Let Us Celebrate The Season With Charity And Kindness

The holidays are a bittersweet time of year for me. While I am blessed to be surrounded by my loved ones during these days, I am also reminded of all the loneliness and suffering that many people around the world experience.

The holidays should be more than just a time of joy and celebration. It should also be a time to examine our privilege and count our blessings.

I came to this realization many years ago as a young woman living in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. Coming from a loving, sheltered family, I made the shocking discovery that the holidays were not joyous for everyone.

It happened while I was walking through the Boston Common one evening with a friend. The Common in downtown Boston is the oldest urban park in the United States. It is traditionally always beautifully decorated for the holidays and there is a long-standing tradition of an annual Christmas lighting ceremony that dates back to 1917.

It all began on December 6, 1917, when the Halifax Explosion, the largest non-nuclear explosion in history, destroyed much of the city. Boston officials learned of the disaster by telegraph and quickly organized and dispatched a relief train to help the survivors.

A blizzard delayed the train, which finally arrived in the early morning of December 8 and immediately began distributing food, water, and medical supplies. The many people on the train were able to relieve the medical staff in Nova Scotia, most of whom had been working without rest since the explosion.

The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others’ burdens, easing other’s loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas ~ W. C. Jones

The Nova Scotia government donated a large Christmas tree to the city of Boston in appreciation and remembrance of the help provided by the Boston Red Cross and the Massachusetts Public Safety Committee in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. Another tree was sent in 1971 and has been sent every year since. Today, it is a special tradition that kicks off the Boston holiday season each year.

On the night of my personal holiday epiphany, Boston Common, as usual, was transformed into a magical winter wonderland. It was snowing and the lights on the trees were shimmering like a perfect Norman Rockwell Christmas scene.

Then my friend and I came across a homeless couple huddled on a park bench to keep warm. Their presence was a stark, even shocking contrast to the joyful, sparkling surroundings.

I instantly felt compelled to approach them and struck up a conversation with the woman. I naively asked them what they were planning for the holidays and she smiled and said, “Oh, we are going to be right here looking at all the pretty lights!” She explained that the Christmas lights in the park “make them happy and give them hope.”

Still none the wiser, I foolishly said, “Well, isn’t that nice! Do you live nearby?”

She gave me a puzzled look and simply said, “We don’t have a home, my dear. The street is our home.”

It is the personal thoughtfulness, the warm human awareness, the reaching out of the self to one’s fellow man that makes giving worthy of the Christmas spirit ~ Isabel Currier

It was my first experience with unsheltered people. Meanwhile, everyone I knew would be spending Christmas with family or friends. In fact, I was going home the next day myself. I could not wait to get back to Maine and be with my family for all of our usual holiday traditions. I come from a family where the holidays are celebrated to the fullest with beautiful gifts, delicious food, and lots of fun and laughter.

For many years, my sister and I were the only children in our family. So, all the relatives would come to our house for the big holidays. My grandparents had an apartment upstairs in our big old Victorian house. We grew up with a lot of support and love. Also, my father was a chef, so we often heard that we might not be rich, but we always had the best and more than enough to eat.

Growing up with so much privilege, it never occurred to me that other people might be lonely, destitute, or hungry during the holidays.

My friend and I looked at each other and without hesitation invited the couple to join us for dinner. It was a meal I would never forget. The comfort food we were served that night in that little pub with the fireplace took on a whole new meaning for me, and Christmas dinner would never be the same again.

This holiday season, no matter where you are in the world, there are lonely, hungry and homeless people near you. One act of kindness or charity may not change the world or end all suffering, but it can change the life of one person in ways you cannot imagine. I invite you to join me this holiday season in touching someone’s life with a random act of kindness. Think of it as a gift not only to them, but also to yourself, to your soul.