Sacrifice and Appreciation

Have you ever thought much about buying a domestic car vs a non-American owned car? I have, in 2008 when everything seemed to be going crazy financially, I decided I had to buy an American car and that I would only purchase American cars going forward. So, I sold my foreign car and purchased a 2008 Tahoe. I have to say it was probably one of the best decisions I ever made. I still have that Tahoe and it has rewarded me with over two hundred thousand miles. This Tahoe has been a workhorse and I have had very little trouble for the miles it has provided me. I can even say that I believe it saved me from serious injury in a front-end collision a few years ago. Yet it still goes strong.

Here again at another financial crossroads, totally different reason, but my concern is the same. How can I help America and our businesses that employ so many stay strong? I hadn’t given any thought to a new vehicle, until now. I wouldn’t say the timing is great for me financially, but the deals are worth consideration, and it certainly paid off for me last time. I saved a tremendous amount of money buying American then, I suspect I could do the same today. Seems like a Win Win. I know not everyone can even consider this and I’m not sure I should either, but I feel compelled to think this through and make the right decision for me and us.

I believe in America with my whole heart. I believe we are graced to live in the greatest country on earth. There are beautiful and wonderful lands and peoples everywhere on earth and I take nothing from them when I say I am a proud American. They are no doubt just as proud of their home and rightfully so. I hope so anyway.

I know we are suffering today in many ways, but the resilience and wonder that makes us who we are is shining through. It is in the

• Health care workers who have left their homes to take care of those who now find themselves unable to survive without help all the while risking themselves and perhaps their families.
• First responders who go to work each day worrying they will not be prepared when meeting that person who has fallen ill and may not even know it.
• Leaders who put their politics aside to comfort and find ways to aid the stricken, us, for we are all stricken in some manner.
• Store employees who generously help us feed our families by hours of back breaking work stocking shelves, cleaning and serving.
• Transportation and delivery employees who keep to the roads, rail and air to bring the materials and supplies to the right places at the right times to keep the supply chain running.
• Business owners who scramble to find ways to continue paying their employees so they can pay their bills and feed themselves and their families. In addition, for those that have managed to remain open, daily you change to support the safety of your employees and customers. I applaud your response and care.
• Teachers who never expected to move almost overnight from classroom to e learning, even though they themselves may not have been technology proficient.
• Parents who love their children so much that they will pivot from parent to teacher and back as required to support their children’s needs.
• Pastors and religious leaders who struggle to refrain from embracing physically the flocks they so dearly love to minister to, yet have found new ways to comfort and embrace those in need of the word.

There are many more who go under appreciated, but I am also proud of you for your patience and support of what has been asked of us, the great sacrifices given so freely to protect one another from harm. Without you, we would be lost, for all those mentioned above and those who go appreciated yet unnamed is the us, that is only made by the you.

So yes, I am thinking of buying a new vehicle, I can’t say today whether I will. But what I can say with certainty, is I am grateful to count myself in as one of us.

On this Good Friday, I send you my wishes for reflection and my gratitude for making me a proud American. God Bless You and Yours.