This time of the year is all about giving and getting. Many merchants are finally operating in the black and they get the gift of staying open for another year. Frequently you ask, or will be asked, “what are you getting for Christmas this year?” Depending on who you ask, you will receive a short answer or a long litany of wishes. Personally, I think this concept of gift giving is way over the topic and out of control, but that is a top for another day. The question I am asking today is what are you giving for Christmas. I am not referring to what you are giving to your spouse, or to your children, or to Aunt Mabel and Uncle Ralph. I am asking, what are you giving for Christmas. Read on.
Can you imagine what it must be like to be homeless? To have nowhere to go and no place to be? What it must be like to not know where your next meal will come from or to have to worry that someone will take your shoes while you are sleeping? What is Christmas to a homeless person? No family to hug, no gifts to give or receive, nothing but hopelessness and despair. There are over 750,000 Americans, many of them veterans, experiencing homelessness. What are you giving for Christmas?
There are 925 million hungry people in this world. Have you ever been hungry? I mean truly hungry, not I missed lunch hungry, or I am on a diet hungry, I mean not having eaten for days hungry. So hungry you cannot stand, or even have the strength to lift your head off a pallet? So hungry you cannot concentrate, can not think straight, can only think of food or death, either of which would be a blessed relief. Many of those hungry are children. Children who do not have the capability to earn but who must depend on others to provide for them. What are you giving for Christmas?
How many homes this year will not have a Merry Christmas because Daddy or Mommy are serving in the Military abroad or on ships at sea. How many of those Military are spending Christmas on watch, with only thoughts of their loved one, to sustain them this Christmas? How many will never come home? They do this to ensure our freedom and guarantee our selves to have the opportunity to have a safe and secure Christmas at home. What are you giving for Christmas?
As I mentally composed this article over the past week, it was supposed to be finished at this point. But I feel compelled to mention the tragic event that occurred in Connecticut. Imagine how Christmas has been totally ruined for these families, not only this year, but probably for the rest of their lives. What are you giving for Christmas?
As you are rushing about, preparing for Christmas, and getting frustrated because you cannot find a parking place near, or because you cannot find a sweater for Uncle Ralph (that he will never wear), consider how insignificant these issues are compared to the homeless, and the starving, and those away from home, and those who have murdered children. And so I ask you one last time, what are you giving for Christmas?
“So it is written so shall it be”