Holiday Giving

Looking back at my grade-school years, I remember that Christmas was probably a happier time for some than for others. The school I attended was what we might call today “socially bi-polar.” Kids from the wealthiest neighborhood in the city attended, as did so-called “bus-kids” who were the country kids of whom some (not all, for I was one) represented families ranging from the poor to the destitute. Of course, we mingled with no African-American kids. That’s not what they called them in those days, and besides, they had their own school, separate but equal. After all, they had excellent teaching materials, the best … forwarded to them after our schools had finished with them, having received new and updated ones.

Anyway. Christmas could be cruel in ways. In class each year, we drew names and exchanged presents. The maximum amount to be spent was fifty cents. It doesn’t sound like much now but back then one could buy a nifty little present at the five-and-dime for that amount. I seem to remember that a loaf of bread cost around fifteen cents then and a pound of baloney ten, so the four-bit max was a struggle for some families. One year, a close friend of mine’s name was drawn by the poorest girl in class. On the “exchange day,” she proudly presented to my friend a five-cent card of bobby pins, wrapped up in colored paper.

After Christmas, there was the “present report.” The richest kids reported receiving expensive toys. My group reported normal toys. The next down the social ladder reported receiving everyday clothes. Next came apples, nuts, and/or candy. The poorest just stared at their hands and prayed to whatever god would listen that they wouldn’t be called on.

The memories stuck with me and fortune gave me a wife who shared my thoughts on holiday gift-giving. Shortly after we were married, she was teaching elementary school for $4,800 a year, and chose, that year, to spend part of her salary to buy one of her students, who had been the recipient of ridicule about her ragged shoes, a new pair quietly delivered during a recess. She said the look on the girl’s face was better than any Christmas present she had ever received.

That’s why, this year, we’ll continue to give to charity instead of to ourselves.

Bless us all.
Remember,
the value is in
the thought.