Ask what you can do for your country

One hundred years ago on this date, the man who would become the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born. How fitting and proper it is that today also happens to be Memorial Day, a federal holiday on which we remember the women and men who died while serving in our country's armed forces. Fitting because whenever I think of Kennedy, I think of giving back and the ultimate service.

JFK gave us encouragement to give back and is one of the factors in my decision to begin this blog years ago. I love the idea of contributing, and Kennedy was such a good cheerleader for that - I only hope I can do a tiny bit of what he did in reminding folks that we are not alone, and it is important to think about others.

In one of his first acts as President, Kennedy asked Congress to create the Peace Corps and his brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, became its first director. I'm sure he would be proud of his creation.

Kennedy also pushed us to go further in space exploration, he pushed our cooperation with other countries, and in his most famous speech, he pushed us all when he said "Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country."

Today, I'll be thinking of all those women and men who gave their lives in active duty, and I'll be thinking of our great President who encouraged us along the way, and who too paid the ultimate price.

Ten Years of Blogging

Ten years!  Oh my!  It's hard to believe but I have been blogging continually now for ten years.  I do this five days a week (originally I wrote these entries on the weekend too) and for the past eight months, I have also been writing a seven-days-a-week blog about kindness. 

Yes, I still remember that this is NOT about me, but allow me a moment to thank all of your for reading both of these blogs and the odd musings from before, that this grew out of.  I appreciate you taking the time both to read and to offer your comments.

Oh and if you thought this was a goodbye message, it's not.  I'll still be writing both blogs (between the two, that's about fifty entries per month) and I hope you will continue reading.  Your comments are always welcome too, and please feel free to offer suggestions also.  Tell me about some folks that you know of who are making a difference.  Tell your friends too!

If you haven't checked out my kindness blog yet, what are you waiting for?  Click HERE and kindly share that one with your friends too!  Thanks everybody!

Giant winners

I've been a fan of the San Francisco Giants baseball team for most of my life, and living in that city back in 1994, I was especially proud of the Giants when they teamed up with the Until There's A Cure Foundation and become the first professional sports team to host an AIDS benefit game.  It was something that needed to happen, and the Giants came through.  Over the years I have written about this event, which tonight will be happening for the twenty-fourth time.

I'm sorry to say that the need is still there.  A lot of folks have forgotten about HIV/AIDS.  Many are too young to remember when there was no such thing.  Many are also too young to remember all the suffering and all the deaths.  Yes, things have improved - in fact they have greatly improved, but there is still no cure.  That's why the Giants and Until There’s A Cure Foundation keep raising awareness of prevention education, care and services, in an effort to help find that cure.

I have probably written here about HIV/AIDS more than anything else.  It's important.  That's why I do AIDS Walk San Francisco every year, why I support other fundraisers and why I think education and testing are so important.  I support the use of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP).  I support the many organizations who are working to remember our past and fighting for a better future.  Of course I also support my baseball Giants for this annual effort and all the other ways they give back to the community. 

Tonight, a portion of your ticket proceeds goes directly back to the Until There’s A Cure Foundation, plus you get to see the Giants take on the division-rival Dodgers.  I hope we win the game of course, but more importantly, I hope we soon win the fight against AIDS.  This is a fight we must win.  I'm so glad to see that the Giants are still giant!  Let's all do our part too.