The holidays are a special time to celebrate what we have. It's a time of year to enjoy family and friends. We celebrate, rejoice, exchange gifts and partake in many other traditions.
It's also the time of year many of us choose to donate to charities, missions and other worthy causes. The amount of donations given each year in the month of December is much higher than any other at time of year.
Now that this holiday season has drawn to a close, our lives have returned to the everyday routines of work, school and everything else we do to fill our days. Unfortunately, many of us also return to our routine of neglecting to donate. Giving and helping seem to slip away in the normal course of our lives.
But before the holiday spirit dissipates into the January gloom and is forgotten, here are a few things to think about: the man on the corner begging just to get by, he doesn't stop needing; all the families that depend on Northwest Harvest, Magnolia Helpline or Union Gospel Mission, they still need to eat. The Aids orphans of Africa still need help.
My point is that we need to keep giving all year round, not just during the holiday season. Hunger, poverty and need have no season; they are an unavoidable part of life for many people 24 hours a day, 365 day a year.
It is up to those of us with something to keep giving, and to help make the world a little better everyone to live in.
Perhaps we should be a bit more like old Ebenezer Scrooge from Dickens' A Christmas Carol-at least, as he was after he saw the three ghosts of Christmas.
Everyone knows the story: Scrooge was a greedy old man who did nothing but horde his money. After he was visited by the ghosts he became the most charitable and good-willed person. Yes, it is just a story, but Dickens' message can be applied usefully to our own lives. We can give all year round, not just during Christmas.
We all must keep the ideas of the holiday season alive year 'round.
So next time you get a letter from Northwest Harvest asking you to give a little of what you have, or you see the Boy Scouts holding a food drive, remember: just a little donation can mean a world of difference to someone in need.
Magnolia resident Joe Meyer is a sophomore at the Center School. He can be reached at mageditor@nwlink.com.[[In-content Ad]]
