⌛ Do They Know It's Christmas

That is the title of a song for this time of year.*

I was sitting on my porch drinking my coffee this morning and a little girl about 6 years old walked by. I have seen her many times but I noticed something this morning. Her slippers were so worn that there is a U-shaped hole in both heels so that her foot is touching the ground.

I asked my wife about her. Mae said that the family lives behind us. The family is her and her younger brother about 4 years old, the mother who stays home to care for the children and the father who is a farmer. I have seen the father many times riding his horse to his farm land (the horse don't look too good either).

The children are always clean, but their clothes are obviously used before they get them and they are practically rags (but very clean). *

Mae told me that about a week ago the kinder class had their Christmas party and the little girl came walking by our house. Mae asked her why she wasn't at the party. She said her family didn't have enough money for her to go. It cost 20 pesos for each child to attend.

Mae also told me that a couple of weeks ago, she started to throw away some small slippers that were broken but she just left them outside of the back and the mother got them and sewed the center together and gave then to her 4 year old son.*

So, here it is Christmas, and these children have nothing. Not even a decent pair of slippers to protect their feet. A 6 year old child that had to miss her Christmas party because her parents didn't have 45 cents to spare.

I told Mae that when we go to the mall this week, we are going to get both children a new pair of slippers. And I told Mae to go through her closet and find some nice clothes that she never wears to give to the little girl for school.

We will very quietly give them to the children without anybody noticing.*

Now I know that there are many families like this here and elsewhere. I know that I can't help them all. I know that I don't want to start something that can spiral out of control.*

But this is Christmas.*

Maybe there is one child in your neighborhood that also needs a new pair of slippers........think about it please.*

Merry Christmas to all........and to all a good night. * **

 

2nd time this Week!

Ron, This the second time this week I have sat at my desk with tears in my eyes, What a wonderful thought. I am not a Curchy man at all but I remember well the passage "Suffer the little children to come unto me"
Surely there will be a place for you and Mae up there my friend.


Jack P.:o

 

Bless you.. I have had the same thoughts. just need to make it anonymous so that I am not overwhelmed with people seeking help.

 

Nice. A month back an American with his Filipina wife bought slippers for kids they saw on the streets. I happened to pass by Meryl's and there was much excitement outside while these kids were walking with brand new slippers. Wow.

 

Nice touch Ron. Your story resurrected some never-forgotten memories of childhood. I grew up in an orphanage in post-war Britain in the late 40s/early 50s when austerity and rationing was still the order of the day. We walked the 4 miles to school and back, and even though it was in the depths of winter we didn't have a top-coat between us. I well remember being told at school that us "orphan-kids" couldn't have anything to eat at the school Christmas party because we hadn't paid anything towards it, but we could stay and take part in the games afterwards.!!! So about 12 of us ragged kids, in frequently repaired hand-me-downs, odd socks and even odder ill-fitting footwear had to sit on a bench in the same room, watching all the other kids tuck in to jelly, ice cream and cake, pulling party crackers, and wearing colourful paper hats, while we looked glumly on. Not a single morsel was offered to us. All of us were between 5 and 7 years old, and I remember so well the hurt, anguish, wretchedness, tearfulness, and the feeling of rejection that comes from exclusion through lack of means. It was an experience and a memory that has never left me.
So I fully understand, and my heart goes out to the little girl in Rons story, who, I feel, is handling it in exactly the right way; discreetly so as not to cause an avalanche. Individually we can't change the world, but we can make a difference to some peoples lives in our own small way. A little act of kindness and a small act of generosity can make a huge difference to those who are less fortunate.

We are the adults of today, and the very young and the old both rely on us and depend on us. But tomorrow we will be the old ones, and todays children are tomorrows adults.
If we can't get it right for the children today, what chance do they have of getting it right for us tomorrow ??

Power to you Ron, and I salute your kindness and compassion.

 

About 30 years ago I briefly courted a young woman from Camiguin. At the time, she had a cute little boy about 2 years old. She eventually married a guy from Europe, moved there, and left her son with her mom at Camiguin. Over the years, I remained friends with the family. Helped them with their finances from time to time. As the boy grew, I helped him with his high school education. But with the passage of time I lost contact with them. A few years ago I once again visited Camiguin on vacation. Just for the heck of it, I decided to try to find my friends. Took less than a half hour to track down ate. I visited for a while and found out where the boy (now a man) was living in Cagayan de Oro. Went there a few days later and found him, happily married with a couple of kids of his own. We once again became friends (he's always called me "dad" because I was really the only dad he had ever known.)

A couple of months ago he lost his long time job as a manager of a motorcycle business. Since then he has had no income to support his family, so we stepped up to to help as best we could. (His mom seems never to be able to help at all, as far as I can see. Glad I didn't marry that one!)

Others have commented that the needs here are so great they can overwhelm you if you get caught up in it. That is right. So discretion is necessary. But help as much as you can, whenever you can.

Abraham Lincoln supposedly once said that he wasn't a particularly religious person. But he knew that when he did something wrong, he felt bad. And when he did something right, he felt good. Help yourself, and a few others, feel good. Share a little every day.

 

Bebasguy - I just sent you a PM. Please let me know that you got it.

 

When I was a kid, back in East Texas, I helped the neighbor collect food for his hogs.
Me and another kid would jump in the back of his old pick-up truck and we'd go around the the different grocery stores after dark,collecting the vegetables and fruits that had been thrown away that day.
I worked for him at nights like that just for being allowed to get the first pickins before we threw it in the hog pens.

I used to eat a lot of wilted lettuce and mushy tomatoes.

 

Broadside - my dad grew up in a German orphanage in Pennsylvania USA (born in 1893) and never forgot his roots. He always told us about it so that we would understand people better.
I grew up on the lower side of "middle income" but we never had money to waste. My parents "did without" in order to make sure we had what we needed.
I grew up in the same time frame as you and remember very well the rationing and lack of basics in the US.
My Dad was also my best friend.
One of the "good" things that came from his orphanage days was a lot of really good food that cost almost nothing to make, that I still fix today. My two favorites being fried corn meal mush and rice pudding.
Children in the US today just "don't understand".

 

Manzanita - as the world changes, and the young people "evolve" it is important that the stories above keep being told so that maybe, just maybe, the young people will have a sense of right and wrong, and realize that a pair of $150.00 Nike shoes is not that important.
There is always hope.........