The Human Capacity for Generosity

This will be a quick and dirty post because I just don't have the time or energy to convey this in a witty manner, but here goes:

Today I was a volunteer bell ringer for the Salvation Army. Our organization volunteers to do this every year as a way of giving back to the community and supporting one of our member organizations. It is often a very rewarding way to give. It only takes one hour of my time, and since we ring the bell at the local Wal Mart stores, it has the added benefit of being extremely entertaining (think - people of walmart dot com)

So, today I was standing there in the freezing cold counting the minutes away, holiday hymns trapsing through my thoughts and this little boy, maybe 10 years old, walks up and hands me a dozen long stem cream and pink roses and asks if he can give them to me to say thanks for my time. I was so completely overwhelmed with appreciation!

The only downside is that I am allergic to roses, so I couldn't keep them. But this also gave me an opportunity to give even more. Every time a little kid put money in my kettle I would give them one of the roses and tell them to give it to their mommy. THe look of surprise and joy on each kids' face was worth the price of giving up such a sweet gift!

Some days go a long way toward making up for the many crappy ones in between!