As wallets grow tighter and Christmas looms large HP is giving away amazing prizes for The HP Magic Giveaway. There are many blogs participating one of them being MooshInIndy.
I'm entering this as I think that I have the perfect family to give a lot of this prize to. You see, JP is just like you and I. He loves God and his family, lives life to the fullest and works very hard to provide for them.
That all came to an abrupt halt last week. He was one of the "cutbacks" that we read about all over the news these days and is now having to navigate resume's and job hunters and unemployment all the while worrying about feeding his family and navigating the ever shrinking funds especially during this time of year.
JP isn't some college degree wielding executive. He doesn't have a fat bank account at all. He lives pay check to pay check just like most of us do. What he is though is one of the most talented graphics designers around. Every ounce of talent this man has is God given and self taught. What he does with code creates some of the most fantastic websites I've seen. The passion in which he stays up into the wee hours to make sure a work project is the best he can make it is unmatched. Not only does he work with such passion, he also gives with such passion. He's always looking out for the underdog. The people that most overlook and he never hesitates to reach out and lend a helping hand.
Today, there was a small bright spot. A job interview. One that may or may not pay all the bills each month but it was a sparkle of a spot to getting back on his feet. It may not have been much, but it was something.
Until he returned home.
As he walked through the smashed door the sinking realization that every item in his house had been stolen fell down upon him. Every Christmas present already purchased, every toy and item from his sons room, everything from every room. Yet the item that hit the hardest was that his computer was gone. Not just a computer for surfing the web or paying bills online but the one item that linked his fantastic craft to the world. The tool that allowed him to work, to learn, to create. Gone. Twelve years of websites, codes, flash strings, all gone. Hard drives that you stored back ups on, gone.
Most would assume that insurance would pick up the tab. Sadly there is no renters insurance to pick up the cost of things stolen and broken. There are only people left to pick up what's left and figure out where to go from here. There are children wondering why and trying to make sense of such crime during the time when we should celebrate and give.
To many this may be trivial, but to me, to be hit with not only the whammy of losing your job in an uncertain job market but to have your entire personal world invaded and taken from you, is just something I can't look beyond.
I can't choose what I would give him as part of this gift as I would give it all to him. I will set it all out and let him choose what he needs. If he needs all of it to start to work again it's his. If he needs something to put a smile on the face of his son who didn't ask for his house to be broken into, it's his.
Because as I sit here in my house, in my chair, typing on my laptop with a screen marred by my kids having sprayed fabreeze on it, I realize I already have everything I need.
I'm not a fantastic writer and I don't have the ability to tell a story like some. I just think that there are times when God drops something in our laps that gives us the direct ability to help and we should never shrug it off.
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I didn't win but you can go here to donate to help him out. Every dollar counts.
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