Friday, May 9, 2008
...to help people in need.
Seems to me we Americans aren't called on to do enough. For our country. For the common good. I think our live-and-let-live philosophy has been geared to allow the few to exploit the many. We seem to believe in the opportunity to get rich, monetarily speaking. Filthy rich. Billionaires. Millionaires. Won't surprise me if some day we have an American trillionaire. At the same time that we have poor people. Wretchedly poor. Starving people. Just think of the wide gap between the rich and the poor. Doesn't seem right to me. I think the rich should be taxed far more than they are. Far, far more. For the sake of the many. For the common good. I suppose I'm really a socialist at heart. I want everyone guaranteed the basics. Such as health care. Good health care. Which means universal health care. Some might call it socialized medicine. Doesn't matter what we call it. As long as everybody has it. Regardless of income. As for people like me, a member of the so-called middle class, maybe I should pay more taxes, too. Not as much as the rich folks. But I'm willing to pay more. And I'm also willing to do volunteer service. To be drafted, for instance, to work in a nursing home or a hospital or as a laborer on a public works project. The idea is to help people in need...one way or another. --Jim Broede
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Well if their were no income tax or if there were open and clear understanding of income tax laws and how it benefits us---and government accountable to each specifc tax payer as to what their taxes in specfic are used for and even allow us to object to the use of our taxes---for instance only the people who support war or agree with the occupation should pay taxes on it---
the same applies the people interested in government programs to assist with this overwhelming issue (they should pay their taxes toward this or programs which supports their needs and in spefic and the needs of the nation in general) INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS PARAMOUNT IN LIFE.
To volunteer is to freely offer your services. I don't think there is a draft for volunteers. Have you ever offered your services?
If you are really willing to pay more taxes, and haven't been "asked" perhaps you could donate to a charity, or even to a cause that supports your ideas.
I agree that taxation is not fairly applied, however we cannot remove the freedom to make our fortunes, or to provide for our families and descendants. You were always free to become whatever you have become, provided it did not usurp the freedoms of another, right?
A Fellow Traveller
Yes, dear anonymous, I do volunteer my services and I give to charities and to my college. Mostly, I like to help people one-on-one. That's where I get most of my satisfaction. My sense of accomplishment. I like especially to buoy people's spirits. Especially the spirits of the downtrodden. Anyway, I'd also like to see America institute a draft. Requiring all citzizens to do public service. Even us old, retired guys. Whether we like it or not. I think we all should be making sacrifices for the common good. --Jim Broede
Volunteer's should do it because they want too. Many would do a half assed job if forced to do volunteer. As for me I do many different kinds of volunteer work. I do it because I want to, not because I am forced. I do what interests me. I am not so sure I would want people working with me that had no interest in what they were doing. I think its really a matter of choice.
Also how would forcing people to do volunteer jobs effect the crumbling job rate we have now? I see alot of employer's using volunteer's instead of hiring employee's. I think that would only make some richer.
Dear Anonymous:
You may have a good and valid point. But still, I tend to favor compulsory national service of one kind or another. Sort of in keeping with John Kennedy encouraging Americans to ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country. We all owe some kind of national service, it seems to me, maybe in a variety of roles from which each of us can choose. That gives us some degree of choice. Some may choose the military,for instance, and others may choose helping poor people. I could think of 100 different roles. Certainly, everybody could find a suitable role. One that makes it sort of voluntary. --Jim Broede
That is true but, with the number of jobless people in our country that grows daily I think one would find it harder and harder to force them to volunteer. As for a draft for the military, our service men and women get paid for their service. We now have a volunteer military. Those that are fighting at this moment are in our military because they choose that job and continue to choose the military.
Aproximately 1.2 million people volunteer for the American Red Cross making up 97% of all the staff. Volunteer America, has a huge outreach, including all levels of school, and Churches. Students in Care Clubs, Interact Clubs, Parent Groups all doing some sort of Volunteer activities. Some work at animal shelters, some work at nursing homes, some just go and visit with eldery. Some cut grass or shovel snow for those that need assistance. Make a Wish Foundation, 25,000 volunteers contribute to granting a wish every 41 minutes.
Volunteer's do many different things around this country, some of them seen by more than others. Many do things others do see, such at phone calls, emails, running off copies ect. Most volunteers doing what they enjoy don't need a pat on the back, they do it because they want to.
Dear Anonymous:
I do find it a bit sad, however, that we have people who volunteer to fight wars. But I guess to each his/her own. The one good thing about the military draft of the Vietnam Era was that lots and lots of draftees and draft dodgers had absolutely no desire to go to war. And their presence and activism brought about the anti-war movement which helped end the war. And now when we look back on it decades later it's quite apparent that there was never really a need for that war in the first place. In essence, those more than 50,000 lives lost were unnecessary. A waste of human lives. And still, we haven't learned our lesson. We are in a senseless and obscene so-called preemptive war in which the death toll keeps mounting. Deaths of soldiers and deaths of innocent victims who'd like the war to be over. Yet it drags on and on. Because we have politicians who are war-mongers. This is not a patriotic war. Yes, sad, sad, sad. --Jim Broede
Jim,
There are givers and takers in our Would and I know many people who give what they can to others.Like for instance.. At our grocery store there is a big bin for people to give canned goods to the poor and it is.. filled each week by people who pass by with their groceries and take something out and put in that bin..realizing at that time..they have much..some have none.
It is the small things I see people do that gives faith in our world.
we went out to brunch with a big group of friends.. and there was this Little old Lady sitting by herself.She was so dressed up and said she had been to church. We invited her to sit with our group and it made her day not to be alone on Mothers Day.
what is that saying..to do Little things with great Love..I believe this to be true.
We give back..to others..who need a Little help along there way..Through Life..and when we do this..it comes back..
The Little old Lady..said her son Lives in another state and could not be with her today..she was 84..still driving her car and delightful..She was someone's mom and a precious gift..we enjoyed her fully..at that moment in time..
Love Rosie
When was the last time you thanked a Veitnam Vets? How did you thank them? Curious minds just wondering.
Dear Anonymous:
I've told many Vietnam vets that I'm sorry they had to serve in a war. That I'm happy that they survived. And that I'm sad for all the soldiers that died in that war, on both sides. And I'm sad and sorry that so many innocent civilians perished, too. And that I'm sad for all the veterans with physical and mental handicaps because of the horror of that war. And I tell the vets that the saddest thing of all is that that war could have been avoided. It was an unnecessary war. Brought about by political war-mongers. And I also tell the vets I served in the U.S. Army for 3 years. So that makes me a veteran, too. And I served overseas. But I was fortunate that I didn't have to go to war. And that I thank god for that. That I'm one of the lucky ones. And I also tell the vets that many of the political war mongers have never served their country in uniform. --Jim Broede
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