January 2, 2011 9:07 AM

Sometimes doing the right thing is a pretty simple proposition

MY NEW HERO

Blair Noles

I suppose most of us fantasize about what we’d do if we won the lottery. Whether it’s buying new houses and cars, buying your own private tropical island, or taking care of your family and friends, it’s fun to consider the possibilities. Few of us actually get to test out these fantasies, though…and so we’re left to wonder, “What if…?”

Blair Noles is one of the lucky ones. He bought a $1 Powerball ticket as an afterthought, and learned later than he’d won $10,000. Noles has been unemployed for two years, so it would have been understandable had he decided to spend the money on things he and his family have done without during that time. Except that’s not what he did. Noles took his winnings (about $6,800 after taxes) and decided to feed the hungry and homeless at a Salvation Army shelter in Gastonia, NC yesterday. Noles involved his family in the project and turned it into an event in which not only did the money feed those who needed it, they were also gloves, caps, and other cold-weather gear.

It would have been understandable if Noles had chose to taken of his immediate needs. After two years of unemployment, I suspect there are no lack of those. In spite of his own personal situation, though, Noles decided to give back to his community. I suppose if you think you’re fortunate, and that you have a lot, then you really are and do. Wealth and good fortune are in many respects a state of mind, after all.

We live in a world in which it’s easy to be cynical and focus on the negative. Lord knows I’m as guilty of that as anyone. It just feels nice to be able to begin 2011 with a story about someone who’s not out to advance his own narrow self-interest. Here’s to hoping that stories like this will become closer to our new normal this year. Movements generally begin with one person taking a first, tentative step. Hopefully, others will follow close behind. In difficult times like these, we could use more heroes like Blair Noles. The thing is, we all have this sort of heroism within us…and if I wind the lottery this year, you can bet there will be a whole of this sort of thing going on.

It’s time to pay some things forward….

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on January 2, 2011 9:07 AM.

Better to be thought a maroon than...oh, fuhgeddaboudit.... was the previous entry in this blog.

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.... is the next entry in this blog.

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