BY VICKI TRENARY
The season didn’t start off the usual way.
A day before Thanksgiving, a man in the long checkout line at Safeway smiled and asked from across the lanes, "Hey, you only have a few items, do you want to go ahead of me?"
Surprised, but pleased by the act of kindness, I accepted.
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Vicki Trenary |
Thanking him generously, I joked, somewhat pessimistically, "Would he be so kind the day after Thanksgiving?"
In the wake of Sept. 11, many people have shown small and great acts of kindness to a nation that has let human kindness take a back seat.
Every year since my daughters were born, I have searched for ways to teach them the true spirit of the holiday season.
Really, I long to teach them more. To teach them kindness and acts of giving should be a way of life, not only during the months of November and December.
There have always been the do-gooders — people who adopt a family for the holidays, work on food and toy drives, and give baskets of treats given to shelters. I was looking for something more, something to touch their lives, a lesson or value learned.
The advertising by nature is a force to be reckoned with. Bombarded with commercials and ads, Ballerina Barbie, Pokemon and Leapfrog are always on the lists to Santa. In addition to the long lists of toys, books and clothes, there is the expense of what I call the "extras": lace ribbons, velvet bows, shiny paper and the special gift ornament.
So, what’s a person to do?
My new philosophy is to not wait. I am going to go the local food bank this time (instead of just calling) and help where I can, with my children in tow.
I am going to be more aware of people around me who may need our help.
I am going to talk to my daughters more about what it means to be part of our community and our nation. I want my young daughters to learn about caring and giving to our community. They should learn that from me. I want them to understand the way of living I envision and not the realty that has developed since my childhood.
There is still an internal struggle to educate my children about the true meaning of Christmas, and letting them experience the holidays as children: hearing the sounds of hurried shoppers in the grocery stores and malls, smelling the gingerbread and sugar cookies, and tasting the peppermint sticks and pumpkin bread.
The feeling of excitement and new things to come … toys perhaps, or maybe more importantly, watching them let a person in line go ahead of them at a busy store.
Vicki Trenary lives in Marysville with her husband and two daughters. She stays at home and writes children’s stories.
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