NORTHWEST GEORGIA -- When there is a world or national crisis impacting people in tragic ways, we usually don’t hesitate to pull out our checkbooks or credit cards to help provide aid to the victims.
What many of us don’t always see is the tragedy in our own communities – individuals and families living in poverty, often going hungry and even homeless during the tough economic times which began when U.S. companies started sending jobs overseas and continuing into the 21st century with increasing economic woes due, in large part, to the government’s huge investment in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the failure to create new jobs at home.
A large number of veterans of those and previous conflicts are among those who are now fighting to survive in the world today. Many people are barely surviving on Social Security, disability, unemployment checks, Medicare and Medicaid benefits, none of which are truly sufficient to live a decent life. Elderly senior citizens who live on fixed incomes sometimes have to choose between buying medication or food or other basic needs, and they don't always have relatives who can or will help them. Food stamps, when someone can qualify, don't really go that far in ensuring a healthy diet.
I have heard some folks say that people are in these dire situation through their own fault or because they choose to do live in poverty. That is far from being true, although, unfortunatly, there are many who do abuse the system and ruin things for people who are genuinely hurting because unforeseen circumstances put their lives into tailspins.
I have gone through crises when I needed help and needed it as soon as possible. As I write this, I’m dealing with health issues that are to the extent that, being totally financially broke a week before payday and still owing some on rent. These issues also have me questioning my own mortality without being morbid or self-pitying or being a hypochondriac about it.
Knowing the suffering that impacts more residents than we like to think about, I’m publishing a kind of “will” here that I pray will be followed whenever my spirit passes from this world. I have no material things, especially since selling my car to continue surviving, and no really close relatives to fight over what I don’t have or who would even have to deal with matters of my demise -- you know, those "final arrangements."
When I die, I want any body parts that I haven’t destroyed to be used by doctors to help and possibly save others. I do not want to be put on life support if my recovery will leave me in a vegetative state or dependent on others for the rest of my life. I do not want a funeral service, because it would be too expensive just for the presence of a few if any acquaintances with schedules as busy as they are today. I definitely want whatever is left of me to be cremated, not buried. My spirit will be in the hands of God’s judgment.
Especially, with apologies to florists, please do not send flowers, unless you want to send them to patients in nursing facilities.
I would like for anyone who might want to provide a remembrance of me to do so by donating to certain churches that I know provide emergency help in various ways to local residents. These churches have wonderfully and tremendously helped me in the past, putting the message of true Christianity into caring actions in their communities. If your own church does the same thing, please donate there. Otherwise, I would appreciate it beyond physical death if you would designate that your generosity is especially designated to the needy or “community benevolence” program of the specific church.
My designated churches include:
Oakwood Baptist Church
115 Oakwood Street - Chickamauga, Georgia 30707
Also: 247 Market Place Lane - Ringgold, GA 30736
706.375.5760
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First Baptist Church of Fort Oglethorpe, GA
2645 LaFayette Road
Fort Oglethorpe, GA 30742
(706) 866-0232
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Westside Baptist Church
1914 LAKEVIEW DRIVE
Rossville, Georgia 30741
phone: 706-866-9213
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Rossville Church Of Christ
1100 MCFARLAND AVENUE
Rossville, Georgia 30741
phone: 706-866-1119
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I pray for a long life to come, so please don't wait for me to die to help those in need, and preferably do so in your own name through a church or an established organization, including food bank missions. Remember that you never know when tragedy can come to your doorstep and you might need the helping hand that reaches out to you.
Thank you, and God bless you.
| 1 John 3:17-18: If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. |
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