Day 199: Why Doesn't Our Giving Spirit Live the Rest of the Year?

The spirit of giving. I hear a lot about the spirit of charity and giving, but often find myself wondering what that means. Ask any random person on the street and the typical answer will have something to do with the time of year or holiday season. Starting with Thanksgiving, people adopt a more charitable outlook and the words giving and charity are thrown around with abundance. If it’s actually a “spirit” of giving, why don’t we give more the rest of the year? The holidays are when most people actually have less money and yet that is when giving seems most prevalent. Why don’t we give as actively throughout the year when times are easier? Kids still need toys and families still need food in the Summer months.

The husband and I heard about a charity in dire need and spent the afternoon shopping for toys before delivering them to the outreach center. Just knowing that we were doing an unselfish thing made us feel close to one another and it was a happy afternoon filled with high school like giggling, kissing and hugging. We give to charity throughout the year, both of us believing it to be very important to share what we have with others. Still, writing a check for Doctors Without Borders or Planned Parenthood has never made us almost giddy.

Perhaps the combination of the holidays, travel plans to see family and the annual financial spending frenzy that accompanies the season creates the perfect storm for giving. When you’re hemorrhaging money it’s easy to not feel an extra leak sprung in your already overextended budget. There is also that general happy feeling that often prevails as people take the time to greet one another, holiday music blares from loudspeakers and cheerful decorations peek from windows and storefronts. It just does not feel like the holidays without a little charity. The challenge then, is to be as generous the rest of the year. Why do we only sponsor families at the holidays and then bitch and moan about paying an extra $100 in taxes to support education or healthcare for those that need it? What happens to the giving spirit when we don’t have a holiday to nudge us along?

I want to remember what today felt like and maybe the next time we write a check, we’ll follow it up with a delivery to a shelter anonymous gift to a family in need. I look forward to the days when I have my bake shop. Cookies, brownies and muffins may not be what you need when you can’t pay the bills, but sometimes a basket of baked goods are exactly what your spirit needs. Personally, chocolate has never failed to perk me up. We like to think we give what we can, but if that were true we’d all have a little less and others in need would have a little more. Maybe we need a new holiday in June.