Lately, almost every night at Midnight EST, far too late for my brain to really preserve any information, I’ve been sitting in on The Stage Right Show on Blog Talk Radio. The Stage Right Show is a talk show hosted by Larry O’Connor thats sole premise is to chat about right wing politics.
You may be wondering why I sit in on such a thing, being a liberal and all. The reason is I have recently met someone who really enjoys challenging my belief system. He also calls me close minded. So I decided to open my mind, broaden my horizons a bit. Between you and me, I don’t understand much of what they say on the show and the parts I understand I don’t usually agree with, but I am learning both sides of the story and it is refreshing. It is empowering to be able to draw your own conclusions and form educated opinions.
However one story they talked about last night really did get my attention. One of the members of the shows chat room, coined The Hollywood Chat Pack, is a gold star mom, meaning she lost a child serving our country. She spoke to us about The Gratitude Project and ThankASolder.net.
The Gratitude Project is meant to tell our troops that we are grateful for all they are doing. This is going to be for all members of the coalition deployed in operations around the world. It is also for all branches of our service. All you need to do is have someone take your picture with the words Thank You somehow incorporated. You can make a sign, draw on yourself, create a craft with your children, spell it out in t-shirts or whatever else you can think of to make it creative.
I want to get as many people as possible to support this amazing cause. So often people want to help but they don’t have the financial means to do so. This costs you no money, just be creative, take a picture, send it in. It is that simple.
I’m going to run a contest for a $25 gift card to Restaurant.com. I want you to follow the rules on ThankASoldier.net and then instead of submitting the picture to them I want you to post it here on my site in the comments section. At the end of the contest I will choose a winner via Random.org and I will send all the pictures to my friend so she can send them to the soldiers.
This contest is going to be for US Residents ages 18+ only. Someone under 18 can be in the picture but someone 18+ needs to submit. You have until Sunday the 21st to submit your picture. Like I said, be creative, have fun and remember how meaningful this will be for someone who misses their own loved ones.
In order to post a picture in the comments you are welcome to simply post a link to the picture uploaded somewhere else on the web.
*This is a private contest and in no way affiliated with Thankasoldier.net
Here are your random numbers:
4
Timestamp: 2010-03-19 12:49:38 UTC
Congrats Tina! Winner was drawn from the 4 entries, not from the 9 comments.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for supporting this great cause.
“the parts I understand I don’t usually agree with”
Wait… Last night I talked about how Max Blumenthal at Salon.com is alligning me with racists and white supremacists and I vigorously objected and defended myself. Umm… does that mean you DO agree that I am a racist, or you just didn’t understand?
PS: Thanks for the mention… and… I think you agree with more than you are willing to let on… otherwise, why not call in and dispute?
http://www.activegarage.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/thank-you-by-vernhart.jpg
Here’s my sign!
Thanks.
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l353/panicxduh/IMG000936.jpg
I know what you’re talking about Lee. I too have been uh.. challenged to open my mind but here I find that I’m starting to agree with a lot of it. Scares me… cos you know how you think you’re doing alright and then you realise you aren’t actually cos you’ve been indoctrined into things and you didn’t know.. or something like that. Not saying its changed my mind completely but I am only more confused than I was before … When you are born you are confused and when you die you know you are confused. I don’t believe any conservatives are racist or sexist or anything like that.. and I certainly don’t call myself a liberal or a conservative either.. I’m the sort that looks at both sides and hopes the American Eagle can fly with both wings. That is left and right…
I wish I could enter your contest but being in the wrong country is a bit of a barrier. My cousin’s husband is currently serving in Afghanistan as well.
here’s ours http://www.flickr.com/photos/caiafacraziness/4365548539/
http://tinalara-mylife.blogspot.com/2010/02/thank-you.html
Thanks for this opportunity to say THANK YOU in a fun way! My girls enjoyed it!
just wondering who won this contest? thanks!