Back around July 15th, John Aravosis posted a fund raising request on his AMERICAblog site. And not just the typical "our server crashed" or "we could really use a little fundage to help pay the bills" request, but a succinctly stated goal of raising $20,000 by August 15th to do a complete re-tooling and revamp of the site into AMERICAblog 2.0 (the details of which you can read here).
Well...
Today is August 3rd, and on this very day they hit the $20,000 mark on the nose.
That is simply stunning, and I'm so happy for John and his gang and am very happy personally to have been able to help in their cause.
But it really gladdened my heart for a much broader reason...
The generosity of "our side" - be it for causes, issues, individuals, candidates, entire cities, entire countries and even the entire planet is simply unmatched by anyone else anywhere.
Oh, sure - Bill Gates, Ted Turner or any ol' major-league philanthropic person or organization can toss around countless piles of cash and coin to causes here, there, large and small - and they certainly do - and their contributions are so very, very important to so many people around the world.
But most of us aren't of that ilk. Many of us, in fact, might not know where our next paycheck is coming from. Or when (not if) a medical emergency might strike. Or maybe when or if our pantry might once agsin have more than week-old bread and rancid peanut butter.
Yet still, when the need is there, we give. When one of our own is in need, we give. When a complete stranger is in need, we give. We don't sit on our collective hands and assume "someone else" will do it - we roll up our sleeves, dig into our pockets, dig into our hearts, and give.
And when our pockets contain little more than lint, we still give. We give our time, we give our blood, our sweat, our tears, and we give our prayers where possible and when applicable.
And if the only, only thing we can muster is a caring smile and supportive words, we give those. It all helps.
What we don't give is indifference. We don't give lame excuses. And we don't give just to further our own self-centered personal agenda.
We give because it's what good people do for their fellow man, woman, child and critter. We give because we care. We give because if we didn't, we don't know who else might.
And I see it over and over and over again - this giving nature - and it simply brings me to tears of joy.
I'm now standing up, raising a toast, and applauding each and every one of you that not only has the ability (financial or otherwise) to help, but actually uses that ability to keep a movement going. To keep a candidate running. To keep important issues and causes in the bright light of day. To keep a family from losing their home. To help build a family their first home. To help those found homeless find any home. To help as many people as you can - especially those who have been so miserably failed by the current administration.
And yes, every once in a while, to help out the wide, wonderful world of progressive blogs - without which this world would be a much different and much darker place.
A tip of my virtual fedora to each and every one of you who helps in any way, shape or form that you possibly can.
And a virtual finger-wag to each and every one of you who think for even a moment that your contribution - of any size - of any amount - of any kind - wouldn't and couldn't possibly make a difference.
You are so, so so very wrong about that.