Ty Pennington in Peru

Monday night I received a phone call from one of the volunteers with the local circus. The message she left asked me to drop everything and meet at the circus building at 5:15 pm and to bring along more people. The idea was to try to convince Ty Pennington and the Extreme Home Makeover show to come to Peru.

I looked at the clock, it was almost 5:30 already. But my wife, daughter, and I dropped what we had planned an made a beeline for the circus building. On the way my wife got on the phone and rounded up three more people as well.

So we all stand around for about an hour, making a video requesting Ty and the show come to Peru to help us out.

In today's newspaper (which I have yet to read) there is a write-up about that. Let the complaining begin!

Who can say what is in another person's heart? I certainly cannot sit here and tell you what motivates any particular person. My thought process Monday was simply this: if we can get Ty Pennington to Peru, maybe the Grant family, who lost their home and business in a fire Saturday, will get some much needed help. If the circus, whose building is adjacent to the Grant's building, gets some help too, even better.

But today, people are questioning the motives of those who participated in the video request. We're all selfish, thinking of the circus and giving no thought to those who lost everything in the fire.

Hello?! You bunch of do-nothing whiners and complainers! Where were you Monday night from 5:30 to 6:30? Were you sitting at home whining that something needed to be done?

Better than a hundred of us went out and did SOMETHING. Now you sit around and complain that we did. Who do you think you are? Why don't you DO SOMETHING instead of complain about those of us who do?!

Will Ty Pennington come to Peru because of what we did? It's possible, but not likely. But we took the time to make an effort. We joined together and reached out. Where were you again?

If you are someone who is or has helped with this situation already, then this message is not for you. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, or even where Peru is, this message is not for you.

This message has been for all of the do-nothing whiners and complainers in our community. You know who you are! Get up and DO SOMETHING constructive, instead of belittling the works of others.