We’re living in bad economic times. Many of us are struggling, underemployed or jobless. Our politics and civic discourse are badly polarized. We are set against one another. It’s heartwarming, then, to read a story that captures the best of humanity and the season:
The young father stood in line at the Kmart layaway counter, wearing dirty clothes and worn-out boots. With him were three small children.
He asked to pay something on his bill because he knew he wouldn’t be able to afford it all before Christmas. Then a mysterious woman stepped up to the counter.
“She told him, ‘No, I’m paying for it,'” recalled Edna Deppe, assistant manager at the store in Indianapolis. “He just stood there and looked at her and then looked at me and asked if it was a joke. I told him it wasn’t, and that she was going to pay for him. And he just busted out in tears.”
At Kmart stores across the country, Santa seems to be getting some help: Anonymous donors are paying off strangers’ layaway accounts, buying the Christmas gifts other families couldn’t afford, especially toys and children’s clothes set aside by impoverished parents. (Read more)
What I like about this is that it’s immediately helping out in the spirit of the season. Never mind who, never mind whether someone agrees with your politics or your religion, doing the right thing.
Have you seen anything like this so far this year?
