Word to MY mother... and father

The title of this post is in recognition of the fact that I am a child of the 80's (and can still remember almost all the words to "Ice Ice Baby") and I wanted to give a shout out (respect) to my parents. (According to urbandictionary.com "word to your mother" as a phrase can mean both "I agree with you" or "I give respect to your mother/motherland".) Anyway, my parents pretty much rock. In the past few weeks I have received three packages from them containing various Steelers-related items (a new Terrible Towel, a copy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from the day after the Super Bowl and a Super Bowl Champions t-shirt). I also received two Valentines Day cards from them (one from both, one just from my mom... it's a mother-daughter thing, we always try to make each other cry, haha). Generally I avoid recognition of Valentines Day (or as I like to call it: Single Awareness Day), but it's ALWAYS nice to be reminded that my parents love me. Now don't get me wrong, I don't just appreciate when they send me stuff. I just wanted to acknowledge my appreciation because I know they're not rollin' in the dough. I know that I would not be who I am and where I am today without the love and support of my parents. My relationship with them isn't without its flaws and arguments, but I am blessed to have them in my life. My mom is probably the most selfless person I know and my dad has taught me the value of hard work. (I know you'll read this mom, so thank you - and dad too - for always being there for me and for everything you've done for me. I love you!) Ok, now on to other stuff, before I start to cry!

On an unrelated note: my friend Katy is having a giveaway on her blog of some dishcloths she knitted. All you have to do is comment on the post to have a chance to win. She loves reading comments. :) And while we're at it, I would love it if people would comment on my posts too! It doesn't have to necessarily be related to what I wrote, it would just be nice to see who is stopping by. Thank you to those of you who already do leave comments, and especially to all the wonderful welcomes from the RevGalBlogPals ladies!

Modern day Good Samaritan tale... without the Good Samaritan

Walking on by.
I ran across this story/post on my favorite blog. I totally agree with PittGirl's thoughts on this one, and particularly appreciated her point at the end: "The moment we stop being affected by violent deaths is the moment we stop being human."

Then I read through the comments people posted in response. I was pretty annoyed with the people who likely do not, and never will, live in a neighborhood like the one in the story and think they know what they're talking about. Yes, the story likely has a lot of complexities to it, and yes, this is obviously a neighborhood that needs a lot of help and needs to get at the root causes of their problems. But my biggest problem here is that people are so quick to make a judgment on the situation and neighborhood and aren't dealing with the big issues. There's a person laying dying or dead on a sidewalk and nobody cares?! Where is the love for our neighbor? And if the people of that neighborhood see so many dead bodies that they're unaffected by one more, are we just going to accept that and move on with our own lives? Or are we going to make a difference in that neighborhood and in the world?

Where is the love?