Progressive Wednesday

As American as– ¦

Apple pie, amber waves, baseball, hot dogs, the Fourth of July, SUVs, the iPod, Reader's Digest, and comic books. While not all of these are synonymous with the good old red, white, and blue, they are all things have become a part of everyday life for many of us residing somewhere between “sea– and “shining sea.– For better (baseball and Reader's Digest) or for worse (SUV's and hot dogs), we have come to think of many of these things as essential, and we even take them for granted.

There are many Americans who would love to take these things for granted like the rest of us, but for whom that becomes harder and harder with each bullet that flies by their head and with each roadside bomb that sends them diving for cover under their improperly-armored vehicle. I speak, of course, about our troops.

At Progressive Wednesday, we're not the kind of Patriots that drive around with yellow ribbon magnets on our car that say, “Support Our Troops.– We want them home, pronto, and until they're home, we search for ways actually make their lives easier and safer. In March, we dedicated a Wednesday to doing things that actually support our troops; you can check it out here.

In our searches we have come across a website dedicated to just that. The appropriately named, HereInReality.com has compiled a list of organizations and programs that make it easy for those of us who don't risk our lives for others with every step to help out those who do. Some cost a few bucks, some a few minutes, and some just ask you to utilize a small talent. From baking cookies, to donating a magazine subscription, or even fostering the pet of a deployed troop, they make it as easy as, well, apple pie.

It's important that our troops get a taste of home, that they can step away from the constant surrealism of war and bury their nose in a book, or remember what's it's like to bite into Grandma's cookies, until they can do it once again in the comfort of Grandma's kitchen.

So skip on over to HereInReality.com. Then see what you can do to improve the lives of those who have sacrificed so much to help improve ours.

Picture thanks to this fine baker