For logistical reasons we
celebrated St. Nikolaus as a sort of “pre-Christmas” with the German side of
the family this year and exchanged presents already then. I got from my in-laws a piece of paper,
rolled and tied with a very nice ribbon.
Inside it told me that they had made a donation to the MSF Syria fund.
This pressie was one of the best
I have ever received. It made me
incredibly happy. It still does. Many charities now provide the option of
giving an “alternative” kind of present, namely buying cows, trees, chicken, school
books etc., mostly in developing countries. I have received some of these in the past and
they have never been a bad gift, it’s always better to give something like that
as opposed to something material which I probably don’t need. But they’ve not been like this one.
The reason is that this was
personal. This was not just a generic “do
something good” gift. It was
specifically for me. It was something I
care passionately about.
Having had such
a strong reaction to it, I decided to throw the idea out there more
generally. When pondering what to get
various family members and friends, how about expanding your search to not just
gadgets, food or books that they might enjoy and think about issues or causes
that they care about? An example: F feels
very strongly about the rights of refugees and asylum seekers and has devoted
large amounts of his time to helping them both in Germany and here in Switzerland. Recently he has been dropping hints
that HEKS/EPER offers some gifts tailored at assisting these very people.
Not that I’m referring to
anything specific, nobody can guess what Santa might bring in his sack... If anything at all for that matter. It all depends on whether you have been
naughty or nice. (The Santa's-little-helper-jury is still out on you, F.)
Merry Christmas everybody.
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