Perspective Check

Seriously.

I have depression and I bitch about it, a lot. Both because it sucks and the fact that my current situation only serves to exacerbate it most of the time. Don't worry, this isn't another blog about that. Though for whatever reason those posts play well in Beverly Hills according to my analytics account.

But, I'm alive. I have ground under my feet and clean water to drink. It's not always easy, but if I were to put my head down I could probably free myself from the chains that have been put on me by various things. I've learned this last week that not everyone has that, some people don't have anything, like the people who have had their lives ruined by the destruction in Haiti.

We can all sit around and say "well, this is why it happened" and blame various politicians and other things. Some people Someone actually said that it happened because Haiti had a contract with the Devil, even though that person himself signed a multi-year deal with AC Hell Argyle back in the 1970s and is somewhat of a folk hero down at the Riverside. But enough about him. Talking about stuff like that is anti-productive, it solves absolutely nothing except the feeding of one's own ego by tricking yourself into thinking you'd have done a better job with no natural resources at your disposal. That's why Haiti is so poor, you know, because it has no resources, making it the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere -- by some way.

What can we do then? Well, you can donate, and I know that most people have and that some people can't. The economy is tight all over the world, trust me, I know first hand. If you have a birthday or anniversary coming up and want to help, have people do donations in your name to the charity of your choosing rather than buy you gifts. Material things are nice, but they're only things. People (and animals) are all unique and can't be replaced, a simple blanket or bottle of drinkable water could save a life, or a pair of lives, and people are being found alive everyday. The impact of that simply cannot be spoken for. Here's a list of organizations accepting donations in my local paper. All of those are trusted organizations that won't steal your money. Groups not on that list worth checking out are UNICEF and Samaritan's Purse.