The Season of Giving

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, we look forward to most everyone's favorite holiday. Christmas is a holiday/season of family, kindness, and giving. But not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to give. You hear about radio stations raising money for underprivileged families. Same with churches and companies. The company I work for is doing an adopt a family program. We are donating money to the Adopt-A-Family program and actually buying gifts for the kids. My department got 3 people to buy for.

The first 2 were children, no more than 12 years old. They were brothers in a family of  7. Since they are in the program, they have only one parent, and have a low income. These children were told to make a list of 5 things for us to get them. Out of the 10 combined items, 1 was something they didn't really need. They asked for socks, shirts, underwear, coats, etc. One asked for a football I think. the 9 year old asked for "Books so I can learn how to read". I don't think there was one person in my department not fighting tears. These kids didn't ask for toys, which since they're kids we wouldn't mind getting them anyway. Instead, they just wanted things that I take for granted every single day. These kids are better people than I am.

Their father was our 3rd person. He was drastically overweight. I'm assuming living off of unemployment or disability. He gave us 5 things. "The new madden. A dvd player. A tv. A coat." I don't even remember the the last one. Nobody wants to buy for this man. He is selfish. He has 6 kids who are asking for legitimate things. And he wants us to buy him a game? For a system he doesn't have a tv for?

People do beautiful things for others this time of year. We forget our own selfish needs to help out others. We spend time in food kitchens, volunteer, adopt families. This is the time of year to forget about yourself and use your resources for someone else's benefit. The feeling you get when you see a stranger's child smile because you get them socks is the saddest and most beautiful thing in the world. Cherish this time of year. Giving may benefit you more than you think. Happy Holidays.