It’s Thanksgiving, a fact of the calendar that sneaks up on me every year. By Friday, the Salvation Army Santas will be setting up their buckets outside stores, since no one has told the Salvation Army that Americans switched to debit cards in 1995. It’s all one to me. Cathy loves to give money away, but I despise indiscriminate charity. I’m all but certain we’re subsidizing vice, and I have zero doubt that we’re dulling the edge of husbandry. Of all the problems we might name in the modern world, a shortage of indolence is not one of them.
But I do believe in putting out fires, pulling drowning kids out of the drink, even rescuing trapped kittens. Life is a beautiful rose festooned with a few thorns, and stanching the flow of blood, when someone gets stung, is a job we each need to do for each other.
In a week or a month, all of the buttons we put up for Aaron Anglin’s family will come down.
Before they do, we should hit that “donate” button one more time. It’s not enough. There will never be enough we can do. They’ve lost more than we can ever imagine, and, in the long-run, they’ll have to get along without our help. Life goes on. This is but the first Christmas Aleisha and her girls will have to live without Aaron. But if, as an expression of our own productivity and prosperity, we can help to make their Christmas a little easier, that seems like a good way of expressing thanks for all we have.
Jay Thompson says:
Well said. Thanks.
November 21, 2007 — 10:45 am
Sam Chapman says:
I’m thrilled to see that you have been helping the Anglin family. I don’t know them personally, but I attend the church in Austin where Aaron was youth pastor. His death rocked the community. Thanks for helping.
November 22, 2007 — 6:54 am
Greg Swann says:
> Thanks for helping.
Bless you. Thank you. We each of us did what we could. Spontaneous order in action, a triumph in defiance of the tragedy.
November 22, 2007 — 10:38 am
Lani Anglin says:
(sorry so late, I disconnected for the holidays)
Greg, thanks for the last call. When the long term (college fund) solution is finalized, I’ll let y’all know. I truly appreciate everyone’s continued outreach, especially the prayers. We couldn’t have made it without the outpouring of faith.
Thank you.
November 25, 2007 — 1:58 pm