I think I’ve always known that when you do something for someone else, it is inherently selfish, because you are doing if for yourself as well. You feel good in a very particular way, I thought of this over the weekend as I saw hundreds of good people, most of them strangers, rush to the aid of a Vermont farrier, Ken Norman, who is about to undergo doublle-knee replacement  surgery on December 29 and will be without income for at least three months.

Farriers do not make much money to begin with, but farriers with families, hungry and needy horses and donkeys cannot really be without a paycheck for that long. We live in a Darwinian culture, the corporations running America and the politicians carrying their water now do not worry about farriers and their troubles, but we see that there are many people do.

Ken was stunned over the weekend, he never imagined he could raise $23,418 in little over a day. Animal lovers, horse people, farriers and good people from everywhere shared and donated to his gofundme project. When we first talked, Ken was unsure about how much to ask for, he initially though he would ask for $25,000. The high figure made him nervous, me too. He decided on $17,600, it was a minimum calculation of what he needed to get by.

I knew he probably needed $25,000 and I reasoned he could always go higher, but it just seemed like a lot to ask. Lots of people are feeling pressured these days. So I am thrilled to see that he is nearly at $25,000 and I expect he will be there in a day or so. I was struck by the joy and enthusiasm with which people contributed, many of them anonymously. If felt good to see that figure rise steadily, I saw from the messages that it felt good for people to give. Each time I looked I felt happier, clearer and better about the world.

In my lifetime, I’ve seen the greedy corporations take over the news media, I saw how they discovered that bad and frightening news becomes addictive to people, we are drawn to it because it mirrors our fears and worse impulses. We tend not to believe the good news of the world, it is not addictive or as compelling. Corporations do what makes money, and once they figured out the marketing possibilities of horror and conflict, that became the news.

Technology has made it possible to exploit sad and awful news instantly and continuously, and tragically, it is profitable. People can’t seem to turn away from hate and blood and argument. This has distorted the meaning of life in our world. There has always been awful news, at most times in history much worse than now. But it is so  hard to keep that perspective when awful images literally fill the air. Good news does not seem important to people, they are conditioned to see danger at every turn.

Ken’s story would never make the news.

Just watch cable TV news for awhile. Do you know anyone who watches it a lot who is not angry and disturbed? Ken’s journey was the opposite experience, it reminds us that violence and anger are a distorted image of our world, those things exist, but they are only a part of it, a small part, I suspect. The more I watched Ken’s story, the better I felt.

Ken’s funding project – especially coming during Christmas week – reminds us of what the Christmas season is really about, reminds us that we need to take care to remember the good people in the world and their big hearts. The true Jesus would have given Ken the shirt off of his back, the food in his larder, his donkey to ride. So many of you were willing to do the same, instantly and joyously.

Merry Christmas to you, Ken,  and to Eli and Nikolene, you will have a good Christmas as you prepare for your surgery. You are a good man who has given much back to the people and animals of the world.  I will show up shortly after the surgery to take your photo and bother you. I am glad you are taking one of my photos – the one of Fanny in the pasture –  into rehab, that makes me feel even better. A wonderful use of a photograph.

And Merry Christmas to the rest of you, when much of the world is out trawling for cheap TV’s and discounts on Christmas, Ken’s project has helped us remember what the week is really about.