Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is

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Several of you read my post from earlier in the week and asked me exactly what Doug and I will be doing as we "roll up the sidewalks" for the next four years. As I said in that post, "Until we, as a country, stand up for, and protect at all cost, the lives of our most fragile neighbors, our unborn babies, we do not deserve to have anything -- not things, not entertainment, not comfort."

I believe that the citizens of this country will never understand that voting for their pocketbooks is not morally right, especially at the expense of innocent human beings, until they see that no political party is going to save them -- we have to save ourselves. What Doug and I intend to do, as a sacrifice for the babies, and as a chastisement to our country (and we are just one little family here, but we each do what we can) is to not contribute to the economy of this country except what it absolutely necessary, for the next four years.

Many of you asked for specifics -- what is our plan? We haven't written anything down, in terms of an actual plan, but the basic idea is to purchase only what we absolutely need. I'm certain we should always be doing this, but most families have their splurges, some more than others. We don't often eat out for pleasure, but now we will not. We won't buy clothes for fun -- we have enough to get us through, and we will only buy what is absolutely necessary (if someone grows too tall for their pants or needs new shoes they will be purchased). I would love to redecorate my living room, since I've had the same furniture since my kids were little, but that can wait. No new stove, which I had kind of been hoping for. We will entertain ourselves with free movies and books from the library. You get the idea. It's nothing earth shattering, but we will try not to contribute to the success of this culture of death.

I will also take a closer look at the places where I do spend my money. Is my grocer donating to charities I would support? Or that superstore? It's going to take some work and sacrifice, but I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is. Ultimately, I have to answer to my Father in heaven for what I've done here on earth, and I refuse to answer for turning my head and pretending something didn't exist that clearly did.

We will also look at how we can sacrifice by abstaining at one or more meals during the week. We already abstain from meat on Friday for the poor, but we can certainly do more. One of the cornerstones of our Catholic faith is sacrifice, and I know that we can find something in our regular diet to give up once or twice a week without too much brain racking. Just giving up sugar in my tea or jelly on my toast a few days a week will mean something to me.

By putting off any major purchases for now, and cutting back or regular purchases, we can increase our almsgiving, and also save a little more. I don't think any of us can predict what our tax bill will look like after 2009. Our president-elect made the claim that he would not raise taxes on families with an income of $250,000 or more, but I recently heard that number drop to just above the $100,000 mark. Who knows where it will end up? Frankly, Doug and I would rather give our money away to the charity of our choice than to pay taxes on it and have it go who-knows-where.

Several years ago, Doug and I made the commitment to donate only to Catholic charities. We give to our church, we give to Catholic hospitals (because until now our money was not spent on abortions, although under the FOCA I'm not certain about that now), we give to Catholic schools, and Catholic food pantries. We will have to be more careful where our money goes now, because we've learned that all Catholic charities are not "safe", but will continue to only support only Catholic charities. Hopefully we will be giving more than we have in the past, it just depends -- I'd rather decide than have my government decide for me. We will probably add "safe" pregnancy decision centers to our list of charities and support them with our prayers as well.

It's hard to predict where this country will be in four years, as well as where my family will be. I don't recommend trying to live that far in the future. I am too much of a pragmatist, and I don't even know if we'll all even be here in four years. But, I have to know, in my heart of hearts, that I am doing something. I can't just go on with my life and pretend that millions of babies aren't being murdered while I just go on as normal. To face my God when my time here on earth is up, I have to know that I carried this in my heart and tried to make a difference.




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