Turning Sour Milk Into Dreams

Roughly two months ago, this country was shaken with the news of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings and multiple murders. Sixty odd days have passed and the incident has come to symbolize many different things to different people. I’d like to ask you to travel back with me to the morning when we first heard of the ugly and awful news of yet another public shooting.
I remember vividly how I felt when I first heard the news; I felt as if I had just swallowed sour milk. You know that sensation. Being thirsty, you take the cap off the jug and even if there is a warning odor of sourness, you fail to recognize it so you bring the jug to your lips, throw back your head and gulp. One, two, three gulps and that is about when the first swallow hits your stomach and starts to curdle. The jug comes away from your mouth, almost on its own and the walls of your stomach start to tense and quiver; and you know there is nothing you can do about it.
That is how I felt that morning I heard about the shooting at Sandy Hook. I felt angry and violated. I felt helpless and impotent. I felt weak and saddened for those young lives lost. Twenty children were cheated out of the opportunities of a full life.
There was nothing I could do about it.
About two weeks later, I was reading my Facebook account and I saw him; one of my friends had forwarded a photo of a boy, seven or eight years old, dressed in his pajamas with his head bald and he was holding a sign. The sign said he had leukemia and he wanted to get one million “likes” on Facebook. Well, of course, I ‘liked” him and the sour curd in my stomach lessened just a little. I hope the boy gets his million “likes” but there is more that needs to be done for him and for the others who are not holding the signs.
Those children at Sandy Hook faced a horrible experience that day; an experience that I wish would never have to be faced by another child on this earth; the experience lasted a few hours. The Facebook boy, who I don’t know, faces just as horrible experience, with the same tragic outcome possible and it might last for years.
Maybe the Facebook boy’s experience is worse. It might continue for years, not just a few hours. It might not be resolved in a direct manner and he may have to live through periods of hope when the disease is in relapse only to have that hope killed, along with his dreams when the disease returns stronger and bolder than before.
That boy may never experience the joys of adolescence; a secret girlfriend, a first kiss, holding hands, playing sports, a first date and so many more experiences that most of us took for granted and now have become cherished memories!
I want to help that boy and I think he deserves more than just a “like”.
Recently, I wrote and published an e-book named “Love and Time & The Great Zim”. The book is listed on Amazon and it sells for $2.99. The people who have read the book tell me that it is “a fun and very good read” that has a surprising ending. I am proud of the book and I enjoyed writing it.
Now, I want to share the book with as many people as I can over the next year and I’m going to donate seventy-five cents from every sale to the “Make-A-Wish” Foundation. I’m asking you to help me. I’m asking you to do more than just press the “like” button; I’m asking you to part with $2.99 and send $.75 to a child.
I thought for a long time before deciding on this foundation. There are several charities to choose from and many of them do great work and all can use our donations. I decided on this one for the simple fact they give each child they help the one thing neither I nor you can give them; a special day just for them.
I hope and pray a cure for childhood illnesses will be found or developed and I believe that day will come. Sadly, between today and then many children will die. While we cannot give them life, we, you and I, can give them a day.
I wrote a book; a good book and you will enjoy reading it. Buy the book; let’s share the proceeds with Make-A-Wish Foundation and provide as many days as we can for as many children as we can. Together, we can make a difference. I pledge to buy one book every month for the entire year. I’m going to give the books to friends as gifts. You can do the same; buy a book for yourself and another for a friend. Ask your friend to do the same.
Pass this plea for help along to all your friends, your peeps, your family, your “buds”, your brothers from another mother, your sisters, your high school teachers and your high school flames. Let’s do this and maybe, just maybe when we hear about the next Sandy Hook the taste in our mouths will be just a little less sour. We will know we are doing something.
Buy the book, “Love and Time & The Great Zim”; you can find it on Amazon.com or you can find it on my blog. We can do this.