THE BUCK STOPS HERE!
A few days ago I was in TJ Maxx buying a pair of jeans. I was third in line. Each of the two women ahaead of me were asked if they would like to contribute $1.00 (THAT'S ONE DOLLAR!) to the relief effort down on the Gulf coast. Both said no. When it was my turn I said sure. After all what's one dollar added to a 22 dollar pair of jeans?
Then I thought to myself, what is one dollar period? What depravity of mind do you have to have to not want to give a dollar of your money to an area of the country that is ravaged and may well take years to be fully restored?
Then I thought some more (this is an annoying habit I have as my wife will surely attest). If you added up the total number of transactions that take place in this country in a single day, from toothpaste, to groceries, to pet food, to Chinese takeout, all the way to Home electronics, you might well be looking at ten million or more transactions. Now times that by seven, and you get a number around 70 million transactions. Imagine if every single one of those transactions had a dollar contribution added to them. That would mean that in one week 70 million dollars would have been raised to aid those stricken by this tragedy. And just think that number is probably very conservative . I wouldn't be surprised to laern that the number is two or three times that. Imagine $210 million being raised to benefit such a region. And all for just one dollar.
So if you're on line at a store and the clerk asks you if you'd like to contribute a dollar for the relief effort, just think of what you might be accomplishing. Remember, what would Jesus do? Knowing him he probably give everything he had for those people. Come to think of it, he did.
3 comments:
the problem with people here is that we have become desensitized and are use to automatically saying no. everytime i turn around someone is asking for something, we answer our phones and there is someone asking for something, it gets to the point where you just start saying no just out of habit.
Well, just to play Devil's Advocate (although I hate that term), I generally say 'no' to that sort of appeal, because I prefer to donate directly to various relief organizations. I've already sent donations to both the Red Cross and World Vision.
Did you know that World vision is already serving the survisors? They are on the scene, especially in Dallas, welcoming the displaced people, and distributing food, water, baby supplies, blankets, etc.
So when you see someone saying 'no' to these point-of-sale appeals, it might not be mere selfishness speaking.
Ann has a good point. But I like the math.
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