Posts Tagged With: twitter

Wanting To DO Some GOOD?

Sometimes I NEED things explained to me in a very simple way because – I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND our society!   I saw people donate like crazy for Karen the bullied bus monitor to have a “vacation” with the end result netting her OVER $700,000!  I saw people in LONG lines to PROVE their Christian faith and that marriage should only be between one man and one woman – buying a Chick-fil-a sandwich was that PROOF!  Record sales were posted for Chick-fil-a that day.  But I see so many MORE people with bigger issues and NEEDs who society should reach out to help, but yet these people go unnoticed and/or even ignored.

Here is where I begin my pitch – Josh Rivers of Phoenix is a young man that was paralyzed in a random shooting.  He is trying to raise money for a Bioness L300 Plus that can help in his recovery and could help him walk again.  Josh has a fundraiser posted on indiegogo.com (http://www.indiegogo.com/help-josh-walk?c=home&a=991653) where anyone can donate to help raise money.  I was inspired by his video and even though I have very little money, I did donate what I could!

I actually saw the link for the fundraiser on Lance Bass’ facebook and when I posted on over 21 celebrities Twitter, only Lance Bass (former ‘NSYNC band member  and Mississippi I Am star and Producer & a fellow former Mississippi resident like me) retweeted my post!  So, I feel it is only fair to acknowledge Lance Bass for bringing this cause to my attention and doing something to help – simply posting on facebook or retweeting the link exposes even more people to the opportunity to help!

Trying to learn more about Josh and wanting to do more to help him, I noticed something that pleasantly surprised me!  There is also a fundraiser planned to help Josh on September 9, 2012 (https://www.facebook.com/events/182914775175906/) that is hosted by the gay community of Scottsdale, AZ (Phoenix area)!  It is not a church or religious organization reaching out to help… but GAY people – one being Morgan McMichaels from RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 2.  I do not know and frankly do not even care if Josh is gay or not (nor should you), but I do see who is making an effort to help and who is NOT!  I am no theologian, but I seem to remember Jesus Christ actually helping the lame to walk, healing the sick, and helping others.  I would LOVE to see Mike Huckabee embrace this cause!  The gay community and Christians may never agree as to what the Bible or Christ really says about homosexuality, but one thing I would think Christians should KNOW is the example Christ set HELPING others.

I am challenging BOTH the gay community and Christians to do what our communities do best – help others!  I was HURT by the Chick-fil-a episode and even lost friends who felt their having a chicken sandwich is more important than MY having the same rights they have.  But I will feel so much better to see our 2 communities working together instead of fighting!  Gays can make the donation in honor of gay friendly businesses and Christians can donate in the name of Chick-fil-a!  I would hate for it to be a competition but in the end, if Josh gets the money he needs – WE ALL would be winners!

The effort to raise $5,000 for Karen (the bullied bus monitor) to have a vacation ended in a whopping $700,000.00!  I hope Josh’s effort pays off with a similar result.  What if he raises more than the $7,000.00 goal?  Good for him to have EXTRA money to make his life more comfortable and to offer him more opportunities in life!  Now… a simple way society can help me understand there is good in ALL of us is for us ALL to DO GOOD!

http://www.indiegogo.com/help-josh-walk?c=home&a=991653

https://www.facebook.com/events/182914775175906/

http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/Random-Shooting-Victim-Hopes-to-Walk-Again-and-Inspire-Others-164691896.html

https://www.facebook.com/josh.rivers.12

http://www.phillipashton.com/?p=3636&cpage=1#comment-1783

The PayPal is a donate button for me… please do not confuse donating to me with donating to Josh (link in article)!  But I live with Multiple Sclerosis and have my own life challenges… the idea of donating here is to encourage my writing ( so far $0 have been donated to me!! LOL)

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Tolerance Is the Same in ANY Language

I am still so surprised to see how willing people are to wear their intolerance and hatred as a badge of honor in 2012.  They say it is their first amendment right and its free speech!  I agree!  But I also know free speech has a price!  That is right, I feel free speech is not always free.  Just as anyone has the right to say whatever they want, someone else has the right to say just the opposite and they may be able to say it louder and even have more voices joining in support.  The price that comes with the freedom of speech is to  listen or to exercise  the responsibility to know when it is just best to shut up!  Each time I write a blog, I expect opposition.  I am a realist and understand not everyone (maybe very few) will agree with me.  I am a little late to the game to discuss Kirk Cameron’s insensitive comments about gays, Rush Limbaugh’s attack on Sandra Fluke and then Patricia Heaton insulting Ms Fluke even further.  But what I have to say is timeless (and correct)!!  lol

Kirk Cameron feels he speaks for ALL Christians when he berates gays saying homosexuality is  “unnatural … I think it’s detrimental, and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization.”  But when gays and activist for gay causes were outraged, he defend himself by saying, “”I should be able to express moral views on social issues, especially those that have been the underpinning of Western civilization for 2,000 years—without being slandered, accused of hate speech, and told from those who preach ‘tolerance’ that I need to either bend my beliefs to their moral standards or be silent when I’m in the public square,”  WHAT AN IDIOT!!  No one said he did not have the RIGHT to say what he did, people just expressed their own “moral views on social views” that opposed his.  He was not a victim… he just learned he did not speak for all Americans just the ones with his narrow opinions.

Now Rush Limbaugh on the other hand is used to controversy over things he says as a political commentator.  But I think even he was surprised at the backlash after calling Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” after she testified before Congress in favor of  drug coverage for contraception.  Advertisers used their freedom of speech (money) to say we do not want our product associated with your program.  But he also learned an apology is not always enough to make Americans forget.  I support his right to say what he wants just as I support the advertisers right to distance themselves from his program.  As he questions drug coverage paying for contraception for women, I question drug coverage paying for his Viagra.  Being the crazy liberal I am, I think drug coverage should cover both.

Patrica Heaton is an Actress and tried to ignite her own role as a commentator by firing off at least five mean-spirited Tweets like, “If every Tweaton sent Georgetown Gal one condom, her parents wouldn’t have to cancel basic cable, & she would never reproduce – sound good?”  Or this one,”G-Gal: you’ve given yer folks great gift for Mother’s/Father’s Day! Got up in front of whole world & said I’m having tons of sex- pay 4 it!”  That is only two of the five I read.  She later apologized.  It was easy for me to remove her ABC show “The Middle” from my dvr because if she had tweeted one hateful thing, I would accept her apology as sincere, but since she Tweeted so many, I felt she was apologizing because of the PR mess not because she truly meant it.

I am happy we live in a nation where even these three small-minded people mentioned can share their thoughts.  Just as I am happy that in America I have the freedom to write and comment on their actions from a more open-minded perspective.  Sandra Fluke was not deterred in her attempt to share her opinion even after such brutal attacks as I continue to enlighten others of the rights of gays.  I am not sure what Sandra Flukes view are regarding homosexuality, but I would sure welcome such a smart, strong, and fearless woman also defending my cause.

The fear I do have is that all of this intolerance and hatred is being understood by kids, youth, and even young adults as acceptable.  Many Americans are concerned about bullying in schools and many parents say – they did not learn to act that way at home.  I ask, or did they learn it at home?  When you make insensitive comments about immigrant’s limited language, use terms like MY country instead of OUR country, or say things like “those people” when referring to gays, black people, or disabled people; you are teaching the universal language of intolerance!  No one in the United States is even FORCED to learn and use English properly, so there should not be any fear of being FORCED to LEARN anything in America.  Like learning proper English or a foreign language – LEARNING the language of tolerance is voluntary for individuals, but necessary for society!

http://www.newser.com/story/141020/kirk-cameron-homosexuality-is-destructive.html

http://www.newser.com/story/141199/kirk-cameron-defends-his-anti-gay-comments.html

http://www.newser.com/story/141235/doc-are-we-paying-for-limbaughs-viagra.html

http://www.newser.com/story/141095/patricia-heaton-attacks-sandra-fluke-deletes-twitter.html

http://www.newser.com/story/141163/heaton-back-on-twitter-with-message-for-sandra-fluke.html

http://www.newser.com/story/141699/sandra-fluke-name-calling-wont-silence-us.html

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You Won’t Win If You Don’t Play

You won’t win if you don’t play, is an expression I have heard a good bit from people that play the Lotto.  While I do admit to being an occasional Lotto player myself, I am not counting on the Lotto to fund my retirement.  But what I enjoy most most is the time between buying my tickets and checking my numbers…. until those numbers are checked…. it still could be me with the winning number combination!  This possibility of hope is founded as long as I played!

Since I have been on disability, I do not have a lot to hope for day to day other than hoping for a good day, a break from disabling Multiple Sclerosis, or do I?  I have discovered online sweepstakes.  I enter as many as I can.  There are some that require help from friends.  There was one for me to win a new shed, friends could vote that the shed we did have was original and creative – it is a 18-wheeler trailer that Dad took the wheels off of and added a storm door! lol  Instant shed.  At the end of the contest, our shed had the most votes, but we will have to see if the judges agree!  I should know soon if I won.  But like the time between buying a ticket and checking the numbers, so was the anticipation to check each day to see if my vote count had increased, had my friends and family taken the time to “help” me possibly win.

The new sweeps I am asking help with is “about.me”. It is a site that for me is like an online directory. This one site has quick links to all of the other places I “am” on the web – including this blog. It also links my facebook and twitter. As my presence online grows, I will include them on my about.me page (www.about.me/thomasjohnston).  In the about.me contest, the winner will receive a trip to New York City and be featured on a billboard in Times Square. Not since my early 1980s modeling days with Nunnery’s and Our Gang or being photographed by Barry Boyd and Tuminello’s Photography have I been a possible model on a Times Square billboard!! lol (long ago days at that).

After 24 hours in the about.me sweeps, I was in the top 10%…. then 48 hours I was in the top 5%, but now I have stalled in the top 5%.  I have 245 friends on facebook and yet when I post to go vote for me on facebook … I am lucky if 5 go to actually vote. 😦  I have received a few compliments on my writing, but to date – NO ONE has felt the need to used the paypal button to donate and encourage my efforts financially! lol  So I need to find a way to be more persuasive with my writing. I am finding it difficult to get friends to simply click one link then click vote (it does not even require anyone to enter an e-mail lol).  I have had over 8,500 people view my blog in the last year, but only 9 have been persuaded to subscribe to my blog.  So now I will ask the few that read this post to this point to maybe comment on how I may persuade friends to vote, subscribe or possibly even donate.  I NEED a NYC Times Square billboard appearance!  lol  😉

I will anxiously check each day to see how many hits I get for this post, how many votes I get in the sweeps and enjoy the moments of hope that comes with each.  Although it can be discouraging at times it is what keeps me aspiring to be more.  With feedback, help and encouragement from my readers…. I’ll find winning numbers one day!  But it can’t be said I won’t win if I don’t play – I am PLAYING!!

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