Tonight was an eye opener for me. I hate to bring this up again since just 2 weeks ago we were all bombarded with Thanksgiving posts; as nice as they all were. Everyone had something or another that they were thankful for and during that entire time span I'm sure it was on every ones mind.
I don't know about you but I seem to obviously forget rather quickly.
Tonight I was in WalMart, no big department store, just the area superstore and I was looking for some shirts for the winter. First of all I have to say that when I went in the store I went out of my way to avoid the man from the Salvation Army with his Santa cap, bell and tripod holding up his pot for donations.
A couple of weeks ago I had gotten two shirts before we went away and they turned out to be really nice so tonight after we had gone out for dinner we figured we'd stop there and pick up a few things. You know, the typical stuff, shampoo, deodorant, a couple of magazines, some over the counter medicines... I was also able to get three shirts for myself. The whole place was decorated for Christmas and was filled with shoppers. I noticed a lot of empty racks where articles had been sold out. To the average eye it appeared as if they were doing a great business.
As we were standing on the check out line I happened to glance over by their optical store and there was a Christmas tree filled with these round paper ornaments each hung by a piece of white yarn. As we were passing by it on our way out to the car ( with $85.00 worth of shit in 2 small bags ), I decided to stop and see what this tree was about.
I'm not sure who the sponsor was but it was a tree of wishes. Each of these ornaments, which I know you've seen before, bore the age and gender on one side and on the back was their wish. There were various different ages and various different wishes yet none could have come close to being worth what we were carrying in these two little plastic bags.
I stood there reading them when for some reason, one in particular struck a spot in me. It was a seventeen year old male who was wishing, yes wishing, for a pair of pants for Christmas. The other kids were wishing for things like Spiderman pajamas, a game, cheap stuff, nothing major. And what did I do? I had the gall to stand there and tell my wife how sad I thought that was and then say "c'mon, let's go" and just walked out of the store.
After I left I thought about what had just transpired and if I wasn't headed for my dads house I would have turned around right then and there. I need tires on my car, I have bills to pay and gifts to buy but some of this is going to have to wait a bit. Tomorrow I fully intend to head back to WalMart with a couple of hundred dollars and I'm going to try to fulfill as many wishes as I can for these kids.
The first thing I'm going to buy is a pair of pants, waist size 31, medium length. Thankful? Am I thankful? Hell yes I am!
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6 comments:
Your posts always seem to prick my conscience deeply.
It's better to give than to receive. Why do we forget this so readily?
I think we do have selective hearing and sight. Although we are struggling to pay the bills...I got the name of a nice senior couple who live in the senior bldgs on their little pensions. The kids and I are planning a Christmas Basket for the couple. The kids are more excited than I am. We have to teach our children by example.
Let's not forget the older kids.
It's amazing what spending a little of your money on someone else can do for you. I actually felt good today as I bought all of what I did...so did I do it for me or did I do it for them? Maybe we're both going to feel the benefit of this - is that wrong? I got 16 christmas gifts for boys and girls from the ages of 21 months up until 17 years. Pants, tee shirts, a doll, blocks, a VTech little toy laptop, Jeans, Legos, sneakers, a CD and gift cards...all exactly what they wanted. I hope I made them a little happier than they were. Oh well......I wish I could have done more.
well you made you happier.. and that is important too... what you bought them is confidence in mankind.. what you bought you was piece of mind... both way more important than the actual gifts... what a nice feeling...
May God bless you tenfold.
I always put a couple of things under those trees. It is hard for children to miss out on something like a gift at Christmas. Funnily enough, I spend quite a lot of time picking out something "personal" rather than grab the nearest item from a shelf.
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