My good friend Leah Lee had an experience that she thought might be a good topic for discussion here at kleverkathy.com. In her words, here’s what happened.

Monday I was running errands around Indy (Indianapolis, IN) and I had a “Big Mac attack.” I get in the drive thru line and in between the ordering monitor and the first window to pay; a man walks up to my car window and asks for money. He says he hasn’t eaten in 3 days. He’s dirty. He’s shaking. He asks for $3. Right away, I do not believe any of this. Plainly, I’m thinking, this man needs some drugs. So, I told him to meet me inside and I’d buy him something to eat. Meanwhile, I pay for my food and ask the cashier to add a $10 gift card to my order. I park to go inside and another man asks me for $.50! By now I’m wondering what’s going on? What can you buy for $.50?? It’s $.75 to ride the bus and the same for a newspaper!! Someone else gave him the change and I gave the first guy the gift card. He didn’t seem very thankful for it either!

My brother told me I shouldn’t have given anything. Truth is, I have a hard time passing up anyone who says they’re hungry. If it were my son out begging in need, I would want someone to respond. And besides, I want all my blessings. I don’t know when nor how that act of kindness might be returned to me someday!!  Anyway, beware of Mickey D’s at lunch time. Take extra money or keep your windows up!!

P.S. – I forgot one “shining” detail of my story at McDonald’s….the guy’s nose was running too!!!!! No kiddin’! lol.

So here’s the question. In today’s economy, are the numbers of the homeless and hungry increasing? How does one trip to McDonald’s warrant two requests for money from hungry people? I’m reminded of a song Yolanda Adams sings that says: “Save the world, feed the hungry people”. Is that task up to us as individuals or is it up to our government or both? Didn’t President Obama put money in the stimulus package for homelessness? Does anybody know how that will work? If you know the answer to that question, please let us know and tell us:  how have you reacted when a homeless/hungry person asks you for money?  Did you give it to them?  Did you ignore them?  Did you think of them as less than or lower class?  Did you stay focused on the fact that we are all God’s children and but for the grace of God there go I?  Do you know anyone, up close and personal, that is or has been homeless and hungry? Holla back!

Just last evening my husband and I returned from Biloxi, MS. We were there to celebrate my brother retiring from the Air Force. Even after arriving in Biloxi, MS early Friday morning; I nor my husband, my sister, my cousin, her husband and my other young cousin, realized the ceremony we were about to witness, was just for Master Sergeant Sawyer. We thought it was an event similar to a graduating ceremony where many would be honored. Imagine our surprise and unsurpassed pride when we realized 600 airmen, the Air Force band and a host of other officials were all there just for my brother!

Master Sergeant Thomas E. Sawyer retired with 20 years of service to the United States Air Force. Master Sergeant Sawyer began his illustrious career serving at Eielson AFB in Fairbanks, AL and continued on to Luke AFB in Phoenix, AR; Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, NV; Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, DC and ending at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS.

Never attending a military retirement ceremony, I really didn’t know what to expect. It was beautiful! I had to send him a text to ask how many awards he received. Even he lost count. I assure you, it was many! The professionalism and militant fashion combined with the obvious love, respect and admiration by colleague after colleague was phenomenal! The rituals that go along with these types of formal celebrations were impressive. And the icing on the cake was hearing Master Sergeant Sawyer giving his departing speech filled with thanksgiving to those who held him up along the way, appreciation for those he worked with side by side his last years at Keesler and finally, guidance and encouragement for the young airmen he was leaving behind. There were several times I became emotional myself. I don’t know how he made it through it without a complete breakdown, but he made it! He made it through the speech and he made it through 20 years of selfless service for our United States of America!

With his wife by his side, new baby in his arms, a few college degrees and a lot of experience under his belt, Master Sergeant Sawyer will shed the military titles and move to the next phase of life as just Thomas. It’s been a journey, the kind only Uncle Sam can take you on… but now it’s over!

Help me in saying congratulations to the newly retired Master Sergeant Thomas E. Sawyer! We love you and we are so very proud of you! God bless you on your new journey! We know part two will be just as successful as part one! Enjoy!  Holla back!

Is there anything that could make you kick your child out of the house?  If your child isn’t being arrested or addicted to drugs or beating anyone up or participating in anything that physically harms you or any family member living in the home, is there anything that would warrant kicking out your child when they reach age 18 years old even if they haven’t graduated from high school?  Is the metamorphose your teenager goes through – that seems to have totally changed their mind into a foreign object physically resembling the person you birthed and nurtured and enabled – really a transformation or just an older, stronger, more outspoken version of the child you brought home from the hospital feeling proud as a peacock? At what point and to what extent should they be allowed to be themselves vs. existing within the confines of your rules while still in your house? Do you let them express themselves in every aspect of life or is asking them to be who you want them to be stifling their growth and their personality? WHAT could make you invoke tough love and say, you are no longer welcome here and your time is up? Help all the parents living with a teenager about to erupt into adulthood! Holla back!

Uh… help me with this!!!

A Barnes & Noble spokesperson claims a customer placed a book about monkeys in a window where Barack Obama books were on display. So…anybody can just come into Barnes and Noble and rearrange or add to their displays? Sounds like Monkey Business to me!

Here is an article that accompanied this picture and what Barnes and Noble had to say to resolve this matter.

Barnes & Noble would like to publicly apologize for what happened in our Coral Gables, Florida store. We believe that a customer played a cruel joke and placed an inappropriate title in the front window of our store, where we were featuring books written by or about President Obama. We want to assure our customers that the book placed by someone other than our booksellers was never intended to be included in our display and was removed as soon as we became aware of the situation. We are looking into it and are taking the steps necessary so that it does not happen again. From time to time customers will move titles from one area of the store to another. In this particular case, we do not condone whatever message may have been intended with the placement of this title in our Presidential display. It certainly was not part of our merchandising and we regret that we didn’t see the placement of this title immediately.

Unfortunately, when I first received the email with this picture in it, an apology/explanation did not come with the picture. How many people will see this and never hear what B & N has to say? I wonder if it will impact business at all. Why are people so cruel?

Holla back and tell me if you have seen this picture, how you would take it if you walked by and saw it, what you perceive the implications to be and how long it will take society to change.

So the stimulus bill is passed! This is what Obama wanted so for that; I look at this as a victory! But for me personally, I don’t know.

From what I understand, receiving your stimulus check this year will be a little different. Instead of going by the last four of your social security number and making you wait until the month that your numbers come up, this year filing your taxes will instantly trigger the government thus releasing your check.  The stimulus has decreased a bit:  $400.00 for singles and $800.00 for couples. Not being 100% politically or financially savvy leaves me without all the pieces needed to form a completely intelligent opinion, but I will say, it seems contradictory to the life long lesson of responsible spending.

I get exactly what they are trying to do and I am not oppose to the cause, but the effect they are expecting is something that I just don’t think is ever going to happen using this method. Well let me clarify, I don’t think the part of the stimulus package that doles out money earmarked for consumer spending, will work. I will not be going out on a shopping spree and coming back with my chest stuck out saying, I feel good because I have jump started the economy by spending my few little hundreds. No. I am more likely going to either bank it or save it – these days that is two different things when many don’t feel safe putting their money in the bank – or I am going to continue to pay off bills so I can peacefully sit at home feeling safe with little to no debt. Will my way of thinking help the economy and create new jobs? Absolutely not. Do I care about the economy ripening up and us being a healthy working country again? Absolutely yes, but I am scared! I do not want to be overly cautious but I don’t want to be stupid either. So I am inclined to play it safe. I will say thank you for the money and walk away in awe that we are once again given free money (well is it really free?) from the government. Other than that, I’ve got to do what is best for me and my personal economy!

Are you going to go out and spend yours? I recently bought a 52 inch screen TV and even more recently, I took it back! I am just nervous and frankly unsure as to what I should do. I’d love to hear other opinions and even be persuaded to change my mind and go out and buy me some shoes! I guess we could play the game:  if you do it, I’ll do it! But I gotta know; what are you going to do with your money? Holla back!

It has been a few weeks now since the world was shocked with the news of Nayda Suleman who had eight children within a 5 minute span. That in itself is shocking but our real shock came when we learned she already had six children at home! Well, at home but not “her” house, her parent’s house! Six kids ranging from age 2 to age 7! What in the world! Ok, I am not here today to talk bad about the woman but let’s run down just a few things. I won’t call them facts; I will just call them a strong possibility of factual information. According to news stories I have read:

• She is only 33 years old
• She is unemployed
• She is articulate with a bachelor’s degree, preparing to work on her master’s
• She lives with her parents
• Her mother helps take care of the children
*sidebar: her mother filed for bankruptcy last year for liabilities of $981,371
• Her mother, the grandmother, gave an interview slamming her daughter’s decision, calling her unconscionable, and also gave a tour of the cramped, messy home
• All 14 children do have the same biological father who had expressed a desire to get to know the first six children but now doesn’t know what to say about 14
• Her reasoning for having so many children is she is an only child and has always dreamed of having a large family
• She received $167,000 from worker’s compensation claims and kept it a secret
• She has launched a website for donations
• She is being compared to Angelina Jolie because #1. Some reports say she has undergone plastic surgery to look like her and #2. Both have large families
• Although she already had six children, she found a doctor who agreed to do in vitro, implanting six embryos

Here’s the thing, anything in excess can be too much (except money) because, at some point, something will be unattended and not given the attention it deserves. And is the attention we are talking about with this mother, attention for the children or attention for the mother? I am going to refer back to the question Ann Curry from The Today Show asked:  “to what degree is this too much about you and not enough about them?”

I have only hit a few highlights of this story. There are so many aspects and angles to this overwhelming event, I just can’t and won’t list them all; plus you have heard them. This woman has been ridiculed, made fun of, the brunt of so many jokes on late night TV, and on top of it all, she has received death threats!  I think much of this is extreme. Technically she hasn’t broken the law! Maybe a moral law in some people’s mind, but we cannot disgrace her for doing the most common and beautiful thing and that is bringing a child/children into the world. But with this turn of events, there are many questions being asked.

Here are my concerns and what I am anxious to hear you talk about: should we judge her for having so many children? As simple society and as tax payers, is it really any of our business? How will this affect future in vitro fertilization? And my biggest concerns are: at what point is one more child too many and will she be able to give the love, care, attention, and affection to each one of the 14 children?  Who will suffer?

According to doctors, one or more of these eight children will have some sort of challenge whether it be physical or mental or both! I think we would all be surprised if we didn’t see at least emotional challenges and issues somewhere in that brother and sister pack!  It is really something to shake your head about. I am still perplexed every time I hear some new addition to the saga. Personally, I think it is wrong.  But what do you think? Holla back!

Whether one agrees with the man or not, and surely no one agrees with anyone about everything, Mr. Barack Obama is the 44th president of the United States of America.  Indeed this is a milestone in the history of this great country.

Still, I am concerned with the paradigm and language of a country, that while progressive in many respects still embraces a centuries’ old non-progressive mindset about the very thing from which it celebrates its liberation.

President Obama is proudly called the first black or African-American president in United States history, and so he is.  Both the public and the media mention his white family, but never does anyone say that he is white—but he is.  Mr. Barack Obama is as much a white president as he is a black president. 

I hold that we have only almost made it to the mountaintop that Dr. King dreamed of.  No, we are not there yet.  Because as long as white America and black America hold to the 1800’s belief that one drop of black blood or one black parent makes a person black, our thinking is as archaic as our slave-owning or enslaved forefathers was.  Both blacks and whites are wrong for only celebrating or referring to half of Obama’s culture, thus perpetuating the divide that we proudly say has been bridged by the new president’s election and inauguration.

Let it rather be said that, we have a president—our president, a black man, a white man or a man of color, someone we can all identify with whether black, white, red or yellow.   How about calling him a man, a man who was made in the image of God, a man who desperately needs our prayers?

Good Thursday Morning. Here is a question that Leah Lee has and wants our opinion. Let’s help her. Holla back!

My son is in his last year at IUPUI. He’s a single non-custodial parent working fulltime and attending classes 5 days a week. He recently withdrew an interest in pledging to a fraternity because there just was not enough time to accommodate. I originally supported his interests and silently prayed that he wouldn’t like it. Rush activities frightened me but I never let on. He stays on the Dean’s List and desires to follow up with a Master’s program. He lives on his own and seems to manage his life well. Is he really missing out not pledging? I was very relieved he didn’t but what are the goals and activities of these organizations?