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Christmas Reminds Us that Generosity Brings Joy to Life
The joy of brightening other lives, bearing others’ burdens, easing others’ loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas.
W. C. Jones
Jim and Della give their most prized possession to the other.
Jim and Della Young. A young couple just starting out in the world together and living in hard scrabble tenement in New York City that cost $8 per week. Furnished. Sure, they were poor, but they were in love so all was well—until the Christmas season rolled around.
Through shrewd bargaining with grocers and other shopkeepers, Della had managed to save money to buy a Christmas gift for Jim. Her problem was that you couldn’t buy much with $1.87. She was beside herself with tears. Jim had fared little better. But when he arrived home from work on Christmas Eve, he carefully carried a treasure he knew Della would adore, all wrapped in tissue and paper and tied with a string. But the only thing on Della’s mind was a gift she had for Jim. She could barely contain her excitement in anticipation of seeing the expression of joy on his face when he opened what she had found for him. Della’s pride was her hair: “rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her.” Jim’s pride was a gold watch that had been owned by his father and grandfather.
Jim’s gift to her was a set of combs, “side and back, that Della had worshipped long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jeweled rims.” Della’s gift to Jim was a “platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation—as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch.”
All was wonderful except the small detail that Jim had sold his watch to buy Della’s combs—and Della had sold her hair to a wigmaker in order to buy his chain.
But in his classic short story, The Gift of the Magi, William Sydney Porter, better known to the world as O. Henry, wrote:
The magi, as you know, were wise men—wonderfully wise men—who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.
The Christmas season is fun and exciting as we open presents—but it is even more joyful for the opportunity to share from our abundance with others. Generosity brings joy.
Excerpted from The Simple Blessings of Christmas by Mark Gilroy.
The simple blessings of Christmas are all around us – but in the hustle and bustle of the season we too easily miss them! That’s the premise behind a new gift book, The Simple Blessings of Christmas, I wrote for my friends from Inspired Faith (part of Mac Anderson’s Simple Truths gift company). As Christmas day approaches I am going to continue to excerpt a few of the 30 short chapters. You can also click here to view the inspirational “movie” that goes along with the book. Hope you enjoy! If you do, I would truly appreciate you sharing with your friends and family. Thanks.
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The $700 Billion Bailout: Overheard Conversations
Who created a situation that required a $700 billion bailout? Hint: The same group that promised to fix it.
Prelude
Government: Everyone in America should have the right to pursue the American dream, which everyone knows is owning a house. But not everyone can afford it. The dream or the house. Therefore we will legislate that lenders must give loans to anyone who meets certain minimal criteria – and lower the criteria.
Part 1 At the Broker
Customer: I’d like to borrow money for a house but I’ve not saved any money.
Broker: No problem. Since the price of houses will always go up, we don’t require a down payment any more.
Customer: Cool. Oh, and one other thing. My employer is a jerk sometimes and might not fill out the earnings verification form.
Broker: No problem. We have a new financial instrument called the “Liar’s Loan” – we let you verify your own wealth, employment, and income.
Customer: Really? Cool! You’re not worried even a little I won’t pay you back?
Broker: Nah. It’s not my money. A bank will provide the actual funds. I get my commission whether you pay it back or not.
Customer: Cool!
Part 2 At the Bank
Banker 1: We’ve got to get rid of some of these loans. They smell bad. And they’re attracting flies.
Banker 2: But how do we get rid of them?
Banker 1: We’ll sell them.
Banker 2: Who would be dumb enough to buy these stinky things? Especially with all the flies on them.
Banker 1: Nobody will buy them one at a time, but there are people who will buy a whole bunch of them.
Part 3 At the Wall Street Investment Bank
Real Estate Fund Manager: Man, we’ve got to get some fresh money into these mortgage funds. They stink! And they’re attracting flies.
Assistant Real Estate Fund Manger: Have you seen default levels? Who would be dumb enough to buy these stinky things?
Part 4 At the Institutional Investment Firm
School Board Pension Guy: You sure this is a good investment opportunity? I hear there are problems in the mortgage industry.
Advisor: No problemo. These things are as safe as anything in America. The Investment Banks wouldn’t buy a bunch of stinky individual mortgages and put them in one basket and say they are good would they? Besides, they’ve divided the security into three traunches: good, okay, and bad. Since we’re dealing with your pension funds, we’ll only buy the good ones. They are AAA rated securities. I’d like to get a higher rate of return but that is available only on the bad securities – and you know how the Investment Banks are; they save the good bad stuff for themselves. If you’re still worried just be aware that the Investment Banker even bought bond insurance on your good ones.
School Board Pension Guy: Cool.
Part 5 Back at the Wall Street Investment Bank
Assistant Real Estate Fund Manager: Boss, I know those new securities you came up with are strong sellers but I have one question. Don’t we have to show the mortgages on our books?
Real Estate Fund Manager: (Rolls eyes and gives a little laugh.) Nope. The Government allows us to set up something called an SPV – a special purpose vehicle. We did ours in the Cayman Islands. The SPV carries the stinky loans on their books, not ours. We are AAA rated for those wanting a safe investment. Heck, even our so so securities in the second traunch are rated BBB for those with a little more risk tolerance. The question is irrelevant anyway. Housing prices always go up.
Assistant Real Estate Fund Manger: Boss, you’re a genius.
Real Estate Fund Manager: I know.
Interlude
Government: We are going to hold companies accountable through Sarbanes Oxley and make them declare Market Value on their books every day. Plus we’ll punish rogue CEOs who inflate values. Now everyone knows we mean business. We demand transparency from our investment companies, too. That’s why we have the SEC. The only problem is, too much transparency gets a little confusing. And Americans don’t like confusing.
Part 6 A Meeting of the Minds
School Board Pension Guy: Hey, where are our payments?!
All Others: Sorry, the jerks who borrowed money on the houses can’t make payments.
School Board Pension Guy: But you said that housing prices always go up and they could refinance their mortgages with low interest ARMs if they got in trouble.
All Others: Sorry. We’re as upset as you are. But there’s nothing we could have done to see this coming. Housing prices always go up you know.
School Board Pension Guy: But I only bought the good securities. The AAA ones. That means I get paid back first. That’s what you said.
All Others: Sorry. There are more problems with the loans than we thought. Sarbanes Oxley isn’t helping either. No one is getting paid back squat right now.
School Board Pension Guy: But you bought bond insurance in case this happened!All Others: (Laughter.) Do you really think an insurance carrier has set aside that much money? Sorry.
School Board Pension Guy: Is all you can say, “Sorry.” You’ll pay for this you know.
All Others: Listen, no time to finish the conversation right now. We have a high-powered meeting to attend at a resort in the Cayman Islands.
School Board Pension Guy: You haven’t heard the end of this. Like I said, you’ll pay for this!
All Others: You really think so?
Postlude
Government: People are so gullible and get themselves in such messes. I guess it’s up to me to save them from themselves again. My work is never done. But I’m up to it. I’m about giving them the American dream after all!
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