Let me share a story with you that is real and happens across our country. Close your eyes and return to that first day back to school after the Christmas Holidays.
The kids were excited to see their friends and share their own Christmas joy and experiences. Anna laughed as she said, “Look at my new coat! See how it sparkles?”
“Wow! That’s pretty cool! Look at my new boots! They sparkle too!” said Sharee.
“I got a new sweatsuit from my favorite football team! Look at the stripes down the legs!” Armando announced to Conrad.
“Look at my new sweater and scarf! It has the insignia of my favorite soccer team! It felt really warm on this cold morning,” Deann squealed.
“Deann, I wish you had been able to come over for Christmas dinner this year. We had ham, turkey, dressing and gravy, corn on the cob, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and ice cream!” Martina replied. “We went to Grandma’s house. We had Christmas tamales, bacalao navideno, chicken pozole, buñuelos, flan, and champurrado! We felt like stuffed turkeys!”
Everyone was laughing and talking and sharing with friends. Everyone except the boy in the corner – withdrawn, alone, and somber.
Johnnie was very cold because the duct tape holding his shoes together fell apart. He shivered in the cold because it was not his turn to wear the jacket he shared with his brother. His stomach growled because his Christmas dinner was sharing two cans of beans with his mother and brother.
Can you imagine the envy he had for those who got a gift for Christmas? Can you sense the shame he felt in himself? Can you envision the growing anger he might feel toward his mother?
Rather a grim picture for a holiday, isn’t it? Yet it happens in every town, in every county, and in every state in this country. Kids go hungry and cold at a time that should be filled with awe and joy.
So, what are you going to do about it this holiday?
You have four options:
- You can be impersonal and just send a check to a charity and let them do the hard work.
- You can impersonal, drop your loose change in a kettle, and keep walking.
- You can volunteer to serve food at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter, put together bicycles for kids, deliver Meals on Wheels, sing for the residents at a retirement home, or make cookies for the elderly through your church, synagogue, or mosque.
- You can ignore those that go hungry and hopeless and say, “Well, somebody will take care of them.” Then you can just forget it all.
It has been my honor and privilege to be involved with The Goodfellow Fund of Tarrant County for several years. They provide parents of school-age children with a $50 tax-free gift card for clothing. My wife and I are part of a team that supplies non-perishable lunches to a shelter. We also deliver Meals on Wheels.
Again, I ask, “What are you going to do about the problem this holiday, and every day thereafter?”