Great gift

[A recent] Sunday [performance was] a great gift to the people of Georgetown and surrounding areas. The Elsie Blackwell Pollock Festival Choir performed the Messiah in the Winyah Auditorium. This choir is comprised of the following church choirs: Georgetown Presbyterian Church, Holy Cross Faith Memorial Episcopal Church, and Prince George Winyah Episcopal Church. The conductor was magnificent; the instrumental and singing talent was masterful.

As I sat and listened to the words of Handle’s Messiah, I thought about many things. If you are sad, then this is the music to listen to, if you suffer depression, this is the music to listen to, if you are lonely, this is the music to listen to.

If you are happy, want to thank God for your many blessing this is the music to listen to, if you are joyous this is the music to listen to. Surely, you are getting my point.

The Messiah is the most beautiful piece of music my ears have ever heard. It tells the story of the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Lord. The Messiah offers its listeners the opportunity to open their hearts and fill it with the message of hope and love. My favorite words are, “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. For now is Christ risen from the dead, the first fruits of them that sleep.”

Those words offer such hope to all of us who will all die at some point. Worms will eat my flesh, but I know that I will see God and be with my Lord. How comforting is that?

Thank you for this gift of hope and love that you give each year. Thank you for the time that you spent practicing. Thank you for giving me my Christmas present to myself each year for the past … well, more than I care to announce in this public venue.

I know I am getting older, but I hope the worms will be at bay for a few more years!

Anne B. Starnes

Georgetown

Sales tax exemption for non-profit denied

St. Christopher’s Children in Pawleys Island Charity has been purchasing clothing that is donated to poor children and has been paying a sales tax on those purchases. A call to the South Carolina Department of Revenue to apply for a sales tax exemption revealed that purchases must be sold at a profit and cannot be donated or sold for less than cost (say one cent) to qualify for a sales tax exemption.

St. Christopher’s Children has been purchasing clothing for poor children in Georgetown County since December 2007 when it was founded. The amount purchased in 2012 will exceed $42,000 and totals approximately $150,000 since it began serving the needy in the county.

It is inconceivable that purchases must be sold at a profit and cannot be donated to the needy. What could South Carolina legislators have been thinking of when they passed a law with such a provision? Perhaps one of them could propose a simple amendment to existing laws to correct this injustice.

Robert P. Pelletier,

president

St. Christopher’s Children

Pawleys Island

When will it end?

We are living in the most dangerous time of our lives. I can’t believe man has become so selfish that if he has a problem he thinks someone else is supposed to suffer.

Why do we feel that when your life is not what you want it to be, you must make someone else pay for it? But, when you deal with mental illness they have a different way of thinking.

To have a sick mind and don’t get help is like playing with a time bomb. So many innocent lives lost because of selfishness. Life is not easy and we know that, but nobody is responsible for our lives but us.

Our young people should not be harmed like they are being harmed. We as adults should protect them and not hurt them, but we do. It seems everybody is living in such a rush and nobody has any patience any more.

We need to take time and search ourselves and try to find out where we are going wrong. There is not enough forgiveness for the ones we say we love. We need to look at the man in the mirror and see if we like what we see, and if we don’t we need to change.

As we approach the end of this year, we must pray for more love and patience as we approach the new year. We cannot keep going the way we are going. We owe our children more than what we are giving. God bless.

Mary Small Sargent

Georgetown