Remember the poor at this time of year
It came out of nowhere as usual.
A couple of days before Halloween, I heard the music of one of the more familiar Christmas carols blasting out of my TV.
The music was playing in the background for some giant furniture chain’s “Don’t Pay A Cent For Five Years” Christmas liquidation sale.
They used to wait until at least after Halloween, I thought as I flicked to a place safely away from that over-eager commercial.
But Halloween was barely put to bed for the year before the toy companies began advertising their latest over-priced plastic creations and electronic thingamabobs.
Now with less than a month to the big day, turning on the television means you’ll face the usual onslaught of Buy, Buy, Buy! advertising, the kind of advertising that basically screams in your ear “If you don’t spend money you don’t have to buy this junk for people who don’t need it, you’re a cold-hearted meany.” They might never say it in words, but the message is there if you listen for it.
Meanwhile, on the street in any little town or big city in this massive country, there are the poor.
I read last week there are more than 300,000 homeless men, women and children across Canada right now.
That’s the thing I’ve noticed about Christmas. There will always be more cheap, plastic junk being pushed down your throat at ridiculously inflated prices and there will always be the poor.
I’ve reported for papers all over this country, up, down and sideways and the one thing I’ve noticed with any consistency aside from where there’s drugs there’s crime is where there are people who are hungry or have no where to go, the Salvation Army is there to help.
Their annual kettle drive to raise money to help the poor is as familiar a part of Christmas as Santa Claus.
So while you’re out Christmas shopping this year, why not drop some spare change in a Salvation Army kettle? Those quarters and dimes might not seem like much, but they’ll help to feed the hungry, put clothes on the backs of those who are cold and bring a smile to the faces of those who have nothing and no one during an often difficult time of year.
A couple of days before Halloween, I heard the music of one of the more familiar Christmas carols blasting out of my TV.
The music was playing in the background for some giant furniture chain’s “Don’t Pay A Cent For Five Years” Christmas liquidation sale.
They used to wait until at least after Halloween, I thought as I flicked to a place safely away from that over-eager commercial.
But Halloween was barely put to bed for the year before the toy companies began advertising their latest over-priced plastic creations and electronic thingamabobs.
Now with less than a month to the big day, turning on the television means you’ll face the usual onslaught of Buy, Buy, Buy! advertising, the kind of advertising that basically screams in your ear “If you don’t spend money you don’t have to buy this junk for people who don’t need it, you’re a cold-hearted meany.” They might never say it in words, but the message is there if you listen for it.
Meanwhile, on the street in any little town or big city in this massive country, there are the poor.
I read last week there are more than 300,000 homeless men, women and children across Canada right now.
That’s the thing I’ve noticed about Christmas. There will always be more cheap, plastic junk being pushed down your throat at ridiculously inflated prices and there will always be the poor.
I’ve reported for papers all over this country, up, down and sideways and the one thing I’ve noticed with any consistency aside from where there’s drugs there’s crime is where there are people who are hungry or have no where to go, the Salvation Army is there to help.
Their annual kettle drive to raise money to help the poor is as familiar a part of Christmas as Santa Claus.
So while you’re out Christmas shopping this year, why not drop some spare change in a Salvation Army kettle? Those quarters and dimes might not seem like much, but they’ll help to feed the hungry, put clothes on the backs of those who are cold and bring a smile to the faces of those who have nothing and no one during an often difficult time of year.
posted by Street Wise Guy | 9:37 PM
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