I Will Pay it Forward This Christmas. Will You?

One of my favorite movies was one that I don't even like.  Do you think that doesn't make sense?  Here is my explanation for the craziness.  I loved the concept of the movie "Pay it Forward".  The actual movie itself, while touching, had a horrible ending.  In case you haven't seen it, I won't share the end, but it did not necessarily match the power of the message in the movie.

If you haven't seen the movie, it is based on a small boy who starts a nationwide movement by doing one small good deed for someone in need.  The only thing that he asks in return is for that person to pay it forward and do a good deed for someone else.  The story continues with thousands of people helping out their fellow man.

This seems to me to be the perfect time of year to pay it forward.  There is enough hardship this year to go around, but luckily my family, so far, is not one of those facing the economic turmoil.  I always seem to have better intentions than I can actually follow through on.

The movie I described is probably one that is ten years old, but I still think about how I can pay it forward.  I do small things like most other people.  I make monetary donations here and there.  I donate our old clothes and toys to Goodwill or the Veterans organizations.  I donate toys to local toys drives, but still I don't feel like I have that personal affect on someones life.  To those that I donate to, I am an anonymous person.  

I know the things that I mentioned above are good things and that those who receive them appreciate and need them.  I will gladly continue to do them, but I feel like it's not enough. So finally, this Christmas season, I will pay it forward.

There is a local army recruiting center down the street from my house.  I have always wanted to do something for them to say thank you.  This week, just before Christmas, I am taking them lunch as a thank you.  The one catch is that they already pay it forward every day.

I want to ask that those who read my blog or are members of Smart Girl Politics think of a way that they can pay it forward.  Whether you pay for someones lunch that is in a drive-thru line behind you or buy someones groceries who are in line ahead of you, find a way to pay it forward for someone.  You can even get one of those Dear Santa dead letters at your local post office and fulfill someones dream.

I have always wanted to pay it forward and this Christmas I will finally complete the mission.  If you chose this mission, I would love for you to come back and share with everyone what you did to pay it forward.

If Our Country Removes God, Do We Lose Our Country?

We have all heard those stories from our grandparents about how much they used to pay for this or that.  The favorite stories are the ones when they would talk about how far they used to walk to get here or there.  I look at those stories now with such envy.  Of course, when your a seven year old and your mom is making you listen to some old person tell you something, you could care less.

As we start to age ourselves, it's strange how often you begin to look back on your own past. How far you go back depends on how far to your favorite memories.  Do you go back to your childhood and playing outside with your friends?  Do you go back to the times you spent the holidays with your family and those traditions you remember so well?  Do you go onto Facebook and look for friends from high school or college?

It seems like if you are at that point in your life that you can look back to something that you are old enough to realize how much things have really changed.  When did our society lose it's innocence?  It would be frightening to do some of the things today that we did back then.

Could you imagine leaving your doors unlocked and your windows wide open?  What would happen if you let your children play around the neighborhood the entire day only to come home for dinner?  Would you let your pre-teen go to the mall and hang out with friends alone?  

I look back on my childhood and I don't remember terrorism.  It may have been happening, but it wasn't something that as a child you were aware.  I know that was not the case during the cold war, but I'm not quite that old.  Today, children are too aware of what is going on in the world.  They are bombarded with bad news via television, the Internet, or even from friends at school.

When I went outside to play with my friends, my mom didn't have to worry that a pedophile was going to abduct me.  I know that the media plays up a lot of these issues, but they are happening.  The fears are real, not imagined.

What has changed in our country that has brought us to the point of greed, promiscuity, hate, and a complete lack of respect of others?  It could be just a coincidence, but it seems like the further away from God, whichever God that is for you, the further away we get from being a civilized society.

I have to admit, while I consider myself Catholic, I am far from a practicing one.  I do try to live my life as a Catholic.  I teach my children what is right and what is wrong.  Yet it feels like the further our country as a whole moves away from God, the further we move away from a civilized country.

Each piece of God that is taken out of our society leads us one step further into moral demise. No more God in school, but yet kids can pray who wins American Idol.  No more prayers in public places, yet people can protest with hatred and vulgarity against a war.  No more Christmas plays or Christmas parades, but people will crush a man to death to get a flat screen TV on sale.

What kind of memories will our children have to look back on if this trend continues?  How far back will their favorite memories be hidden?  Is it so wrong to say a little prayer to keep someone safe, or to hope that someone gets better?  Is it so wrong to hope that we are safe from harm and that our children have nothing to fear?

What is next?  Removing "In God We Trust"?  Taking the Christmas out of Christmas?  I really do fear where we are headed.  And this is coming from someone who doesn't go to Church..........but should!