While Father Orthoduck does not agree with every line and approach in this set of comic strips, he heartily agrees with the sentiment. If you are in a church with a reliable senior high school group, what about visiting a nearby VA hospital? Some of your juniors and seniors could probably volunteer to be candy stripe volunteers. Can your choir visit and do a few numbers, including some secular numbers? Can you sponsor a barbershop quartet? Contact the local VA chaplain. S/he probably has tons of suggestions for how you can make his/her work easier.
Have you thought about writing to the troops stationed overseas? There are several DoD (Department of Defense) approved programs to send letters to service people in combat areas. Do you have a local National Guard or Reserve unit? If they are about to be deployed how about making a full one-year commitment to partner with them and to be penpals to them while they are overseas? If you are in a transit area, such as Atlanta or Chicago, etc., is there a local USO (United Service Organization)? Ask people whom you know and trust to be USO volunteers.
Saint James said that faith without works is dead. Father Orthoduck would like to add that political discourse without a practical commitment is just bloviating (hot air). Too many of us spend time on blogs arguing (yelling) incessantly about this or that political stance on Afghanistan and Iraq. But all of us claim that we honor the troops who have faithfully fulfilled their oaths of service. For too many of us that is simply hot air that we use in political discourse in order to score brownie points.
How about if we put our volunteer time behind our words? You claim to honor the troops? Well, then, show Father Orthoduck by getting involved. Too often our troops are forgotten, except by family and a very few (if any) friends. Particularly those facing a long recovery in hospitals can use your support. Political discourse without works is just hot air.
If you are already involved in some project in which other people could be involved, how about posting a suggestion on this post. Father Orthoduck will reserve the right to check out your suggestion and moderate if necessary.
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