I was paying out our bills this morning and yes, I still do it the old school way, I write checks. No, we don’t do any banking online, and that is because it has
not been a priority to set it up (ok, I’m lazy). Well, I was only going to be writing two bills and as I was going through all the mail, I saw that there were at
least eight out of the dozen charitable organizations we usually donate to, still sitting there waiting for me to write a check. Ok, there’s something you should
know about me, ever since the keyboard was invented, I have become very lazy about handwriting anything (which doesn’t quite explain why I haven’t
set up internet banking yet – it would be so easy, right?), so I was looking at this stack of paper and feeling dread about writing another check.
My Husband, Aaron and I have always known that it is really important in our lives to give to others that can’t help themselves. We are so fortunate to have
the kind of income that allows us more than enough money to contribute to organizations we care about. We both strive high and overachieve so that we can
provide for our family and give to others what we want, whenever we want. We can be generous on every occasion. We live by the theory of ‘you can’t help the
poor by being one’, so we do whatever it takes to give self-lessly.
I remember one of my business mentors saying that he would talk to people and ask them what their goal was. What was their personal goal? The same
answer came most of the time. To be debt-free and take care of their family. Some said they don’t want to be selfish and they don’t need much, just enough
to take care of themselves, pay off their debt and take care of their families. His response was,”Excuse me for saying this, but that IS the most selfish thing
I’ve ever heard!” I was a little dumb founded when he said this, but he went on to say, “What about the children and families that live in other countries that
don’t have clean water, no electricity, no sewer systems, they drink and urinate in the same pool, they don’t have food, no clothes, NOTHING! And all you
want is to do is become debt-free and take care of you and your family? Well, yes, of course, we all want that, but what about the rest of the world?”. When I
heard that, my heart sank. He wasn’t talking directly to me, but it was as if he was right in front of my face confronting me on this. I felt like crawling into the
corner and hiding. He was so right!
Money is great to have in the bank, it makes our choices a lot easier, it certainly makes the trip around the world easier and gives us much peace of
mind. But then, how many cars, homes, yachts, fancy hotels, swimming pools, jets, trips to anywhere in the world can you have? Well, yes, don’t get
me wrong, these are all things that we definitely enjoy and appreciate that our internet/online marketing business opportunity give us. We are blessed
and so what was stopping me from writing those checks except the fact that I couldn’t move my wrist and fingers with the stroke of my pen to bless someone
else’s life? How selfish of me at this moment! I started writing checks immediately. I blessed each organization and those they assist as I was licking the
envelopes. And then this really did it for me…..
I was surfing the channels on TV the other night and I rarely stop on CNN (we call it constant negative news in our house), but this night they were featuring
their top 10 heroes for 2009. They were on #2 and then #1, the top hero. The #2 winner was a gentleman who is a pilot (his contract with the airline he flies
for ends on November 11, 2009) and one night saw orphans in southeast suffering, so he and his family cancelled a vacation they had and went to southeast
asia to assist these children. They ended up moving there and dedicating their lives to building an orphanage with a school. He uses all his personal salary as
as a pilot to fund the orphanage.
The #1 hero was a 25 year old man who is in the wine industry and he travelled the world after college and saw many people did not have access to clean
water. This leads to disease and death, an ugly death. He found that over 1 billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water. Could you imagine not
having clean drinking water? Could you imagine your children not having clean drinking water and possibly having a disease before they could talk and then
dying from it? I can’t!!!! I cried my eyes out that night and couldn’t sleep. Well, this gentleman formed a charitable organization called ‘Wine for Water’ to
raise money for third world countries to build clean water systems in their communities. He has now assisted over 26,000 people in over 5 countries have
clean water. WOW!!!
You can go to http://CNN.com/heroes to find out more about their organizations along with the other 8 top contenders. Well, as far as I’m concerned, they all
get the top prize. My heart goes out to them and all those they assist. Do you think we’re going to be assisting them in their cause, you bet your ass!
Gotta go now and move forward in changing the world even if it just starts with writing some checks.
