let's talk about this meme

Via Bill Keezer comes this meme:

To be frank, I find this meme misleading. While it's true that thousands, maybe even millions, of liberals are being as hypocritical as this meme declares, the fact remains that there are thousands, maybe even millions, of liberals who are putting in long hours in the soup kitchens, serving the poor by choice—and if I'm not mistaken, acting according to one's own choices is, supposedly, a character trait that individualism-loving conservatives respect. If there's any sort of liberal that I think is worth having a discussion with, it's the liberal who puts me to shame by actually being there, in the trenches, doing the Lord's good work.

Am I implying that there are no conservatives out there doing charity work? Of course not. But my years of experience in DC/NoVA-area homeless shelters has shown me that the majority of good folks working in those places are not righties praising the virtues of the Second Amendment: they're scruffy, humble, goofy, loopy, cheerful liberals, probably of the old-school variety, i.e., the ones who really do care about helping the poor, the sick, and the disadvantaged. And if you're any sort of conservative who's worth his salt, you'll stand up out of respect for those folks. Because they're out there, in the thick of it, practicing the stoic soldier's virtue of sticking up for one's buddies, fighting the good fight, not asking for any credit... and these people have nothing to do with the stupid, self-righteous, condescending motherfuckers in the above picture. They don't have time for leftie rhetoric because they're too busy actually helping—putting sandwiches together, filling soup bowls, working long hours, making sure everyone's having a good meal. And you know what? Those homeless shelters are probably one of the few places, these days, where people on both the right and the left can come together and agree, for once in their lives, to do something together, to be of service, to give and expect nothing in return except, maybe, a smile and a thank-you.

There are some battles we can all still fight together. There are still some places where we can look upon each other with respect and perhaps even a sense of accomplishment. And while I understand the spirit in which the above meme was created, I feel it necessary to point out that that's not the whole story. Not by a long shot.