by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
We seem to be living in a venomous time of greed and hate-fueled rage, much of which is borne on the backs of the poor and most vulnerable among us. As our government works to vilify large segments of the population, those without the power to fight back, many other Americans prefer to avoid the political commotion and ignore the rising tide of political, social, and economic inequality.
Fortunately there are always a few good people who brave the consequences and stand tall for what is right. Over the past two days I have read about two celebrities who are using their own personal wealth to try to lessen some of the inequities that plague our society.
Country music star Brad Paisley and his wife have broken ground on a ground-breaking new type of grocery store in Nashville, Tennessee. The store will be located on the campus of Brad's alma mater, Belmont University, and it will be unique in the sense that everything in the store will be free. The concept seems designed to take the stigma of poverty off of the children. Instead of watching as their parents line up at food banks to collect boxes of rations, the children will instead witness their parents moving through the aisles of what appears to be a regular grocery store, taking items off of the shelves and putting them in their baskets, and then having the items scanned by a cashier at the end of the process - almost exactly the same way as groceries are procured by the parents of their classmates.
There will even be a mechanical horse outside of the store that operates for free.
And while Brad Paisley is working on feeding and enhancing the self-esteem of Nashville's poor, elder rocker Steven Tyler of Aerosmith recently cut the ribbon (scarf) on the second home for abused women and girls that he has helped fund. The first was opened a couple of years ago in Atlanta, and the second recently opened in Memphis. Each is called "Janie's House," named in honor of the song "Janie's Got a Gun" which Tyler and Aerosmith recorded in 1989. That song tells the story of a young girl out to get revenge on her abusive father.
Brad Paisley and Steven Tyler both serve as hopeful signs that the hate spreading across America is not a permanent condition. They are showing concern for the least among us, a standard of humanity that was once taught by the Man from Galilee - and both stand as heroes in this time of villainy.
Citizen Journalist
We seem to be living in a venomous time of greed and hate-fueled rage, much of which is borne on the backs of the poor and most vulnerable among us. As our government works to vilify large segments of the population, those without the power to fight back, many other Americans prefer to avoid the political commotion and ignore the rising tide of political, social, and economic inequality.
Fortunately there are always a few good people who brave the consequences and stand tall for what is right. Over the past two days I have read about two celebrities who are using their own personal wealth to try to lessen some of the inequities that plague our society.
Country music star Brad Paisley and his wife have broken ground on a ground-breaking new type of grocery store in Nashville, Tennessee. The store will be located on the campus of Brad's alma mater, Belmont University, and it will be unique in the sense that everything in the store will be free. The concept seems designed to take the stigma of poverty off of the children. Instead of watching as their parents line up at food banks to collect boxes of rations, the children will instead witness their parents moving through the aisles of what appears to be a regular grocery store, taking items off of the shelves and putting them in their baskets, and then having the items scanned by a cashier at the end of the process - almost exactly the same way as groceries are procured by the parents of their classmates.
There will even be a mechanical horse outside of the store that operates for free.
And while Brad Paisley is working on feeding and enhancing the self-esteem of Nashville's poor, elder rocker Steven Tyler of Aerosmith recently cut the ribbon (scarf) on the second home for abused women and girls that he has helped fund. The first was opened a couple of years ago in Atlanta, and the second recently opened in Memphis. Each is called "Janie's House," named in honor of the song "Janie's Got a Gun" which Tyler and Aerosmith recorded in 1989. That song tells the story of a young girl out to get revenge on her abusive father.
Brad Paisley and Steven Tyler both serve as hopeful signs that the hate spreading across America is not a permanent condition. They are showing concern for the least among us, a standard of humanity that was once taught by the Man from Galilee - and both stand as heroes in this time of villainy.
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