Christmas Kindness posted 12/24/2008 11:38:39 AM | 6 kudos what's this?     report abuse tagged: christmas

sloriver

As Christmas Eve creeps slowly around the earth I think about the last few years I’ve spent alone. I go about my life without a companion. There’s nobody to come home to, no goodbye kiss as I head off to work. There’s no Christmas present under the tree for me or for a significant other. I have family within 8 miles of me, though, so I’ll have a family Christmas with children and all the excitement of present opening. I’ll kiss the grandkids goodnight when they’re worn out by the day of excitement and play. Then I’ll point my car north and drive five hours so I can spend the rest of the holiday with Melissa. I’m alone, but I have family, home, and love.

My thoughts go to those unfortunates who have none of these, or only two out of the three. Their loneliness must be crushing on Christmas Eve when they look at their lives and see only bleakness and loss. They won’t hear the laughter of children. They’ll get no hugs or kisses. No presents will be under their tree, if they’re fortunate enough to have one. No surprise that this is the suicide time of year.

For the past few years I’ve been pretty self absorbed. Perhaps it’s a result of the heartbreak I’ve suffered, the separation from loved ones I’ve suffered. I haven’t taken food baskets to the poor or served meals at the Salvation Army in years. I haven’t reached out to those less fortunate than I. As I write this blog I remember the good feeling I got from simply helping out. I miss that feeling. Someone once said, “If you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem.” The problem is people who aren’t willing to lend a hand to those less fortunate. I’ve heard it said that you can’t help some people. If by that it’s meant that you can’t change them and make them button down Ivy League yuppies, I’ll have to admit that’s true. But we can help them. Maybe it’s just a good meal, maybe just a smile or a handshake. Maybe, just for a moment, we can make them feel like somebody. Small generosity, that, and perhaps just for a moment we’ve made the world a better place to live. Isn’t that what Christmas is all about? Isn’t that what Christ was all about?

As for me, I’m going to smile a little more and shake a hand now and then. I’m going to drop that dollar in the Salvation Army pot even if I don’t have it to spare at the moment. I’m going to try to have kindly thoughts about those who are different, those who would argue with me, and those who are less generous. I realize I have very little left to give the world except kindness, and to those of you who kindly read my blogs, Merry Christmas, and may you find kindness all year long, and may you have family, home, and love.

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Blogs by sloriver: NASCAR Night Shift Insights Goods and Bads Little Women Notes From All Over Tarnished Armor Bells Crawdads and Colts Life is Good Fog Lights Haints and Home Remedies Christmas Kindness First Date Church No More Excuses Beachboys and Bicycles Practical Joker Buttered Popcorn Flirt Hero God is in the Evolution Digging It Heroes In My Family A Doll and Three Wishes