posted at 12/15/09 - 09:24 AM
Christmas is not about presents, but it has become customary to give one as a show of love, friendship, being considerate, and helping others. On Friday my company co-workers and I adopted an orphan who turned out to be a 17 year old female teenager with a wish-list of items only a 17 year old could hope for. They were typical items such as clothes, ipod, shoes, jewelry, and downloaded games.It made us all feel good to know we were able to collect enough money to offer these items to someone so young at a time when she could not receive them during any other time of the year for lack of people to have reason to make such an offering (thus, the joy of having Christmas to remind us of the power to help each other).
My wife and I attended a fund raiser over the weekend to support the under-privileged in Rwanda, Africa, Tijuana, Mexico, and other Third World Countries. It made us feel very good to know we could help people in other parts of the world by participating in these fund raisers.
Yesterday I supported a member of the business community when I purchased a copy of author Steve Berry's novel, The Charlamagne Pursuit. Sure I paid full price and could have got it for only a fraction of the cost at a used bookstore or on Amazon.com. But I was able to play catch-up with James Jensen, an author/friend and make conversation with a stranger about comedy writers. I was there for about 20 minutes, but it was the most enjoyable 20 minutes I cojuld have hoped for.
Then I realized in our efforts to help the poor we should not forget our neighbors and successful businesses. It's because of us, the consumer, that keep them in business so that they can support their family too. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not about spending and spending and more spending. But if you are going to buy something for someone, I ask you to try and make every effort to do so at the mall, your local community business section, local grocery store, and local bookstore. This is a time of year they rely on to keep people at work so they can stay afloat.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Keep on reading!
David