Well, Thanksgiving is over. Lots of us are inching towards December holidays. For many of us, it’s a time to celebrate family, friendship and all we have to be thankful for.
But there are some among us-- in our families, our crowd of friends, our communities-- who are having a hard time this holiday season.
So my challenge to you is to choose one person, and to try to do some small things to bring them joy.
I know we can’t solve the big problems, and I’m not asking you to. I’m asking you to anonymously give some small joy to those people having a hard time.
Ideas? Well, I have a friend at work who is having a tough year. Her parents are both sick, her brother doesn’t seem to be pitching in either emotionally or physically, and she has a lot on her shoulders. I can’t fix any of that. But I can brighten her day in small ways-- a few candy canes in her mailbox-- that sort of thing. Nothing earth shattering, nothing that will require a huge committment from me, merely some small thing that will bring her a smile.
Funny, was just thinking about something like this. I have a coworker who is down on her luck, just really having a hard way to go lately. There is a coffee shop across the street from the office and every Thursday it gets a limited supply of bagels from an artisan baker to sell. I happen to know that the salted chocolate chip bagel is her fave, but since she gets in late most Thursdays due a circumstance that is the source of some of her stress, the shop is often sold out before she can get one. Since I get in really early and have my pick of the bagel selection, I thought this coming Thursday I would get her one of those bagels and leave it on her desk for her so she can enjoy it whenever she arrives.
We’re hosting a young woman originally from Puerto Rico who lost her dad to cancer in January. She’s also going through a divorce. She teaches at a private university in Maine and is doing post-doc work at UT-Austin this winter (so we have a lot in common!). She came back to Maine to settle her affairs and she accepted my offer to stay with us for a couple of days. Tomorrow morning, I’m going to take her to the same cafe we took her dad to last year. This is the first time I’ve met her - she’s delightful.
Throw some money in a Salvation Army kettle. Go to the deli and pay $10 to treat the next 5 people who order coffee-- my husband does that every Christmas Eve. Stop and think about your neighbors----who is alone this Christmas, who has had a hard year?
Lots of you are looking at a White Christmas. Shoveling snow is a real hardship for the elderly, even for those with young kids bouncing off the walls on Christmas Eve, not so much for healthy high school and college students.
Want to live in the kind of world where people look out for each other? OK, here’s the challenge: Make it so! And do it today… regardless of whether you celebrate Christmas or anything else. Do it simply to make your world a better place, to lighten the load of someone else.
And it today doesn’t work for you, there’s always tomorrow, or next week or next month.
She teaches at a private university in Maine and is doing post-doc work at UT-Austin this winter (so we have a lot in common!). She came back to Maine to settle her affairs and she accepted my offer to stay with us for a couple of days. Tomorrow morning, I’m going to take her to the same cafe we took her dad to last year. This is the first time I’ve met her - she’s delightful.