Create Something Better....

The American generosity at Christmas is wonderful to witness. Families are adopted and hearts open to fill needs to ensure a memorable Christmas day. We pull lists from trees and fill them. We throw money in the kettle to help. Hearts open.
No one is asking if the recipients deserve the help. No one is asking if they are lazy. No one is complaining that giving a little extra might take something away from their own celebrations. We open our hearts a little and feel compassion for those who may not have quite as much as we do.
And then many go right back to the same old rhetoric. "You cannot give to people and expect... blah, blah, blah."
Yes there are people who take advantage of other people. Yes there are people who take advantage of the system.
Then let's create some better systems. Let's stop making assumptions and start creating opportunities. We're seeing those better systems slowly growing where assumptions are overcome. In Colorado a city project offers homeless people the opportunity to work cleaning up the community - 8 of 10 offered accept. A woman starts making jackets that double as sleeping bags for the homeless and get scolded by a homeless person because they need jobs. So she starts hiring homeless people to make the sleeping bag jackets.
A woman from Afghanistan comes to the United States for an education - becomes a successful doctor - and returns to Afghanistan to educate her own people - especially the women but also would be Taliban men.
We need to have vision and create systems of hope and generosity that make a difference for years to come. We need to stop making assumptions about those in need and create hope that generates hope. Kindness and generosity create seeds of hope. You will not see it immediately. You need faith to believe in it's possibilities. Love never fails.
Greed, Assumptions, Bitterness, Resentment, Jealousy are the opposites of kindness, generosity and hope. They poison opportunity. They offer no vision - no room for growth. They are killers. You cannot enter into any potential positive outcome for anything if you hold onto bitterness, resentment, jealousy, greed or assumptions. They are faith killers.
You need faith to believe in possibilities. You need vision to create hope. Those are forward thinking acts of love. That's where we create something better.