Regardless of your stance on war and military spending, I believe that it is honorable to show some love to people who are willing to give their lives in service to our country. We have an all-volunteer military, and the people who choose this career path deal with situations that most of us in the US can't even imagine. I may not agree with all the decisions our government makes to take military action, but I am definitely going to take advantage of this opportunity to potentially make someone's holiday season a little brighter. Here is the link to the program Holiday Mail for Heroes, which is being run by Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The link will take you to the Walter Reed site that has instructions on how to participate.

http://www.wrnmmc.capmed.mil/Lists/NewsAnnouncements/Article.aspx?ID=15

Thanks for listening,
Michelle Dexter Garber

Here is an inspirational story from Boston for today (copied from MSN).  Putting aside questions about who has a bag with $42,000 inside it, Glen James turned it in when clearly he could have used the money.  Unexpectedly, he has been rewarded with donations from around the country:

"Glen James made national headlines when he turned in a bag containing $42,000. A fund set up for the homeless man has now taken in $68,000 in donations.

BOSTON — More than $68,000 in donations have poured in from people around the country for a Boston homeless man who turned over to police a backpack stuffed with cash that he had found outside a shopping mall.

The man, Glen James, landed in the spotlight on Monday when Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis lauded him for turning over the bag containing $42,000, which was eventually returned to its owner.

James' act inspired a man in Virginia to set up a fund to help him "change his life."

By midday on Wednesday, the online fund had brought in $68,012 from 2,698 donors, many of whom left messages of praise for James, including: "Such a beautiful person. Reduced me to tears," and "We have a lot to learn from you."

James, who told local media he is in his mid-50s and cannot work because of an inner-ear condition that affects his balance, has been living at a Boston-area homeless shelter and panhandles during the day.

Ethan Whittington, a 27-year-old marketing firm employee from Virginia, said he set up the fund because he was inspired by James' action. He also said that he had begun talking with James on Tuesday on how the donated money would be used.

"I just found James' story to be inspiring," he said. "We're so inundated with negative news all the time. James gives hope to people and lets them know not all things in the world are bad." "


source: http://news.msn.com/us/selfless-act-pays-off-for-boston-homeless-man

It seems that my intuition was correct!  After posting last night about my changes in direction to the Random Acts Challenge, I woke up to find this video in my news feed on Facebook!  Check out these two teenagers who want to make a positive difference in the world.  By the way, if any of you want to "like" Health Revolution Ayurveda on Facebook, I wouldn't be sad about it! 

Well, it is September!  As promised, I am launching the Random Acts Challenge page on my blog.  The Random Acts Challenge will be a month-long event designed to generate acts of kindness and compassion that serve to inspire others and spread joy and compassion in our communities.  Here's how it works:

For the month of September do one selfless act for someone else each day.  This act could be anything that brings joy to another person or animal, such as walking dogs at a local shelter, giving a gift to someone, surprising someone with a gesture of appreciation for who they are in your life, helping a neighbor, or paying for the coffee of the person behind you in line.  Be creative!

To participate, simply comment to this blog post with your name and email.  Beginning September 1, do at least 1 Random Act
of Kindness per day and POST a comment about it below.  The purpose of posting what you do is not to brag about how awesome you are, but to inspire others and generate momentum that will encourage others to participate.  It makes people happy to hear about others doing good in the world.

At the end of September, whoever participates daily by posting their comments will be given something from yours truly (material or otherwise).  I won't tell you what, because then it wouldn't be random.

Let's all work together to create positive change in the lives of those around us!