Join Mike & Friends TONIGHT for "Things to Fill the Emptiness!" with Warriors for Life (WFL)

Join our Volunteer, Army Combat Medic Veteran, & Music Writer/Producer Mike Williams TONIGHT for "Mike Check" edition of Warriors for Life (WFL) Online, sponsored and presented by Victory for Veterans, Inc. (VFV).

We are asking everyone to share who we are and what support that Victory for Veterans, Inc. (VFV) is providing via WFL. If you know someone who is a veteran, first responder or a family member/caregiver, please ask them to join us for at least one meeting so they can learn more about what we do and how they can share their wisdom with others who may be able to learn from them.

TONIGHT's Topic: "Things to Fill the Emptiness!"

Join Mike & Friends TONIGHT for a discussion about "Things to Fill the Emptiness!" with a focus on you can't buy human connection...at least not legally in most states.

On Black Friday, it’s easy to believe that value comes with a price tag.

Screens glow with countdown timers. Carts (real and digital) overflow. We chase the next deal, the next upgrade, the next thing that promises to make life just a little bit better.

But if you pause—just for a breath—you can feel a strange tension under all of it.

Because the most powerful things in our lives are the ones no one can sell us.

The gravity of “things”

Things aren’t bad. A warm coat, a good laptop, a comfortable bed—these can be tools of comfort, creativity, and safety. On Black Friday, though, “things” start to feel like more than tools.

They become proof:

- Proof we’re doing well.

- Proof we’re good parents, friends, partners.

- Proof we’re not “falling behind” everyone else.

That’s a heavy load for any object to carry.

We buy the bigger TV hoping it will make our house feel more like home. We buy toys for our kids hoping it will communicate, “You matter to me.” We buy gifts for our friends hoping they’ll feel loved and remembered. And sometimes, it works… for a moment.

But even the brightest new purchase slowly fades into the background. The thing we bought becomes part of the scenery, and the hunger for “more” returns.

That’s because we’re using things to do a job that only people and presence can do.

What can’t be scanned at a register

There is no discount code for:

- A friend who shows up when the news is bad and doesn’t try to fix you—just sits next to you in the quiet.

- A family member who knows your worst day and still answers the phone with warmth in their voice.

- A partner who has seen your fears, your doubts, your scars… and calls you “beloved” anyway.

- A child’s laughter when you’re not distracted, when you’re truly there for it.

- The kind of peace that comes from knowing you are loved not for what you can buy, but for who you are.

No store can sell the moment when everyone’s phones are set aside, the TV is off, and someone starts telling a story that makes the whole room lean in.

No doorbuster special can replace the quiet relief of a sincere apology, a hard-earned forgiveness, or a long hug that says, “You’re not alone.”

The risk and reward of real connection

Things are easy. You tap “Buy Now,” and a package appears.

People are not easy.

Friends, family, and love require something deeper from us:

- Time, when it would be easier to scroll.

- Listening, when we’d rather be “right.”

TONIGHT Mike Williams shares his song

"Things to fill Emptiness"

Neon numbers flash like thunder,

midnight storms of “last chance” light,

carts like tiny restless planets

orbit through the sleepless night.

But beneath the hum of bargain fever,

under sales and scanner’s ring,

something softer keeps on calling—

a quiet, older kind of thing.

Not the TV, not the tablet,

not the watch with perfect glow,

but the hand that reaches for you

when your heart feels sunk and low.

Not the shoes, not the silver,

not the car with polished shine,

but the voice that says, “Come over,”

“I’ve saved you a chair, you’ll be just fine.”

There is music in a kitchen

where the floor is far from clean,

where the laughter trips and tumbles

through the spaces in-between.

There’s a melody in stories

told for no one else to see,

just a circle made of people

who say, “You belong with me.”

Love does not arrive in boxes,

does not ship with two-day speed,

does not ask for credit limits,

does not check what you don’t need.

It is built in small, unseen ways—

pouring coffee, folding clothes,

driving miles through weary traffic

just to hold you when it shows.

Every hug a gentle chorus,

every tear a subtle drum,

every “How are you really?”

is a note that says, “You’re home.”

Let the crowds chase flashing discounts,

let the billboards shout and sing;

I will trade a thousand bargains

for one night of simply being.

For the warmth of shared existence,

for a laugh that breaks the dark,

for a soft “I missed you lately,”

for the match that lights the heart.

On this day of frenzied buying,

let my soul remember true:

the richest thing I’ll ever own

is the simple gift of you.

Warriors for Life (WFL) Online "Mike Check" edition presented by Victory for Veterans, Inc. (VFV) — Friday (TONIGHT), November 28, 2025, @ 3:00 PM PT, 4:00 PM MT, 5:00 PM CT, & 6:00 PM ET

Join Zoom Meeting:  https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83145057228

Thank you,

Mike Williams,

Army Combat Medic Veteran, Music Writer/Producer, & Volunteer Facilitator, Victory for Veterans, Inc. (VFV)

"Honor & Respect Always — Warriors for Life!"