Michael Jordan will return to basketball playing for the Washington Wizards next season. Basketball fans around the country are thrilled at his return despite some questions whether he will be as good as he once was. Jordan’s return to the game is certainly a headline-making event, but even more stunning are some of the choices he made regarding his comeback. Jordan made two admirable decisions that other celebrities and even ordinary Americans should emulate. MJ decided to play for the league minimum salary for a player of his caliber, $1 million, and then he donated the entire sum to the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Already one of the wealthiest sports figures in history after playing for multi-million dollar contracts and reaping millions more in product endorsements, Jordan’s donation probably will not hurt his bank account. Still, he gave something. Jordan’s million-dollar gift could be the equivalent of a $100 donation to the average American. Everyone should at least do that much to help the victims of this tragedy and others in need.

Actors, writers, singers, rappers, athletes – celebrities of all professions have consistently donated time and money to help others, and their outpouring during this uncertain time has been as dramatic as Jordan’s. A telethon for the attacks raised more than $100 million. Broadway actors and others involved in the shows took 50 percent pay cuts to donate money and tickets to rescue workers and victims’ families to give them an escape from the scenes of destruction and despair they must deal with. The New York Mets handed over a game’s pay to relief organizations. And the list goes on.

As the rest of us – those without millions of dollars or intense media coverage – attempt to find something we can do to make a difference, we should look beyond the terrorist attacks. The wars on AIDS, cancer, poverty and drugs rage on. Children need tutoring. The elderly need care. The environment still needs protecting. We need blood, bone marrow and organ donors, just as we always did. We cannot all go to New York and comfort victims’ families or dig in the rubble. We cannot all march off to war. But we can all do something to make America a better place than it was before Sept. 11.

Terrorists, like all criminals, deserve punishment. But Americans can make no better statement against the tyranny of evil than to reach out to those in need and do good.