STOP ALREADY . . .

One hundred and thirty-five thousand.
I can't conceive that.

I read in the paper this morning that in Finland, a nation of about five million people, four million dollars had been raised in donations to the stricken southeast Asian nations. FOUR MILLION DOLLARS. That's one dollar from four-fifths of the country's citizens. Imagine what the United States could give if four-fifths of Americans gave just one dollar to help the tsunami relief effort. Imagine!

I also read that in Britain, TWO MILLION DOLLARS had been raised in ONE HOUR, after news of the devastation broke. IN ONE HOUR.

Britain upped its pledge of support to NINETY-FIVE MILLION DOLLARS ... the World Bank is offering another TWO-HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS to its international pledge, bringing the final (for now) total to FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS ... my one hundred dollars seems so paltry, but multiply that by your donation, and yours, and yours, and yours, and yours, and yours, and yours ... no amount is too small to help rebuild an area that has, in a simple word, been vaporized, to give sustenance back to those who have absolutely nothing.

That fifty bucks you were going to spend on the open bar New Year's Eve party tonight ... that shopping spree your husband gave you as a Christmas gift ... the hundreds of dollars we're going to receive on New Year's Day from relatives ... the forty dollars you saved buying something on sale or off of eBay instead of going retail ... money right now has a better direction in which to flow ...