This past Tuesday I went to the Community Center on base to give blood for the Red Cross. It turned out that since I had been to the Mayan Ruins where a suspected case of Malaria still exists that I was disqualified from giving blood for one year. As you can imagine I was fairly disappointed and thought that I had missed an opportunity to do something for others that day. Later that evening I received an invitation from an old friend of mine requesting that I help sponsor his Boston Marathon run for a charity called "Horizons for Homeless Children," which benefits homeless children back in Massachusetts. Although discouraged from earlier in the day I realized that I had an opportunity to do help someone else fulfill their goal. As I thought about it, I decided to make my donation tonight despite my feeling that money donations alone are somewhat disingenuous. I came to accept the idea that fairly soon I too will be going to call on my friends and family to make donations on my behalf and that I believe their thoughtfulness in that act of giving will be quite selfless.
My friend inspired me to register early for the AF Marathon along with the Marine Corps Half Marathon in May. Through helping others I found that I am indeed helping myself. Seeing that site which was dedicated to my friend's charity inspired me to put my money where my mouth is and take that first step towards the 26.2 which I plan on running. Join me and sign up for the AF Marathon on September 19th in Dayton Ohio or give to my friend's charity for his race on April 19th in Boston.
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