We met her once here in Detroit.

She was old and not even 5 feet tall.

She came from humble beginnings, lived and died as a humble person.

So, WHY DID THIS LITTLE OLD LADY SHAKE UP THE WORLD?

Is it really that noteworthy that someone would reach out to help someone in need?

Unfortunately, YES!

The poor are uneducated, inadequately housed and fed with little or no access to good medical care and little hope for their future or the future of their children.

And I’m not talking about people living in Ethiopia or the Sudan!

No, I’m talking about people who live within 1 MILE OF YOUR HOUSE!

The safe, little, upscale conclave we live in is not how the world really is.

She knew that and so do we.

We can all do what she did in some small way.

Will you perform an act of COMPASSION for the first time in 2022?

When Mother Teresa died and went to heaven, she took no possessions with her!

Neither will you!

The family immigrated from the Congo to Des Moines, Iowa.

Mom died during her 5th childbirth.

Months later, dad died while driving to his job at a pork processing plant during a winter storm.

The grand parents are poor and don’t speak English.

The newborn baby and brothers ages 2, 6, 8 an 10 are, of course heartbroken and crying all day.

The local church sponsored a You Fund Drive and raised $160,000.

But, who will raise the kids?

If I was 20 years younger, I’d take them.

The ideal adoptive parents, however, should also be of African descent.

Do you know an ideal adoptive family.

If not Today, when?

Ben Roethlisberger, of the Pittsburgh Steelers, is seen encouraging the Cleveland Brown’s young quarterback, Baker Mayfield, after Ben’s last home game in Pittsburgh.

And so, the torch is passed onto another generation with all its hopes and dreams.

Ben has BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT!

The CURTAIN OF LIFE is going up for the young and down for the old.

Hopefully, the young will face the inescapable hardships that come along with courage and a belief in themselves!

Hopefully, the old will learn valuable lessons from their successes and failures and pass their hard earned wisdom onto the young.

Hopefully, the young will listen!

If not today, when?

Today’s title is one of the many memorable quotes from the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.

Although a man of peace, he stood up against the evils of apartheid.

For many of us, it is very difficult to forgive.

For men especially, the MALE EGO rises up as an impediment to performing the act of forgiveness.

Have you ever considered how many times GOD has forgiven each of us?

Can’t we take HIS example and become KINDER, GENTLER to one another?

If not today, when?

I see so many disturbing trends these days.

I’ll bet you see them too.

Among these trends are:

CLIMATE CHANGE (1,000 structures burned to the ground in Colorado in a few hours)

THE PANDEMIC (New variants continue to sicken more people worldwide)

MORE VIOLENCE (Homicide rates are on the increase across America)

POLITICAL DIVISENESS (Party rigidity has undermined patriotism)

LESS FAITH IN GOD (So many people losing faith)

So, WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT ALL THE ABOVE?

The answer: We cling to our values!

We can’t allow all the negativity to change who and what we are.

Speaking of values, which ones do you adhere to?

And are they sufficient to help you WEATHER THE STORM?

May I suggest adherence to the following values: Honesty, loyalty, compassion, forgiveness, faith in God, kindness, love and courage!

If not today, when?

Atlanta — Christmas came five months early for Tonee “Valentine” Carter, the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport’s piano man.

Though his piano playing is a background diversion for most travelers, one traveler heard him play in July and “FELT SOMETHING.”

“It is just radiating off of him and on to me.

I feel lighter,” said Carlos Whittaker, a motivational speaker who asked his 170,000 Instagram followers to donate to a virtual tip jar created for Valentine.

“You don’t know, but you got a lot of money coming your way, bro.”

Within minutes, $60,000 had been donated from around the world.

Tonee requires 9 hours of kidney dialysis each day to stay alive.

He says this stranger gave him a retirement fund. (CBS News)

In this new year, will you FEEL SOMETHING when you see someone in need?

If not today, when?

We have invented new words for our daily vocabulary because the old ones were a little too honest.

As an example: Dictatorships are replacing what used to be Democracies.

But, we don’t call them dictatorships.

No, they’re now called AUTOCRACIES which is an attempt to put out a nicer sounding word that most people don’t understand.

The same is true when people lie about something.

We don’t call it a lie anymore.

No, we’ve come up with a nicer sounding word that most people don’t understand: MISINFORMATION!

These commonly used words are intended to deceive people from understanding what’s really going on.

And the deception is created for personal gain.

We’re going down the wrong path folks.

Let’s bring back HONESTY in 2022!

What a nice New Year’s resolution!

If not today, when?

As I  look back on my life, I can see both my mistakes and successes.

They blend into a mosaic of what I’ve become.

My mistakes were my own doing.

And I’m not too sure about the authorship of my blessings (successes.)

I know many of the good things that came my way were through the efforts of other people.

My wife has been known to say, “God is not done with us yet!”

Which means that we should always strive to be better people who show a good example to those coming up after us.

I believe the best way to become better is with the daily practice of COMPASSION!

If not today, when?

 

 

IMLIDOL, India — The pipes are laid, the taps installed and the village tank is under construction — all promising signs that, come spring, Girja Ahriwar will get water at her doorstep and finally shed a lifelong burden.

“I go out and put the jerrycans in the queue at around 5 a.m. and wait there with the children,” Ms. Ahriwar, a mother of three who lives in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, said about her routine of fetching from the village hand pump. “Sometimes it could take five or six hours. I have to stay there because if I leave, someone else moves ahead.”

India, one of the world’s most water-stressed countries, is halfway through an ambitious drive to provide clean tap water by 2024 to all the roughly 192 million households across its 600,000 villages. About 18,000 government engineers are overseeing the $50 billion undertaking, which includes hundreds of thousands of contractors and laborers who are laying more than 2.5 million miles of pipe. (New York Times)

Let us pray for Ms. Ahriwar and all those waiting with hope for fresh, clean water at their doorstep!

If not today, when?

Your Age?

Your Sex?

Your Ethnicity?

Your Nationality?

Your Religion?

Your Marital Status?

Your Political Affiliation?

Your height?

Your Weight?

None of the above characteristics should define you!

You should be defined by the values or lack of values that you have chosen to live by.

And you put your value system on display by everything you SAY and DO!

So, you are defined by two very basic criteria: Your words and your actions.

Remember, people are listening and watching.

If not today, when?