Better to give than to receive

Mary is nineteen years old. Battling autism, her mental capabilities are that of a 6-year-old. She is stuck in the second grade, where she has been for the past two years. I try to show her how to put together the same pattern of blocks over and over again, and as she does her very best we start to talk about Christmas.\nI ask her what she wants from Santa and after only moments of deliberation she announces with an innocent grin that all she wants for Christmas is for me to get all the presents I want for Christmas. \nShe already has her robotic dog and she would rather that I get a new car, the one that I showed her in the magazine at lunchtime.\nWith the mentality of someone a third my age, Mary smiles at me with an innocence I haven't had in years. She reminds me of the real message behind the holiday season.\nThis was four years ago, and not much has changed in the way I view the holidays since my meeting with Mary. Although I try to have the Christmas spirit, so much of my true spirit is consumed with arguing with my mom about the price of a David Yurman bracelet that I just have to have.\nOn the heels of Sept. 11 you\'d think as a nation we would all turn to giving rather than receiving…if only it were so simple.\nA society of consumers who need and want and just have-to-have, even a national tragedy can\'t shake most of us from the mindset that we must have the best presents under the tree or beside the menorah. \nLess than two hours ago I sent my mom an updated list of what I wanted with no intention of donating a portion of the money that she will spend to a family in New York or the local Red Cross or United Way.\nThis mentality carries over into other aspects of life as well. Listening to a guest speaker from the Opportunity House (a local Goodwill organization) in a journalism class, I realized how sick it is when I take clothes to Plato\'s Closet for $10 for five pairs of Gap jeans when I could donate it all to an organization that has people who depend upon it. Is the $10 really that important to me?\nThe answer to that is: it can\'t be.\nThere is more to life than having a new leather jacket or an X Box. There are families without fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers on this holiday and now is the time to donate in remembrance of those lost. \nIt doesn\'t matter if you are a poor college student like I am, with thousands of credit card bills, give what you can, how you can. If you can't donate money, donate time or a service; this is just as valuable. Spend a few hours at a local shelter; realize how stupid it is for you to complain about only getting two little blue boxes from Tiffany\'s this year.\nIf there is no other time you ever give, give now. It is only, afterall, when you truly give that you can receive.\nAnd receive you will, a thousand times over.