Hold the phone Mom! I know I just sent you my annual wish list of things I want for Christmas, but I'm having second thoughts. I may not be rich, especially right now! But I do know that the more I am reflecting on this season, the more I am called to action.
What got me to thinking about this was an "Angel Tree." I was walking through the mall and saw it a week or so ago. It's stuck with me as I thought about it's purpose. Not that it's a bad thing to get gifts for a child that otherwise would not have had them. I just wonder, what does it do to better the life of the child past the holidays? Aren't these the same children who grow up in low-income families who gain only around 5,000 word vocabularies compared to those from affluent families who gain 20,000 word vocabularies by the time they are in the first grade (Hart & Risley, 1995)? Aren't these the children who are six times more likely than those from affluent families to drop out of high school (McQuillan, 1998)? Isn't there a better way we can contribute to their success other than buying them a gift at Christmas?
Why don't we spend our time with others on Christmas feeding and serving those without families? Why not take the money we would have spent on gifts for each other and give it to CASA or some other agency of our choice that will better the lives of these children? Why not commit to volunteering in the community in the next year?
I know I'm often the queen of getting caught up in commercialization and shopping so these comments may seem awkward to hear from me. But I also can't help but think about the privileged life I lead from others who don't have money at their disposal. The factors that play into this are many, but given that we are a capitalist democracy there will ALWAYS be poor people (I'm not saying this is wrong, it just is). The redeeming factor is the philanthropy and service of others to help make life a little better for everyone, which in turn makes a better society for all of us to live in.
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