What Do You Bring to the Thanksgiving Table?

Once upon a time, I was the Indiana State Coordinator for The Salvation Army's Emergency Disaster Services communications network--SATERN.  I'm not a Salvationist, but I believed in their mission and was friends with the founder of the network.  We worked hard to keep things going and alive.

I am an amateur radio operator--a ham.  I was encouraged by my "elmer" (mentor) to start a SATERN network on an HF band that he was on daily.  I introduced myself on that band, and the bad boy that everyone seemed to love, while drunk online every night, did everything he could to embarrass me.  I was the only female.  The first thing the bad boy said to me was, "When was the last time you slept with a man?"  I waited for someone to shut him down, but no one did.  Not even my "elmer" who had lured me there.  In fact, when the time came when someone wanted to report this bad dude to the FCC, I contributed.  He was given a year's banishment, and my dear elmer thought it wasn't fair.  Whatever.

Not a single radio operator on that band--not one--ever played out the real reason for amateur radio operations: to help.  I was trying to establish an emergency radio network but was shut down by the good ol' boy fraternity of accepting the locker room mentality.  I never went back.  My elmer seemed perplexed.  Huh??

Which brings me to my point.
I used to tell my students, and have also posted online, that if you are sitting on your haunches while the rest of the world is suffering, you have no room to criticize people in need.  Pick a charity.  Volunteer.  Do something.  Why?  Because it will happen to you.  It WILL happen to you.  Tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, fires--loss of job, abandonment, death in the family.  You name it.  If you survive those events intact, you are truly blessed.

Which brings me to my NEXT point.
Give because you can.  If you don't have money, give time.  If you don't have time or money, give love.  Bring something besides food to the Thanksgiving table.  Man does not live by bread alone.
In the name of all that is holy, look out for your neighbors because there will come a time when you will need them.

May God bless you with "enough"...what you need.  Nothing more; nothing less.  If you have enough for today, you are truly blessed.