When my son was 3 years old, he asked me how many Christmas toys he was getting. In response, I began to count all of the people in his life who were likely to give him a gift. It ended up being around 20 gifts. When he heard this answer, his eyes turned really big with excitement and then all of sudden it changed to eyes of contemplation.
After a few moments of processing his thoughts, he responded, “Dad, I’ll take three.” This definitely sparked my interest and in turn, I asked, “Why son?”. His response to this question was profound…
“Dad, let’s give the rest of the gifts to kids who don’t have gifts this Christmas.”
Speechless.
There’s something pure in kids when it comes to compassion and generosity. The reality is that in every human being, there’s a deep innate sense that we must live compassionately towards others. In addition, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year”, right? Actually, it’s not necessarily the case for many around us. Many still struggle to experience the kind of life every human being should enjoy.
I’m not talking just about gifts, but rather, what the lack of resources creates in the psyche of a person or family who sees the rest of the world celebrating this season with such excess extravagance. I think it is important for us to help facilitate a greater sense of human dignity to all, even those who false feel that they are “not as good”. In doing so, we can more truly celebrate this season together.
Here’s where I would love your help. I’m looking to compile compassionate ideas for kids and families to participate in during this season. Do you have anything simple, scalable, and reproducible to share with the readers here?
Here are some samples:
- Our family has minimized gift giving in order that we can intentionally be more generous to those in our world experiencing extreme poverty. We love supporting organizations like World Vision, charity: water, KIVA, and One Day’s Wages. We allow our kids to pick the organization after we share what these groups do.
- My friend who is a teacher has her middle school class weave scarfs for our friends living on the streets in LA along with personal cards of cheer and encouragement.
- We’ve taken our kids to serve along side of during the holiday season at shelters and transitional homes.
- Our church puts together care/gift packages to give to survivors of human trafficking (modern-day slavery) in partnership with a local task force.
Would you help grow this list of ideas with your input? I will compile your ideas and make a larger post for later this month. Many thanks in advance!
Charles
P.S. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I would love your input. I only refer to this season as “Christmas” because of my particular religious view. All input is welcome regardless of religious or cultural identification.
