Good Will Toward Men, Women and Children

This is the time of year people like to grab the Christmas spirit and do their part to help local charities and needy families.
I think this is wonderful. There are so many people in these difficult economic times who are going without, who have lost their jobs or are having a hard time just making ends meet. Food pantries, homeless shelters and hundreds of social service agencies are dependent on donations, both cash and in kind.

Of course it would be great if we participated in this kind of giving and good will all year long. Wouldn’t that be amazing? There would then probably be no need for all the fund raising at the holidays! Maybe.
Apparently some of us need the holiday season to jolt them into the giving spirit. As someone who worked for nonprofits 99% of my career, I am eternally grateful that November and December bring this side out in people.

Something I have noticed lately on Facebook and other social networks I peruse is that many seem to think they must announce their giving /donations to the world. Or they create a competition to see if they can guilt people into giving or turn giving into a contest to see who gives the most! Remember Oprah’s Big Give?
The winner actually won money for giving! I also noticed it lasted only one season.

GEESH!!!!! Whatever happened to giving to help others? Just to be nice? Just to be kind? Just to give back because you have been blessed with so much?
I was raised in a home where even though there was an outrageous amount of dysfunction going on and we probably could have used the food pantry ourselves at times, my mom still believed in helping from the heart. She also believed in doing your giving anonymously. My mom was a strong example of Humility In Action.
She taught us: if you do something nice for others, you don’t take credit for it, brag about it or tell others they should be doing the same thing! Once I left home, she always shone by example and never pushed me to donate as she did. Of course being raised as I was, I wanted to give back also. I have to admit there were times when we were very close to needing help ourselves and could only manage to give a few cans of soup or beans to the local food bank.

On the other side of the fence, I have heard friends brag about paying it forward at Starbucks!!!!
Not only do I consider it in poor taste to brag about it but if someone is in line in their SUV at Starbucks, they can probably afford to pay for their own latte’!!!! Maybe pay it forward at the local grocery warehouse!!!

If you always give, then thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!

And if you don’t or haven’t been able before, there are so many needy organizations set up to help the homeless, hungry, unemployed and their animals that you don’t need me to tell you where and to whom to give. You can all look to your own higher power or conscience and decide what to give. Whether it’s one can of beans, one coat to a child, or one toy from Santa. And then feel deep down inside how blessed you are and tell no one. It feels so good and warms your own Grinch heart. God bless us everyone.