Salvation Nation Army Carneys

I went to the grocery store tonight to pick up a few things for dinner.. As I meandered around.. it was typical. I could not really find anything of interest. Most products were too expensive. I haven't eaten meat lately so nothing looked appealing. I ended up getting a sandwich at a shop up the street.



But as I left, I heard the Salvation Army bell ringer outside clanging his tiny bell in the cold. I prepped my dollar bill, as I often do, and pre-folded it to ensure that there'd be no problems placing it into the tin basket.

As I got close to him, I stopped for a few seconds. The store placed the Salvation Army person directly next to one of those horrendous machines that eats your dollars and, with the promise of a claw, will try to give you a large stuffed animal. Chances are you'll never win. Chances are you'll waste money..

And someone did.

I was taken aback a bit by sight, however.



Think about this: Not only was the Salvation Army bell ringer juxtapose to a wasteful machine of cheaply made slave products, but at the moment I was placing my money in his basket, a woman and her very young child were attempting to win prizes. They couldn't. They never would have.

Instead, in only the few seconds I was watching and slowly trying to come to grips with what I was seeing, they dropped about five bucks into the machine.

Five dollars that could have been used for something else. For..perhaps...the Salvation Army?

I am not shilling for a charity, not at all. And you may have your own personal griefs with whatever organization is asking for cash this time of year.  That said, I dare add this to the mix: Regardless of whatever your belief would be on the charity, the chances are you'll get more bang for a buck by giving it to the needy than you will to a machine that will spit out nothing but false promises of prizes never to come.

I just cannot get over the irony of someone wasting money in a foolish venture without reward, and a bell ringing clanging lazily away while seated in a chair next to the machine.

I almost said something--something either sarcastic or pointed.  Nasty words almost jumped from my tongue. But it was not appropriate. Instead.. I figured it was as good a time as any, so I put in my dollar and then searched my pockets for some more change, and found a $5 bill. Instead of putting it into a machine to get a heavy stuffed animal a claw would never get a grip on, I dropped it down in to the Salvation Army bucket.

And I thought of this..
Here is how YOU can donate to charity this time of year>

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/pack-a-shoe-box/

UNICEF