Be Patriotic - Stay Home, Watch, Buy, Give



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If you know me at all, you know how excited I am about the election of Barack Obama as POTUS. I am also very excited about seeing him sworn in on January 20th.

I live in the Northern Virgina area and work inside the Beltway. I would absolutely love to go to the inauguration and see the historic event first hand. That said, there is no way in the world that I would go downtown to the event.

I'm not being cynical.

I'm not being an old fart.

I just feel that if I am going to end up watching the event on a huge TV, I may as well do that in my own home.

Plus, I think don't think it is helpful to put any additional burden on the local services that are already being stretched thin by this event.

So here is my plan for making a positive impact during the inauguration.

1) I will stay at home. I will not burn gas, and avoid adding more CO2 emissions to the already ailing planet. I won't be clogging up the streets or Metro system attempting to get close to an outdoor TV. I won't be adding to the stress on the local services.

2) I will watch (and TiVo) the event.

3) I will buy at least one item that is advertised during the event. Nothing huge. Ford would love it if we could all buy a new Mustang that day, but I'm thinking smaller. If we all commit to buying a single item, made in the US, or supporting a US industry, that we had not planned to purchase anyway, how much of an impact could that have?

4) I will give to a charity directly support American needs. I am looking at Feeding America, Feed the Children, and The Salvation Army. There are plenty of charities that need help and a local small charity may be your best bet. Google is also your friend here...

So that is my plan anyway.

What are you going to do on January 20th to make an impact?

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