Monday, January 5, 2009

Do we offer enough opportunities?

Do we offer enough opportunities?

How often do we "adults" lament about the selfishness of today's youth? I believe our misgivings are misplaced. Perhaps it is not the youth who are misguided, but their guides, we parents, grandparents, stepparents....

Just before Christmas I received an urgent email that a local charity, Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM), was running out of toys to distribute for children in need. If the community did not respond immediately, some children would not have toys for Christmas. I forwarded the email to some friends, who in turn did the same.

Days later I received this email, forwarded to me by a friend.

"My kids have truly found the spirit of Christmas. After reading your email last week, they decided to take all of the gift cards they have received this year (and even went and found those received last year and not used) to buy toys for GBM. All three kids went to Target and Wal Mart last Friday and shopped for other kids. Not one wanted anything for themselves-unbelievable...We delivered the toys Saturday (about $600 worth) and they helped bag for 2 hours and didn't want to leave when i said we had to go because of other commitments!! It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about this. Thank you for passing on the opportunity to help others.

What a great lesson this mother can teach us-to offer our children the opportunity to respond with kindness and generosity. How many chances do we provide for our children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews to experience generosity? My suspicion is that if we protected our children less from the abundant lessons of sharing available in their every-day lives, we would be pleasantly surprised by their responses. And for those reluctant young ones, if we continued to encourage generosity, even in spite of their resistance, might they eventually develop a habit of kindness? Do we offer enough chances for the children/youth in our lives to experience the joy that this family knows?