Vigil in Support of the Ukraine

 I did attend the vigil in the support of the Ukraine which was held last night.   There were a couple hundred people there, I would have wished for more. Lubbock has a small Ukrainian community, many associated with Texas Tech University, and some of whom were present. Also in the group were Russians, who were supportive of the Ukrainian people .Vigil in support of the Ukraine in Lubbock.

I realize that this was hastily organized, but ethnocentric as people in the United States are, it consisted of songs glorifying the United States, although a couple of Ukrainians, and some in the crowd, sang the national anthem of  the Ukraine.  I am not sure what I would have done differently.  The songs about the US were about patriotism, and freedom.  The speeches were well done:  they brought together the US history and our fight for liberation from England, twice, and how that can be compared or related to the current fight in which the Ukraine and Russia are engaged.  But I suspect that many people in the crowd, self included, did not know much about the history of the Ukraine, and this was the best that could be done on short notice.   

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Fundraising

Have I posted this before?  I apologize for repeating myself, but if I do, I obviously believe it is worth repeating.

This is a commentary on school fundraising projects, in which my grand niece and nephew are involved.

When my siblings and I were growing up, our family and neighbors supported our efforts in church, scouts and school, and I now try to “pay it forward.”

If you don’t mind a little story. Many years ago, some neighborhood boys were selling chocolate bars for the Boys and Girls Club to go to a Texas Rangers game.  I do not eat chocolate often, but they came by every day, (They actually watched for me to come home from work, and met me at the garage!) and I took turns buying a bar a day from them. (I brought the candy to work, and left it in the break room.)  The older boy said “I bet if we were selling dog biscuits, you’d buy a whole case.”  (That was when my dog-child Mack was alive.) He was right.  A couple of years later, that same older boy rang my doorbell.  He said he was helping his little sister with her kindergarten fundraiser, and he was showing her how to do it and who would buy!  He was right. I was actually pleased that the children in my neighborhood knew that I would support them.