I can agree it took some guts to get up there and make that statement and I surely don't fault her for doing what she did.

Idealistic or not these are things that need to be said and not swept under the rug. Without the stewards of this land I guarantee the USA would look worse than China does now. I am grateful for these stewards because I really dont like fishing in paluted algae infested waters. though I dont agree with the extremes they want us to adhere to but we can say no to that and reap the benefits from the stuff that we agree on.

Maybe I'm Idealistic to and being at a young age of 42 I to dont believe in turning my back on humanitarian needs. As it was stated these du gooder coperations eat up a lot of the money that is donated, witch is incredibly wrong, but without them the good they do would not get done. Some of these corperation are no wosrt than the red cross or the salvation army and without the good they do where would we be.

We are all a little idealistic, but most temper that idealism with reality as they grow older. I used to donate money on a regular basis(deducted from my check) but as I learned more of it was going to administration etc, I quit that. Now, the organization I work for replaces PCs on a 3 year basis, I take a good portion of these junk PCs rebuild them and give them to commmunity centers, low income families, limited income retirees, I even loaded up my truck with pile of PCs and monitors and brought them to an Indian Reservation for the kids in their community centers. I donate to the food shelf and the local clothes closet. I have also built a few Custom Rods to be raffled off for local charities or to help with someones huge medical bills. Our dept at work does the adopt a family thing at Xmas time and I throw a large sum of money into the pot so that the kids will get a few nice presents and a good meal for Xmas.

I still do things to help others that have less, but the things I do go directly to them instead of providing income to an administrator make some large $$$ and most charities pay their admin folks pretty well and I would rather my money not go to there.

I agree with much of what both croixflats and upnorth say.

I do all my donations at a local level to local groups, but agree the big organizations have a lot of value.

However, the big ones have a LOT of red tape and overhead, as upnorth said.

After the Red River Flood of 1997, which emptied the communities of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, my father, my wife, my wife's mother and daughters and I headed to the lake cabin near Bemidji. The community opened its arms to the thousands of evacuees who fled east. A church on the western edge of town became a center for donations, and people flocked there for clothing, food, personal necessities and gas vouchers.

A tremendous amount of human sharing and goodwill were generated there, and it was that way for the first several days.

Then the Red Cross came in and took over all operations. Within a couple days, the only way to get any type of aid at all was to stand in a line for hours, fill out a long application and jump through all the Red Cross admin hoops.

Many quit coming for help. Some because they were already on their feet or were heading back to try to clean up there homes, but many needy families who were sick at heart from losing everything they owned to the flood just gave up. Not only in Bemidji, but in several other communities.

The Salvation Army, by contrast, did all the Red Cross did but with very little red tape. We were so impressed with the S.A. and its work that my wife and I eventually served on the Salvation Army board in Grand Forks.

I was working as a reporter/editor for the Grand Forks Herald at the time, and of course clever words are valuable in newspapers. I developed a motto for the Red Cross that, even though I wrote a weekly column, I never had the guts to print.

"The American Red Cross: Wherever they go, it's a disaster."

aside from everyone talking themselves up about how much money they have to "give" to others...................haha JK guys

I think it's really pathetic what they teach the kids in schools today. It boils down to this......They are teaching them to be whiny little kids with a narrow mind that cannot solve anything. It's rather simple to be idealistic. Heck some people make a living at it. Good example is an engineer. They can tell you how to do something or how it SHOULD be done, but they have no idea how to do it themselves.

Point is, it's easy to stand back and point out flaws.

Sounds like you're proving your own point, bubba. Criticizing those who stand back and point out flaws while doing it yourself.

All in good fun, Roofer.

I have known several engineers, a couple of them closely. While only one has very good people skills (engineers are known for being blunt to the point of hostility), every last one of them could think through a construction or a breakdown problem and come up with an on-the-spot solution. Maybe some engineers are big on theory on not on mechanics, but the eight or 10 engineers I've known all had shops of their own and worked in those shops.

But, golly, we've come a loooooong way off topic, haven't we, discussing engineers . . .

I knew there were people out that refurbished these computers It nice to here from you first hand. I know you dont do this for recognition, you do deserve some gratitude for what you do. Thanyou upnorth

Hey, didn't say I wasn't guilty myself.

I guess we are all critical. It's just funny seeing a 12-14 year old worry about things they have no control over or experience in. If they stuck by their words, I doubt they could survive in the world today. Probably by now that little girl knows this.

Thank you!! I do quietly try to do what I can do. And you are right, I don't do if for recognition. I normally won't even bring it up unless I think there may someone who could use one.

but if those 12-14 year olds stuck with these ideals and didn't give in to our "can't do it yourself" attitude we have in this country, thing would and could change. I hope they don't look at this board, we all are telling them they cant make a difference.

Maybe in 40 years, we'll all be dead or too old and these pesky kids (who won't get off my grass) will get to do what they want.

Although Cash gives a little speech at the beginning about the dangers of drug use, "What is Truth." seemed appropriate here.

Oh, the immortal Johny Cash and his stylings where would we be without ones like he.

A deep message there chode though maybe lost on some.

Great post. Thanks.