Hey everybody!

This morning I woke and was so frustrated about all the stuff I’m dealing with, trying to get this studio open. I was about to open my mouth and start complaining when I remembered something that happened to me about a year ago.

I was walking to my car and this woman who looked to be homeless started walking towards me. I’m ashamed to say this but I thought, “I don’t feel like being hustled today.” Then I got quickly convicted. I felt guilty so I started digging in my pocket for some money. As she got closer I noticed that she had the kindest eyes that I had ever seen. As I was reaching into my pocket she started to speak. I thought, “Here goes the sales pitch”. She said “Excuse me sir, I need some shoes”. Can you help me? My eyes filled with water because I remember being out on the streets and having only one pair of run over shoes. I was taken aback for a second.

I took her inside the studio and had my wardrobe people find shoes in her size. As she put the shoes on she started crying, praising God and thanking Jesus, and saying, “My feet are off the ground! My feet are off the ground!” Several of the wardrobe people started crying. I was crying. But I never forgot that, “My feet are off the ground!”

I thought, “Wow! All she wanted was some shoes.” She quickly disappeared and never asked me for a dime. I realized that I still had the money in my hand so I went out looking for her. She was gone just that quick so I looked all around the neighborhood for her. I found her standing on a corner looking down at her shoes still crying. I was so touched I asked her how she had gotten homeless. She told me that she had AIDS and that she was waiting to get into a shelter. She said that her family had turned their backs on her and she had nowhere to go and that God would make a way for her. I said to myself, “He just did.” Her faith and her praise moved me.

I took her to a nearby hotel and put her up until she was able to get on her feet. I had someone that worked for me to check on her from time to time and make sure that she had food and clothes. After about a month or so we lost touch but I never forgot her.

This past summer I was shooting “Daddy’s Little Girls” and this woman walks up to me smiling. I didn’t recognize her face but her eyes were familiar. She had on a really nice dress and her hair was done. It was her! She told me that the little help that I had given her changed her life. She was in a house now and doing very well.

I said all of that to say this. After I met this woman, every time I think about complaining and mumbling I remember, “My feet are off the ground!”

I wanted to share this with you just to let you know that when I say that I am thankful for you, I really mean it. And when I say that you are a blessing to me, I mean it. We take so much for granted sometimes that I just wanted all of you to know that I am grateful to God for you everyday.

Thank you for being in my life,

Tyler

by Tyler Perry on March 21, 2007.

Like many people in America, Brooks originally suspected that liberals were the givers and conservatives were non-givers.

When I started doing research on charity, I expected to find that political liberals—who, I believed, genuinely cared more about others than conservatives did—would turn out to be the most privately charitable people. So when my early findings led to the opposite conclusion, I assumed I had made some sort of technical error. I re-ran analyses. I got new data. Nothing worked. In the end, I had no option but to change my views.

I confess the prejudices of my past here to emphasize that the findings in this book—many of which may appear conservative and support a religious, hardworking, family-oriented lifestyle—are faithful to the best available evidence, and contrary to my political and cultural roots. Indeed, the irresistible pull of empirical evidence in this book is what changed the way I see the world. It has also guided me in my persoanl search for the truth—not only as a teacher and researcher but also in my private life as a donor and volunteer, as a father, as a skeptical political independent, and even as a Christian.

I quoted the above to build up to this point I found in the book:

The conventional wisdom runs like this: Liberals are charitable because they advocate government redistirbution of money in the name of social justice; conservatives are uncharitable because they opppose these policies. But note the sleight of hand: Government spending, according to this logic, is a form of charity.

Let us be clear: Government spending is not charity. It is not a voluntary sacrifice by individuals. No matter how beneficial or humane it might be, no matter how necessary it is for providing public services, it is still the obligatory redistirbution of tax revenues. Because government spending is not charity, sanctimonious yard signs do not prove that the bearers are charitable or that their opponents are selfish. (On the contrary, a public attack on the integrity of those who don’t share my beliefs might more legitimately constitute evidence that I am the uncharitable one.)

I agree 100% with the above statement. Government spending IS NOT CHARITY! This point hit home to me personally a couple of weeks ago when one of my friends posted something on facebook about the Texas budget and supposed cuts to education. I got into a discussion with one of my friend’s facebook friends who happened to be an administrator at one of the Texas school districts. He mentioned that all our problems would be solved if we just raised property taxes, which would mean a $150 in additional taxes per year on a $150,000 house. When I stated that I was against any rise in taxes, this guy resorted to calling me a Scrooge. In other words, he made the assumption that because I was against tax increases that I was stingy or uncharitable. He had no idea how much my wife and I give to charity or the amounts we donate for teachers’ gifts and the like.

That guy would do well to read this book.

*Affiliate Link

Anyway, I got to thinking about all the ways people can give to each other without spending lots of money. I came up with a list of ten things. Let me know if you have something to add to the list.

1. Smile

2. Yield your place in the checkout line to someone else.

3. Take an interest in another person.

4. Let someone go ahead of you when driving.

5. Pay the toll for the person behind you.

6. Pay the tab for the person behind you in the restaurant drive-thru.

7. Compliment the employees at the businesses you frequent.

8. Report exceptional service by employees to their managers. Be sure and remember their name.

9. Be patient.

10. Leave a nice tip and a note for the servers at the restaurants you frequent.

I might have heard about this pledge earlier but didn’t pay attention to it until I saw Billionaires Who Haven’t Taken the Giving Pledge on MSN this morning. By making this list public, it does seem to put some pressure on those who are wealthy and have not yet made the pledge. As the above article mentions, all of those on the list who have not yet pledged have their own charities and do give back to society.

Paul G. Allen

Laura and John Arnold

Michael R. Bloomberg

Eli and Edythe Broad

Warren Buffett

Michele Chan and Patrick Soon-Shiong

Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg

Ann and John Doerr

Larry Ellison

Bill and Melinda Gates

Barron Hilton

Jon and Karen Huntsman

Joan and Irwin Jacobs

George B. Kaiser

Elaine and Ken Langone

Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest

Lorry I. Lokey

George Lucas

Alfred E. Mann

Bernie and Billi Marcus

Thomas S. Monaghan

Tashia and John Morgridge

Pierre and Pam Omidyar

Bernard and Barbro Osher

Ronald O. Perelman

Peter G. Peterson

T. Boone Pickens

Julian H. Robertson, Jr.

David Rockefeller

David M. Rubenstein

Herb and Marion Sandler

Vicki and Roger Sant

Walter Scott, Jr.

Jim and Marilyn Simons

Jeff Skoll

Tom Steyer and Kat Taylor

Jim and Virginia Stowers

Ted Turner

Sanford and Joan Weill

Shelby White

Thanks for considering this.

Thanks to all who contributed to Beth’s Fundraising efforts for the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention. She’s up to $965 or 64% of the way towards her goal of raising $1,500. There’s still time to help support Beth’s cause. Just visit her fundraising page and click on the box that says “Support Me.” Thanks for your support.

First off, thanks to those who helped Beth with a contribution towards her fundraising goal. Thanks to some big contributions (that had nothing to do with yesterday’s post), Beth is now 41% towards her goal. The bad news is that she’s stuck at $620. The good news is that you can still make a contribution if you so desire. Just visit Beth’s Fundraising Page and click on the “Support Me” icon.

NOTE: I don’t normally get involved with this kind of stuff but made an exception for a friend. Don’t worry, I won’t be harrassing AFM readers with all kinds of fundraisers. I promise.

I found out this morning that she is in the process of collecting donations for a walk she will be doing in September for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She lost her husband in 2003 and has taken up the cause in hopes of preventing other tragedies. I think it’s a worthy cause.

I thought it would be cool if we could help her meet her goal of raising $1,500. As of this writing she has raised just under $400 so she has a ways to go in order to meet her goal.

To make this fun I thought I’d challenge AFM readers to help Beth meet her goal. I will contribute $50 today and another $50 in September IF we can get 51 people to give $20 (or 102 people to give $10) each towards Beth’s goal.

Will you help?

If so, please head over to Beth’s Fundraiser Page and make your $20 pledge. I’ll keep track of the balance and let you know of the progress until the goal is met.

Oh, and to put this in perspective…according to my blog stats, AFM has roughly 5,200 subscribers. Surely 51 of those readers can help out.

According to their website, the Shoes for Orphan Souls has given away 1.6 million pairs of shoes to orphan children here in the United States and throughout the world. That’s great but there are 143 million orphans in the world! The need is still great. You can either donate a new pair of shoes (or more if you so desire) to the program or donate cash to help with shipping expenses.

I learned about this program through my church.