I took almost a year off from writing Get Out and Give Back after retiring from the United States Air Force to decide what I wanted my post-Air Force life to look like. And I realized that I missed writing for you. I missed the connection. I missed giving back. So here it is again. [...]
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I ran into Lenore last week on my way to do my Wednesday service work at our church. Lenore was with a younger guy, and she was walking away from the church entrance, not toward it. Knowing that Lenore normally shows up on Wednesdays to get food and some help with her bills, I asked [...]
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As I prepare to move the “Get Out and Give Back” blog and newspaper column to a bigger writing/speaking/coaching venue, I realized that I’d been spending too much time in the last few months holed up developing the business and not enough time contributing and serving. So, yesterday (Wednesday) I pried my fingers off of my laptop [...]
Filed under: Donating, Faith-based, Giving, Homelessness, Humanity, In the Neighborhood, Kindness | 1 Comment »
Fifteen years ago I survived a divorce. It was something that had to happen, and for two years my soul was dragged slowly across the jagged floor of hell. It felt like being pushed blindfolded off a high dive and not knowing whether there was water in the pool. Each morning I had to [...]
Filed under: Humanity, Kindness | 3 Comments »
I’ve written about this topic before, but it bears repeating – at least to me.
I work live and work in the greater Washington, D.C. area, and take the Metro (subway) to and from work because DC traffic is a continuing nightmare. Most of us DC commuters have something called a SmarTrip card. It works [...]
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It’s now a few days after Sept. 11. Every single one of you remembers what you were doing that day seven years ago. I was in India teaching English to Hindu orphans. Here’s what I remember:
The Muslim neighbors who let us watch the 9/11 updates on their television while they served us tea [...]
Filed under: Children, Faith-based, Humanity, International | 1 Comment »
I almost didn?t write this story because I?m too embarrassed. But, here it is.
The worst part about our vacation to Cuzco, Peru, last month was being hounded by dozens of impoverished street vendors who pestered us to buy something. (The best part was everything else). Every time we left our hotel or a [...]
Filed under: Humanity, International, Kindness | 2 Comments »
Three years ago I had a midlife crisis and I solved it the American way – I bought an overpriced, imported red convertible. I really did my homework before driving it off of the lot and could recite the size of the wheel base, horsepower, valve number, true cost to own ratio, etc. in [...]
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“One hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove or what kind of clothes I wore. All that will matter is that I made a difference in the life of a child.” Between you and me, I always thought that saying attributed to Forrest Witcraff was pretty [...]
Filed under: Children, Humanity, International | No Comments »
A few years back when I was working a media event at the Arizona State Fair and comatose on funnel cakes, a friend and I escaped from the fairgrounds for some gourmet haute cuisine at Wendy’s a few blocks away. As I left the fair entrance a guy asked me for pocket change. [...]
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