Friday, December 09, 2005

MY BOSS BROUGHT UP

what I thought was a pretty good point about Christmas. We were discussing Toys for Tots, and she just blurted out "I hate those guys" SCROOGE! My head started yelling, but I heard her out (she signs my checks). Here is, albeit truncated, her idea:

The idea that children arerequired to have gifts on a holiday that should focus on Christ, and not on gift giving, turns her stomach. The idea that the parents cannot stop overspending or indulging long enough to save a few bucks to get those kids something is even worse, if they feel the need. And the idea that we must compensate for said poor parenting is deplorable.

I really would agree with that. Everyone who has heard me rant know I hate diligent parents, and I hate even more those parents getting a free ride. I hate that we are made to feel responsible, and we like to blame society, or drugs, or radio, movies, video games, and anything else we can find for bad parenting.

All that being said, I cannot be so cold. I know first hand what it is like to have lousy parents. I lived over two years without electricity because my mother would rather buy drugs then pay bills. I went without a lot of things people take for granted. Clean clothes, hot meals, and opportunity mean a lot to a child's development. But NOTHING is worse to those children then the feeling of being so terribly different. Already we didn't wear the right things, say the right things, do the right things. We had so many chinks in our armor it was impossible to defend. The last thing we needed was Christmas to not exist for us.

It is too much to ask a child to understand these things and accept them. It is too much to ask them to take the holiday for its real meaning when everyone and everything around them tells them that is not reality. It is too much to ask them to take one more thing on the chin because their parents are worthless.

So we give to these charities, every Christmas, Carly and I. Were it not for them I would not have known Christmas for most of the years I can remember. If I can make sure that never happens for some other children, it's really the least I can do. I urge everyone I know to do the same, when they can. TO not feel this way would be to deny my past, instead of fix it.

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