Nothing Else Like It

To counter last week's post about how materialistic I am, I would like to say that there is little else in the world that feels better than helping other people. I have always known this, but sometimes it is good to be reminded of it.

Neil has a co-worker whose family just moved here and soon after the move, his wife had a massive medical emergency while on the way to visit her terminally ill father. She had to have major surgery and her husband had to take off work to help her. In the meantime the woman's father died. All of the combined expenses made it so that the family couldn't afford Christmas and they have four children! So, Neil, being the big-hearted person that he is, asked his co-worker to write out a list of gifts the kids wanted for Christmas. He did and we're going to help them celebrate Christmas.

This morning I sent an e-mail to my own co-workers about the situation and what we're trying to do and already four people have offered to help us. People's generosity is always so astounding. And it just feels really good to be doing something that will hopefully make a big difference to a family.

If everyone helped one friend or acquaintance once in a while, so many more people would have what they need. It will be a couple hundred dollars to us, but it means Christmas for the family and it feels really good to be able to help out.