By Benjamin Humphries
Give a gift to strangers
It’s cold outside, the first snow has fallen, and the ancient tribe of bell-ringers has emerged from a summer of rest to stand in front of our favorite stores until the New Year. That’s right, the holidays are here.
This is a magical time of year during which everyone seems to have a holiday. Most of you probably celebrate Christmas. People of Jewish faith celebrate Hanukkah. Pagan faiths celebrate the winter solstice. Since the sixties, many African Americans have celebrated Kwanzaa. Muslims observe Ramadan. Many of us simply celebrate winter break.
I will leave the individual holidays at their names for fear of misrepresenting anyone. The point is: this is the time of year when, no matter where we each place our faith, our traditions all teach us that it is time to give thanks, and look forward to make the next year a little better than the last.
All too often, we say “thanks” on Thanksgiving, if even then, and go right back to focusing on ourselves and those few people with whom we share a close enough bond to buy presents or send cards. I challenge everyone out there, including myself, to go a little further out of the way this year to make the holidays better for a stranger. It is within the range of each person’s power to make someone else’s life a little better. This time of year, it is so much easier, because the charities come right out to where we shop and where we work.
We all see the guy in front of the store ringing a bell this time of year, and most of us drop some change or a few small bills in the bucket. Stop and talk to those people. They spend hours upon hours in the cold every year to make sure people they will probably never meet have a better holiday. If you get a chance, shake the hand they’re not using to hold a bell, and thank them for doing so much for the community.
Since September of last year, there has been a lot of fear of Muslim citizens in this country. Post offices carry stamps for most seasonal holidays, including Ramadan. Show people that the acts of a few irresponsible, hateful people won’t make you fear a whole group based on their faith. Send your Christmas cards out with Ramadan stamps this year.
As you buy nice new winter clothes, put the old ones you know you won’t wear in a big garbage bag and take them to Goodwill, Unique Thrift Store, a clothing drive, or anywhere else they will make a big difference. Your out-of-style coat could save the life of one of this city’s 10,000 homeless people this winter.
Donate to a food drive, or start a food drive and give what you collect to Kentucky Harvest. Take an angel from the Angel Tree. Donate old toys to toy drives.
If you really want to get involved and see firsthand what a difference you can make, find a soup kitchen or shelter and volunteer some time. Anyone out there who is familiar with either of these, please let me know. My email is listed at the end of this column.
If you think about it, if you’re reading this column, you’re probably pretty well off. Sure, you may be broke, or worse, you could be working for UPS like I am, but we’re in college. We are this country’s future. Whether you leave college to become a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, or even a writer, we will all be responsible for a little bit of this country’s well-being.
Thank you all for reading my columns this semester. I wish each of you a safe and happy holiday.
