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Have we become too selfish to make needed sacrifices?
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On a recent Friday morning I literally "picked" my way down my driveway. Thursday evening's storm had brought down dozens of limbs and twigs from the many trees which surround my house, and I could not drive over them.

But I wouldn't dare to complain. There have been so many weather-related events during the last year that it is difficult to name even the worst ones.

True, the "predicted" earth-ending quake did not happen, and I really didn't expect it. But we can hardly comprehend all the devastation from recent floods and tornados, to say nothing of global earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, etc.

I do not know what effect, if any, global warming has had on these unusually strong disturbances. If those results are at all connected with our ordinary patterns of living, I am certainly willing to sacrifice some of my creature comforts in order to correct those patterns.

Sacrifice may be a harsh word to hurl at folks. But we may need to take a good look at ourselves and determine whether we have become complacent in thinking that we really deserve to have all our desires granted.

To be honest, most of you who read this column, and I who write it, live a comparatively easy life. We do not want to be too warm or too cool; we do not want to share our hard-earned dollars; we certainly do not want to be told what we should or should not do. Truthfully, we are selfish people.

Yes, we are willing to help our neighbors (even those in far-away places) when disaster strikes.

We may send a check to the Red Cross or take our outgrown clothes to the RIC-Rack or fill a grocery bag with food for hungry children. Yet we really do not do it to the extreme of denying ourselves our own pleasures. Notice that I include myself in that "we."

So what am I suggesting? Probably not what Jesus suggested to the rich, young ruler: "Sell what you have and give to the poor."

But as I feel real gratitude that my own storm damage this year has so far been limited to downed tree limbs, and as I contemplate on those people who have no homes, no jobs, and no family to sustain them, I believe that I, and perhaps you, need to contemplate more sacrifice and less selfishness.

There are hundreds who don't have that choice.

Helen Taylor's column appears periodically in the Dawson Community News.