We're in this together, like it or not

Ya know, here’s the thing. Most Americans are good at sharing and reaching out. Don’t laugh, really, we are. Sure, we’ll donate to help tsunami and hurricane victims, we’ll support our coworker’s children by buying cookies or wrapping paper for school fundraisers, and of course we’ll give the homeless guy an extra dime or two if we have it on us as we leave a store.

Oh, and don’t forget company potlucks. Yes, we’ll stay up until 11 p.m. making that pasta salad to feed 50+ people or pitch in $20+ for the boss’s retirement gift.

But we have a flaw through all this charity and giving we do with glowing pride and how-great-am-I-for-pitching-in attitudes. The flaw is the inability to look beyond our feet, our immediate surroundings, and prepare or consider what might happen ahead for ALL of us.

The House passed a budget bill Friday. And here’s who will pay because of the proposed cuts – the poor, the students, and the farmers.

C’mon America, open your eyes and look ahead. I don’t like paying taxes either, but if we don’t pitch in and help out by doing our part for our country, our children AND our elderly, our environment, our future, then we’re going to leave a huge chunk of our people behind because nobody pitched in – the poor, the students, and the farmers. And all we'll be left with is a poor, uneducated nation with a huge deficit and no food.

Let's take better care of each other.

Update: Let's take better care of each other locally and globally. (Thanks for pointing that out, Monika.)