Well the holiday season here again and cheer is in the air, lights are on the trees and ice is on the roads.
Or at least it will be if there isn’t a repeat of last year’s tame winter.
So imagine my surprise when I looked at the police reports last Monday and found no good cheer at all.
People still arguing over inches of property, people still crashing into trees and asking ‘what seems to be the officer, problem?? and people still finding insignificant, un-provable offenses to complain about. It’s a very disheartening inside look on what some people in the township are actually like.
But before you start writing to tell me of all the charitable deeds that happened to someone, flip on over to page 12 and read about the Coffee Angel of St. Joseph Hospital. To summarize, this is a man who gives back to the community and has continued to give for six years at no benefit to himself. His vendor of choice, where he gets his charitable gifts, is one of the more expensive of its type, yet he continues to go.
It made me think that if he can orchestrate these acts of kindness for as long as he has, maybe in the month of December – when everyone says you’re supposed to be kind – we can all try to do one charitable act, and I mean more than just plopping quarters in the bucket outside your local grocer or holding a door open. Try to find something out there that can make a difference.
There are plenty of charitable organizations in our area, and even if it’s just for a day or an hour, give some of your time because more than anything that’s what they need. Those interested should check our social media page by searching Lake Orion Review on Facebook.com. I’ve asked charities to post there to better help connect them with our readers.
But maybe you don’t want to belong to a group and prefer to work alone. Hey, me too and I’ll give you one example of how I helped a couple years back to get the creative juices flowing.
Ever adopt a pet? If you have, recently, you probably saw the pictures posted on the websites and how wretched some of these animals come across in their photos. Unfortunately, that means many wonderful pets don’t even get looked at because of poor lighting, an awkward face or a blurry photo. Thankfully, SLR’s are getting cheaper and cheaper.
If you have a nice camera, and a decent sense of shot composition (don’t just assume you do.) head down to a nearby Humane Society or animal shelter and offer an hour or two of your time to replace some of those awful pictures. Granted this is not volunteering at a soup kitchen or helping sort donated clothes, but in its own way, it’s offering a helping hand.
So for this Christmas season, try to find something you can do without spending money and make a real effort to show that the season means something to you.