Give It Up

Today is "Giving Tuesday."  It's another in a long line of contrived commercial events that sprang from Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  Yet I, like many, seem more accepting of a day when people can choose a worthy charity or group and help raise funds for worthy causes.  The internet has been wildly successful at doing fundraising.
I should have known something was up with the amount of email that came in this morning.  Seems like every group I've ever given to and any dimly related group was smiling with hands out in my inbox today.  Am I complaining? Hardly.  Like many of my friends, in recent years I've stopped giving those obligatory holiday gifts and chosen to make donations to groups that I and we support.  It's doubly satisfying because not only do we eliminate the need to get in line at the post office or have the expense of using an overnight carrier, but we no longer have to spend time in crowded shopping malls or retail districts wondering if the shirt, or book, or game we picked out will be well received.  It's a win/win for all involved.

I have about a half a dozen to choose from this year.  My usual standbys are organizations like Dr.s Without Borders and Oxfam International because it seems as if their needs are on-going and that every year brings new famine or disease or a new set of refugees.  The past year also brings unforgettable video images from Syria to Yemen, the Mexican border to Indonesia.  Earthquakes, droughts, fires, and floods usually get a few bucks and in the current climate (pun intended) they are hardly unexpected.
But today I did something different.  I made a spontaneous donation to a former student's theater company.  It's a fledgling group that has had some real successes and reminds me that the theme of "Bread and Roses" is very much alive in these dark times. Quite simply the term refers to recognizing the need for art, beauty, and culture along with the need for life-sustaining resources.  There was another reason for my motivation to give a modest contribution to this group.  Aside from the fact that they are a dynamic, risk-taking theater company led by an equally talented director, it was a chance for me to give back to my student's passion.  I recall how he, like a few other students, went to bat for their teachers when we were threatened with everything from losing funding for our district to short-sighted curriculum decisions that might have forced us to stop teaching whole books in favor of scripted textbooks.  Not that we ever would, but when some of your students take the time to display their voices and writing skills in from of your school board, you don't forget.
My exuberance with combining gift-giving with supporting deserving causes is no doubt a result of aging.  Getting older is, in many ways, a consolidation of making things easier for yourself.  If that can be done while benefitting others, why not?