Denzel Washington is A-OK by me!

[Tgace]

Had this e-mailed to me...

: Brooks Army Medical Center
Date: 6/14/2005 10:57:00 PM





Subject: Denzel Washington

Subject: Brooks Army Medical Center

Denzel Washington and his family visited the troops at Brook Army Medical Center, in San Antonio, Texas (BAMC) the other day. This is where soldiers that have been evacuated from Germany come to be hospitalized in the States, especially burn victims. They have buildings there called Fisher Houses. The Fisher House is a hotel where soldiers' families can stay, for little or no charge, while their soldier is staying in the hospital. BAMC has quite a few of these houses on base but as you can imagine, they are almost completely filled most of the time.

While Denzel Washington was visiting BAMC, they gave him a tour of one of the Fisher Houses. He asked how much one of them would cost to build. He took his check book out and wrote a check for the full amount right there on the spot.

The soldiers overseas were amazed to hear this story and want to get the word out to the American public, because it warmed their hearts to hear it. The question: why does Alec Baldwin, Modonna, Sean Penn and other Hollywood types make front page news in all their foolishness and this doesn't even make page 3 in the Metro section of any newspaper except the base newspaper in San Antonio?

Why indeed..........

 

[Lisa]

Excellent story! Nice to see such generosity from someone.

 

[BlackCatBonz]

that is very cool!

 

[Tgace]

In the interest of "fact finding" I did a google on this story. Turns out its only "partly" urban legend. He did visit, he did donate a sizeable chunck of cash to the "Fisher Foundation", but he didnt "foot the bill for an entire complex" as claimed.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/denzel.asp

The problem, according to Fisher House President David Coker, is that while Washington did make a 'sizeable' donation to the program, the e-mail claim is almost entirely bogus.

"Denzel came to visit with the soldiers and Marines being cared for at Brooke Army Medical Center last December 17th," Coker said. "He visited with them and told them how much he respects their service. He also toured one of the two Fisher Houses at Brooke Army Medical Center."

Washington told Coker at the time he would like to make a commitment to support the work of Fisher House.

"Denzel did not take out a checkbook and write a check on the spot," Coker says. "He seldom carries a check book with him."

Coker said Washington did in fact make a sizeable donation to Fisher House several months after his visit to BAMC. He declined to comment on the size of the donation, but it was not enough to build a new Fisher House.

[Coker also] said the fact that Washington, 49, did not write a check 'on the spot' does not diminish his contribution to the Fisher House and his support 'for the men and women who serve our country.'

All the same a great gesture...

 

[arnisador]

That's great! I'm glad to hear it, even as amended by the truth.

 

[MA-Caver]

A good man "D".

 

[michaeledward]

Had this e-mailed to me...

The question: why does Alec Baldwin, Modonna, Sean Penn and other Hollywood types make front page news in all their foolishness and this doesn't even make page 3 in the Metro section of any newspaper except the base newspaper in San Antonio?

Why indeed..........

Why is it a question?

Why can't we just acknowledge Mr. Washington's charitable contribution?

Why do we need to propose that the San Antonio newspaper has some nefarious purpose for placing this story on page 3?

Why do we need to attack the beliefs of other American's (even ex-patriot Americans) in this story?

It certainly seems to detract from the message about Mr. Washington's deed.

 

[TonyM.]

Mr Washington is a class act.

 

[MA-Caver]

Why is it a question?

Why can't we just acknowledge Mr. Washington's charitable contribution?

Why do we need to propose that the San Antonio newspaper has some nefarious purpose for placing this story on page 3?

Why do we need to attack the beliefs of other American's (even ex-patriot Americans) in this story?

It certainly seems to detract from the message about Mr. Washington's deed.

You're right about that I guess. But it does bring up an interesting point that philan- philanthro--- good deed-doers like Mr. Washington gets put in an relatively unread section of the paper says something about how society is viewing and prioritizing such random acts of kindness.

 

[Flatlander]

Tom, I'd like to commend you for both bringing this to our attention, and for seeking out the truth of the story as well. Thanks for that. :asian:

 

[Tgace]

No problem Dan...

As to the "other" actors out there, the ones who "renounce their citizenship" and live in foreign countries off of the fortunes they make off of the American People (who somehow still worship these egomaniacs)..I have no respect for those people or their opinions. None at all.

At least some of the other people who make a living (and sometimes believe they actually "know" things about the roles they act..) from reading other peoples writing, can be given the benefit of the doubt that they are exercising their American rights out of concern for the direction they see their country going. The question was why is it that the actions of actors who "bash" are well known, while the ones who dont...are not?

To those who turned their backs to live in their French Villas....ppphhhttt!!!!

 

[terryl965]

Very nice story Mr Wsahington has my respect.

 

[ginshun]

Why is it a question?

Why can't we just acknowledge Mr. Washington's charitable contribution?

Why do we need to propose that the San Antonio newspaper has some nefarious purpose for placing this story on page 3?

Why do we need to attack the beliefs of other American's (even ex-patriot Americans) in this story?

It certainly seems to detract from the message about Mr. Washington's deed.

I think the question is why is an anti-war speach by Madonna or Alec Baldwin front page news, while a sizable contribution to help out soldiers and their families by DW a minor story buried bewteen the high school sports and the hog calling championships?

I think main stream media bias is what is being questioned / implied here. As far as the war effort goes, (in general anyway) bad news is front page news, and good news is barely worth reporting.

Why is that?

 

[michaeledward]

If it bleeds, it leads.

Newspapers are capitalistic enterprises that are all about making money now and in the future. They have learned, through years of experience, that if you want to sell newspapers (make money), feel good stories don't do it. If the front page has an expatriot claiming the President lied his way into a war, that has left more than 1750 soldiers dead, and more than 13,000 (officially) wounded, and this causes more people to purchase the paper, then that is what you're going to get.

You don't like it, stop buying the papers that print the "biased" stories. Find and buy those papers that print the "good news".

Or, you could become a communist, where the state controls the media.

 

[rutherford]

Why do we need to propose that the San Antonio newspaper has some nefarious purpose for placing this story on page 3?

Actually, the email states that the San Antonio base newspaper was the only paper to carry the story above page 3 in the metro section. We can't assume any other paper even covered the story at all. All we know is that if they did carry the story, it was in a page with even less readership - by the author's assertion.

As for why, perhaps this wasn't just a media stunt. Perhaps there weren't any reporters onhand and none were notified. That would quickly lead to a story receiving little coverage.

Drawing claims of biased coverage isn't supportable - from this one story alone.

 

[Phoenix44]

Without minimizing Mr. Washington's generosity, I'll tell you why this innocuous story seems to be receiving criticism: it's because this "e-mail," with the same pictures but very slight variations in the wording, has been circulating the web for days. This is already the third time I've viewed some version of this "e-mail."

It would feel a lot more genuine if the message simply referred people to the article's URL without the included "personal" message, particularly the gratuitous criticism of Penn, Baldwin, and Madonna, who incidentally criticized THE PRESIDENT, and not the soldiers.