I come from Idaho. We're a red state. The majority of the people here are quite religious folk. They are, overall, good people. Our own lives have been touched by some fine, fine people.

It does sadden me, however, that a lot of the people in the area who believe in doing good and serving others sometimes forget to do so, or they get so wrapped up in the good they're doing for church, or for people they go to church with, and so on, that they forget to look around and see where they could help.

Sometimes I am disappointed by the people around me. So often I see the good being done by the people who aren't "expected" to serve, while those who consider it a part of their personal philosophy are too busy to. Again, this isn't everyone -- I am surrounded by some wonderful people. But isn't that part of the point of being here? To take care of one another?

This week has brought some amazing examples of the kindness of people. First of all (and I know that if you read this journal regularly you're aware of this), Apex Digest is having financial issues. Dozens of people have crawled out of the woodwork to help keep the 'zine afloat. People have bought subscriptions, single issues, anthologies, and just donated cash. There's a raffle, where there are more items up as prizes and services that have been donated than I ever would have suspected.

Also, Michael Jasper's sister's house was recently burned down. They lost everything, including one of the family's dogs. Mike put up a donation button at his blog only to receive over $520.00 in donations to help the family start over.

I mean wow. Really. These are quiet things, really. None of this will hit the front page of a newspaper necessarily, or CNN. But these stories should. They show that despite all the violence and crime and hate in the world, there are still so many willing to give and share what they have with others around them. With those in need.

It would have been easy for people to say, "Well, a lot of 'zines are going to fail. Too bad about Apex," and let it go. Or it would have been easy for people to say, "I'm poor, and I don't know these people from Adam. I could get scammed."

These things are true. I can understand why people could say these things. 'Zines do fail, people do get cheated. But it's nice that there's still enough faith in the world, and kindness in the world, that happy things like this still happen.

BTW, last time I knew, Apex had collected just over half of what was needed so they can stay afloat. Good for them. And good for all the people who have worked so hard and given so much so they can continue, especially Mary, who took an old practice in kindness and made it new for the 21st century.