Random Acts of Kindness

Recently our youth group at church decided to spend a day in our community doing random acts of kindness. They did all sorts of things, like hand out water to workers on a construction site, offer to wash car windows or check tire pressure at gas stations (after asking permission from the manager), clean up an old city cemetery, and more. They did not even give out information about the church, they wanted to do something good without expectation of reciprocation of any kind.
 
It was an eye-opener to the kids. The primary response to the young people, at least the initial response, was mistrust. Folks were either afraid of the kids or thought there was some scam involved. Most often the recipients of the RAK were able to loosen up and accept the kindness, but some completely refused.
 
Does that say something about our society, teens, or just our town?

Who Wins in the Manny Trade?

Manny Ramirez got his wish and was traded from the Boston Red Sox today before the trading deadline. I was a bit surprised, because his antics in Boston are not that new, but this time he really got on the nerves of the front office and they made a big deal today. In the three team deal, Los Angeles, the Dodgers, received Manny. In return they sent two prospects to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who also received two prime prospects from the Red Sox. The Pirates sent their best player, Jason Bay, to the Red Sox.

The Dodgers will get a lot of offense from Manny and will probably be in the playoffs. The Pirates got four players for one, two of whom are very highly regarded! The Red Sox got rid of a problem child–who can really hit. But they may not reach the playoffs. The big winner in the deal seems to me to be the Tampa Bay Rays, who should pull away from Boston in the AL East race!