Just an update.

I have been away for far too long.  And it has not been for a good reason.  The stately older gentleman in the picture is my father.  That mask he is wearing his hooked up to what the nurses call a by-pap machine, which is really nothing more than a force breather used on people who are on life support.

Remember that thing about prospective...

Yeah?  Good, this will be short.  Sorry I have been away for an extended period.  I took a nasty fall onto a trailer gate and strained my MCL and ACL, broke a bone in my foot, bruised my knee and palm.  Fun times, fun times.  At one point I was bitching about a lack of prospective, the wrong set of priorities in this nation, and once again, I have been proven correct.  You know, I am more than happy to be able to call something (the GOP trying to impeach Obama, Iraq going to shit again, and many other things), but just once, I would love to be wrong about people.

Murica... Yeah

So, today on the nightly news, the winner of the American Strong deal was a homeless high school student who is the Valedictorian.  Hey, that is cool, I know.  It is hard to put yourself through college while couch surfing.  However, I will one up him, since his friends who knew raised forty thousand dollars for him to go to college.  I put myself through college couch surfing, working a minimum wage paying job.  He just had tons of praise heaped on him, deserved to be sure, but he is not the only one.  I later heard a story about a school that has 600 homeless students.  They are not getting all that attention. 

The Wrong Priorities

We have homeless, we have hungry, we have the poor trying to struggle through their lives.  But where ever their is a problem, rest assured that a charity will immediately spring up to help.

Churches without hold Charity over...

I have said it many times before, I will keep repeating it.  Part of your "duty" to any deity you may or may not worship is charity.  Some call it being a decent human being, others call it just being nice.  Call it what you will, there is some major issues with the Christian community.

Did I cover this already?

You know I write and talk about a lot of things.  Sometimes I will write something, or talk about something and a few weeks later I will again bring the topic up, discuss it or write about it again, and not recall having done it before. If I have, I am sorry, but it would be something that I feel needs to be repeated again.

I took part in an online conversation...

Well this is nothing new.  I often take part in online conversations with people, typically the conversations range from which is true creation or evolution, the supernatural, aliens, poverty, and any number of political and or social discussions that can happen online.  Lets face it, if it can be discussed, you will find a thread, a chat room, message board, or whatever you can imagine on any subject you want to find.

The Richardson Family Charity - Family Update

Excerpt posted via The Richardson Family Charity.  Family Update

This was the Richardson Tent 24 hours ago.

So One Day...

So one day, a man passes away after a long peaceful life devoted to his religion.  He had by most accounts, those of his peers, it was a good life.  He helped at the church, he gave food to his churches food bank, gave money every week.  If someone took the Lord God's name in vein he would politely rebuke the person, and when he did the same, he would always make it a point to apologize to the Almighty in prayer, and attempt to make a mends for it in some way.

Give me money....

Seems like we have a glut of people screaming give me money, give me money.   Last night, as I was sleeping I was awoke to the sound of a channel with its very own preacher telling people to give them $273 dollars, a seed of money.  Among the thing I heard was a man and woman (going to assume it was a husband and wife) were having financial difficulties, yet they gave the money, and within moments won $25,000.  That would be pretty amazing, except that is how odds and statistics work.

The Meaning Behind "The Works"

A thought occurred to me as I was responding to a thread on a another social media account.  I feel that I should have, from day one explained why I chose the name "The Works" for this blog.  Its not overly religious.  Its not religious at all.  The Works, as it stands is meant as a call to arms for like minded people.  People who want to see an end to poverty, homelessness, bigotry.  It is a sounding board of sorts where people can share their ideas, and as a means of spreading the ideas of the contributors and commentators (those who leave contents).

God on Facebook

For some months I have been trying to get this gentleman's attention, mostly to see if he can help me draw attention to one of the various charities I work with.  Due to the limitations of Facebook, how it limits who can see what when you post it, in an effort to make money, blogging here, and helping spread the charity The Richardson Charity, I just do not have the mojo to get it done by myself, I am forced to ask others to help spread the word, but it does get old, people have other things to do.  

Prayer. The Ultimate... Cop-out?

I know many Christians, to be honest most of the people I know personally, and through social media are either Christian or Atheist.  I wish I had more Buddhist friends in person and online.  But among the things I often see when someone says they have a problem is "I'll pray for you."  While I am a Rabbi, and I do pray, I do not pray for others.  I do not pray over the dead that they might find peace.  I pray that I find the strength to comfort those who remain.  If someone is in need of help, I pray that I find the strength to help them, to do what needs to be done.  I pray that I have the strength to stand against what I feel to be ill with the world.  I do not pray that the Almighty will help them, or that the Almighty will bless them with funds to solve their problems.  I do not pray for safety or the safety of others, I might hope if I feel that what I have done to assist them is not enough, but when your time is finished in this world, it is finished, all you can do is hope it works out, prayer does nothing. 

Charity and Donation

You know charity is something that we can all sink our teeth into; however, there is a glut of charities, so much need, and so little money.  Today we have become confused about charity, everyone assumes that you have to give money for a charity to be effective, we see on television advertisements for the ASPCA, or some other charity dealing with feeding children somewhere else.  People give to these charities, and that is fine.  Really the truth is, one not always give money to be charitable, much to the dismay of these agencies.  What do you think would occur if you called the ASPCA up and said, hey, I would rather adopt a pet?  Alternatively, call up one of these charities that deal with children in a third world nation and say the same thing, I think I would rather adopt a child from that country.  Guess what, they will likely give you a song or dance about being able to do so much more for the child there, but not here.  In other words, give us money and trust us.