Because I had nothing better to do...

This weekend I found myself in an extremely rare situation - with ords behind me and classes not yet started, I had three days with absolutely no obligations hanging over me. No reading that had to get done, no papers to write, no sermons to preach, nothing. So since I had nothing better to do, I decided I might as well save the world.

So I pulled out the latest issue of the Oprah magazine (that's right, I'm about to go all "Oprah says..." on you) because every month she includes a column of suggestions for saving the world that have been collected from people who apparently ought to know a thing or two about it - generally notable authors, activists, nobel laureates and the like. It seemed like an interesting hobby to take a few of them out for a road test and share my observations and opinions about them with all of you. So I put on my bullet-deflecting bracelets and my cape and got down to business.

(Before all y'all go e-mailing me, I KNOW Wonder Woman doesn't wear a cape. I just think it adds a certain panache to the ensemble.)

The first world-saving suggestion came from an environmental activist who claimed the trick was to purchase "green energy" credits for renewable energy sources from your gas/electric provider. Yeah, I don't really know what that means either, but I grabbed my trusty laptop and surfed out to Alliant Energy to sign up. Except for knowing that each month I will have an additional $2.50 green energy charge on my bill, after two days the world still seemed mostly the same to me. So I decided to move on to the next item on the list.

The next world saver was submitted by Jane Fonda (I'm as puzzled about her credentials as you are) who said that we all need to help our boys become emotionally literate. Well that confused me even more than the green energy credits, so I decided to leave the boys to their own devices and move on to the next item.

The third world saver was submitted by a children's author who believes that we can save the world by writing a letter to someone each day. I'm not sure exactly how it's suppose to save the world, but I decided that it's a task that I can tackle for the next 30 days. So I've armed myself with postage stamps and some of the finest stationery Target has to offer and will write a note to somebody each day for the next 30 days, then we'll see what kind of shape the world is in a month from now and draw our conclusions from there.

So if you receive and unexpected note from me, don't wonder about my motives. I'm just saving the world is all. I don't expect anything from you. But if it should turn out that the note does, in fact, change your world somehow, it would be super swell if you would drop me a quick e-mail or "blaze me up on the celly" to let me know. You don't even have to tell me how it changed your world - just let me know how to tally it in the results column.

I hope your holiday weekend was as thought-provoking as mine!