Help Make the World a Better Place
It seems that every story I come across this morning moves me to tears. Maybe it is the fact that I was awaken so rudely this morning by the alarm company at 5 am and then decided to stay up; or maybe it is the holiday season; or maybe I’m just not a grinch and I really do have a big heart. For whatever the reason, I have found several really touching stories this morning.
CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/21/marine.dog/index.html
The first story was about a US Marine, Cpl. Dustin Lee who was killed in Iraq on March 21, 2007. His family has been working through channels trying to adopt Dustin’s work dog, Lex. Lex is a bomb sniffing dog that was injured in the attack that killed Dustin. The Maine Corps has now allowed the family to adopt the dog. What moved me so much was not the story about the dog, but when I googled Dustin Lee and found a website dedicated to him (http://www.remembercpldustinlee.blogspot.com/). The site has a homecoming video with footage of his trip back home set to music. You should watch this video and remember how this war touches so many lives.
Yahoo News: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/secret_santa_ii
The second story I read was about a Secret Santa who quietly gave away $1.3 million of his own money in $100 bills and didn’t want any recognition for his good deeds. This Secret Santa, Larry Stewart life was cut short at the age of 56 due to cancer. How can such a good man deserve such a fate? His good works live on. Because of his illness, Larry came out about his Secret Santa endeavors and has recruited others to pick up the torch. Now others in the country are becoming Secret Santas in the mold of Larry Stewart.
CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/20/youssif.mom/index.html
Finally the last story I read this morning from CNN was about Youssif’s Mom. Youssif is the 5 year old Iraq boy that was burned outside his home back in January 2007 while playing. Youssif and his family have been in the U.S. so that he may receive treatment for his burns. Now we hear from Youssif’s Mom, “I do often wonder: Why me, why my son? We are so lucky. I don’t know why my son was chosen to have something so horrible happen to him, and I don’t know why we were chosen to come here. I just thank God. The thing that surprised me the most was the people. I mean, there are American soldiers in Iraq that are being killed by Iraqis. And we look Iraqi. I would have expected people here to hate us, but we have seen nothing but kindness.”
There really is kindness in this world. With all the bad news that we consume everyday either on TV or the internet it can desensitize us over time. We should really step back and understand the lives that are affected by these horrible things we hear about and we should take action to make this world a better place to live.
