We must also never forget that it is our duty, as free citizens of the world, to continue to live as freely as we can. We must exercise not only our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but also the responsibility to defeat evil with good. With a life well lived. With grace, love and humility. With a sense of obligation to give back, pay it forward, help when we can.
Recently I've been spending a lot of time on the website GoFundMe.com . I've been donating what I can, when I can. I give $5 here, $10 there. There are many heartbreaking stories, and I wish politicians would spend a couple of hours a week reading some of them. Maybe they wouldn't be so quick to judge, to slash assistance, to denigrate the needy. Recently I gave a few dollars to a family that needed to bury a child and couldn't afford funeral expenses. If that sounds like a downer, well, let me tell you. I felt uplifted all day. I was not only able to assist a family in crisis, but also to be a part of a larger effort, because crowdfunding at its best is a magnificent coming together of humans helping humans. Most people, I think, who donate to GoFundMe and sites like it are not wealthy. I myself am poor enough that I don't always make my bills at the end of the month (I sell tshirts for a living, for chrissake!). But when I have a few dollars left over, I get the urge to give. Well, once when I had $20 left at the end of the month, I bought flowers, but that's a luxury in my life.
All this is a long way of saying the only way to defeat evil is with good. Light is the only antidote for darkness. Laughter is the antidote for fear. And love is the antidote for hate.
Paris Motto Tossed but Not Sunk
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