Red Kettles

It’s that time of year. The time when the Salvation Army is outside stores with their bells and red kettles. Sometimes they provide music with brass instruments, the other day it was a man singing Christmas carols and playing a guitar. Some of the musicians are actually quite talented. In the mid nineteen eighties, we lived on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. One of the times when a hurricane blew through, we had to evacuate and weren’t able to return for a week. When the foot-deep sand was finally plowed off the road and we were allowed back on the island, there was no power. No potable water. Things were a mess. The Red Cross came later but when we first were able to go back, the Salvation Army was already there. They fed us and gave us water until things returned to a semblance of normal. They didn’t proselytize. They didn’t preach. They didn’t ask questions. They just appeared and handed out what we needed. The Salvation Army is under fire on Facebook these days. There are posts accusing the Salvation Army of being anti-gay, anti-LGBTQ. Discriminatory in general. I went to Snopes to do a fact check and it appears to me there may be some misinterpretation of their core beliefs. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I shouldn’t ignore what people are saying and shouldn’t look for loopholes. I am not one who is willing to overlook bigotry and hatred if it’s warranted but I cannot in good conscience condemn an organization when I don’t have all the facts. The fact I do have is this: The Salvation Army took care of my family when we needed it and I will never forget their kindness.

Here are the links I found:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/salvation-army/

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/gays-not-allowed/

Photo courtesy vbernhard on Pixabay.com