This time of year we are often reminded of how the values of the
season should be extended the full 365 days.
This time of year we are often reminded of how the values of the season should be extended the full 365 days.
That’s probably too much to ask. How many of us, really, keep in mind the values of charity and good will in May the same way we do at Thanksgiving?
Fifty percent of all donations by individuals take place in the five weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, according to news reports. Still, Americans have given generously this year, surpassing government aid with private donations for the Asian Tsunami for example.
On this, the much touted biggest shopping day of the year, most of us will be looking forward to Christmas – less in the spirit of giving and more with the dread of obligation. Some gift must be found for that sister you really don’t like very much. And what about that friend that slighted you? Should you get even with a gift that stops just short of being thoughtful – fulfilling the letter of the holiday but not its spirit?
A more realistic, and perhaps even loftier, goal would be to try to fully live up to the spirit of generosity and friendship when we have those values uppermost in mind – and not just towards those closest to us.
Finding ways to help people in need is one way, and there is no shortage of opportunities. The recent hurricanes, and the current shortages of donations faced by the Red Cross, are a sad reminder of that.
Closer to home, Marley Holte, who has been feeding the hungry of San Benito County at Thanksgiving for years, held his annual feast yesterday. His commitment to helping the less fortunate is an example we might keep in mind as we fight our way through today’s shopping throngs.
More broadly, each of us can make a point of extending the spirit of care and charity to those whose needs are not just physical. Anyone who has ever spent the holidays alone, perhaps in difficult circumstances, apart from friends and family, wondering how they came to this place in life while haunted by memories of happier childhood times, knows the isolation and desperate loneliness that can overwhelm one at this time of year.
If there is anything to be learned from the apocryphal tales about the first Thanksgiving, it is that the day is about more than food – and, lately, shopping. It’s about reaching out, about the importance of mutual aid, about surviving, even thriving, in the face of adversity. Above all, it is about working together for the greater good.
