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Why giving is far better than gifting

Regardless of which end of the ready removed the snow and kindness to family and close friends:
Holiday Glee-O-Meter you reside scraped the ice off your windshield. • Attend an event, like a dance
on—maybe you’re already listening Picture having the worst day ever recital or sporting event, of a friend’s
to the Christmas radio station 24/7 (we’ve all been there) and then receiv- child.
and your vehicle is sporting clip-on ing a sincere compliment that blows • Create a gift certificate that says
antlers, or perhaps you identify with you away. you’ll do a particular chore or er-
the Meh crowd and can’t wait for all Similarly, here are things we can rand.
the hubbub to be over, there’s likely do to pay it forward: • This one is the stuff of dreams
one thing both camps have in com- • Road construction is every- for parents who are still in the
mon. In other words: What if we fo- where these days; what if we trenches: Offer to babysit a child in
C’mon, admit it: Isn’t there at cused on service and sparking gen- dropped off a case of water to the your extended family so that the par-
least one person on your list who is uine happiness in those around us? workers? ent(s) can have an evening to them-
extremely difficult to shop for? (Hon- I think I can already hear you: • When traveling, what if we selves.
estly, there might even be more than “Okay, Courtney, where exactly are agreed to change our seat so that • Take the money you would have
one.) These are the folks who are ei- you going with this hippy-dippy other travelers could sit together? spent on a relative’s gift and pur-
ther finicky as can be, already have talk?” • Or how about letting someone chase a gas card for them instead. (I
everything under the sun, or are a The acts I’m about to explain are else have the closest parking spot? mean, c’mon: Free gas! Swoon.)
combination thereof. rather unspectacular, but they have • There’s a saying that bad news It’s true: kindness really is the gift
Add to the mix a tight budget and the power to change the trajectory of travels halfway around the world that keeps on giving. By acting out a
rapidly rising consumer costs (hello, our entire day—and, quite possibly, while good news is still putting on few of these gestures this season,
inflation!) and it’s enough to make the impact could be even greater his shoes. But what if we flipped it? we’ll be spreading positive energy
any of us scream “Bah humbug!” than that. What if we wrote an expression of that will likely make its way back to
I hear you. Imagine pulling up to the Tim gratitude—to our child’s principal us. And I’m pretty sure that’ll be
But what if, instead, we focused Hortons drive-thru only to find that about our child’s teacher, to the more popular than a sweater or an-
on another form of giving this year? the person in front of you already restaurant manager about our server, other pair of earmuffs.
What if we gave up on searching paid for your order. Envision ap- or to our mail carrier directly? Courtney Conover is wife, mom,
for that elusive perfect thing and proaching your car one morning be- I know, I know: Many of the ges- yoga instructor, and Chicken Soup
chose to give what we already have in fore work (or school drop-off) and tures above benefit strangers. But we for the Soul contributor who has
our possession? discovering that someone has al- can also extend this same level of called Wayne home since 1995.

6 · December 2022 · The Wayne Dispatch