Spreading The Stimulus

I have work I should be doing this evening to catch up. And I am taking an online class where I am behind in the reading. And the house is still a mess, even though we have barely been outside it the last 5 ½ weeks.

But instead of focusing on any of those “should do”s tonight, I am focusing on a “want to do”. Or perhaps, in this case, it is a “must do”.

I am spreading out my blood money. Or, as the trump administration likes to call it, my stimulus check.

Our government check got deposited this week, all $2400 of it. But instead of making me feel happy or hopeful, it sort of made me feel dirty. It feels like an attempt to placate the masses and to buy votes.

So, I sat down tonight and I wrote this letter:

“Our blood money got deposited this week. Errr, I mean, our “stimulus check”. I for one feel like it is too little too late, and had this pandemic hit at any other point beside NOW (i.e., a few months before the general election) there is NO WAY Americans would have been getting government money deposited into our bank accounts.

As soon as I heard about the checks (which is suspiciously like my boy Andrew Yang’s plan…) I thought, “You can’t buy my vote, trump!”. And I started thinking of ways I could spend the $2400 that would really piss him and his ilk off…

But then I thought again. Was donating all of our stimulus money really going to be a good idea? I mean, yeah, I still have a job for the moment, but it isn’t like we don’t need a new fence, a bathroom remodel, and some blueberry bushes… Maybe donating the whole thing would be cutting off my nose to spite my face! I mean, it isn’t like trump is gonna KNOW I did it, right??

So, I rethought the plan. And I remembered back to the Sundays of my youth when the pastor would talk about a thing called TITHING. “Eureka!” I thought. “I will tithe with this money, only instead of giving it to a religious organization, I will give the tithe to 10 organizations that I believe in, that serve very important functions in our society, that trump and his team loathe, mock, do not believe in, or do not support!!!”.

And THAT, my friends, is how I came to YOU. Here is your portion of our stimulus check. I added another $10 to the kitty so that each of the organizations would get $25. It’s not much but I know that it will be put to good use.

Please keep doin’ what you are doin’. Women’s rights are human rights. We have fought so hard to get to where we are, we cannot let this administration turn back the hands of time. #MeToo

Sincerely,

Susan Thompson-Gaines “

And I copied and pasted that letter 10 times, changing to “to” at the beginning and the last paragraph to match the recipient.

And I will print it and mail it old-school style, with an old-fashioned paper check for $25 in each envelope.

They will be addressed to:

Doctors Without Borders
Everytown for Gun Safety
WAMU (my local NPR station)
NAACP Legal Defense Fund
National Organization for Women
Human Rights Campaign
Planned Parenthood
National Park Foundation
Union of Concerned Scientists
And the Democratic National Committee

You may disagree with some of the organizations I am donating to, I understand if you do. But if you agree with the concept, that Americans who are not in desperate situations right now can donate some (or all) of their stimulus money to organizations and beliefs that have been targeted by this administration, then you might want to make a donation or two of your own.

I know it felt good for me.

My small donations are a drop in the bucket and cannot stop the wave of hatred and intolerance that is rolling through our country. But I will continue to do what I can, stand up for what I believe in, and hope that at some point the tides will turn. That people will once again believe in kindness, and equality, and justice.

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