with respect and kindness and compassion, but also stay true to yourself. Just listen to your heart, but be yourself. 

I can't help thinking that the "also stay true to yourself" is acknowledging, in some way, her husband's atrocious behavior? Because clearly, he doesn't always remember the respect and kindness and compassion part - at all.

When she met  and talked with 7th and 8th graders in the cafeteria on how they can make new friends, she encouraged them

Ask them what they like, what their hobbies are, so nobody becomes sad or stressed and everyone feels included. I think it's important we choose kindness and compassion.

Perhaps her husband could take the time to learn something about, oh, I don't know, Senator Patty Murray? I hear one of her hobbies is bipartisanship?

I don't envy First Ladies or other political spouses; no matter what they do, someone will doubt their honesty, sincerity, or both. They will always be compared to their predecessors, and it will likely be unfavorable.

But Melania Trump has the added cross to bear of being married to Donald - a man who relishes in doing the exact opposite of what her message is all about. I have no idea how he explains his behavior to her, or to his son Barron, or even to his baby girl Ivanka. I don't know that it matters to his older sons, but I think it does matter to Ivanka, maybe not.

The First Lady's anti-bullying campaign is at least as worthy as the campaigns of other first ladies, and at least as necessary. I hope her message reaches the kids, and I hope that one day, if one of the children she's talking to asks about the behavior of the president, she'll ask the child to want to be better than Donald Trump, and to actually be better than him.

That would be a huge success.

What Would Sue Do?



Jennifer Foster/AP

Most folks by now have heard the story of the police officer who purchased a pair of socks and boots for a homeless man in Manhattan.  To illustrate how far the story's spread, here's the article in the Seattle Times.

According to reports, NYPD officer Larry DePrimo, was on patrol in Times Square earlier this month, wearing two pairs of socks himself, when he came upon a homeless man with bare feet.  DePrimo went to a nearby shoe store, got a pair of insulated boots and some socks, and helped the homeless man put them on.  The moment was captured by Jennifer Foster, a tourist from Arizona; it ended up on Facebook (I got it from one of my friends here in Syracuse yesterday), and the rest is history.  DePrimo has received gold cuff links from the NYPD, made the national news last night, and is making the morning show rounds.

So, what do you think is the most noteworthy part of this story? The dollar value of the kindness?  The fact that it happened in New York City?  The fact that it was a police officer who was the giver of the kindness? That it went viral?

I mean, I doubt that, had a tourist from New York City been visiting Jennifer Foster's town in Arizona and seen the same thing happen, a photo would have been taken, that the officer would be visiting the Today Show this morning, or that this would be a news story thousands of miles away.

The fact that it went viral is a no-brainer -- heck, a pretty picture of a snowflake can 'go viral' on the right day.  And I am impressed by the officer's level of kindness - $75 is a lot of money to many folks, especially at the holidays. And the fact that it was one of New York's finest makes it more interesting than if it had been just a regular Joe, but I'm sure there are others who have done a similar good deed, and not been caught on camera.

See, the thing that really got me about this story, the thing that's noteworthy to me, is not how it made me think about DePrimo, but how it made me feel about me.  Not in a 'thank my lucky stars that I'm not homeless' kind of way, but in a WWSD (that's What Would Sue Do?) kind of way.

Years ago, one cold winter day, I was waiting for the bus, which I could see a couple blocks away, and there was what I assumed to be a homeless woman nearby, bare hands, several coats, and as my bus approached I took off my warm gloves and held them out to the woman, offering them to her.  She refused, mumbling something under her breath, then turned away and stomped off down the street. I tried, I thought to myself, and at the time it seemed like enough.

And sure, I've given change to panhandlers, hundreds of times, and when I smoked I'd sometimes give cigarettes to 'street people', as we called them back in the day. But as many times as I've said yes, I've probably said no a thousand-fold. And truth be told, when I see the people standing with their signs at the off-ramps or busy intersections, I look away, rather than help.

WWSD?  I would like to think that, faced with the same circumstances as Officer DePrimo, I would have done something, something more than take a picture of someone else doing what I could have done, what I should have done.

I have some work to do, apparently. I'd like to think that, in the future, faced with a similar situation, I will do something.

I think I'll keep Foster's photo around for a while, to remind me of how much work I have to do.