Posted on: Sunday, December 19, 2004
Holidays teach giving year round
By Betty White
Entering the holiday season, there is much for adults, as "Keepers of the Holiday Spirit," to remember. As we devote time, love and boundless energy to telling time-honored stories to our children, we are reminded about the greatness of many individuals before and after the miracle of Jesus' birth: the genius of Einstein; the saintliness of Mother Teresa; the wisdom of Confucius; the wonderful common sense of Ben Franklin. Yet, the most important story and lesson we can share with our families is that extraordinary service to our fellow human beings and our community is most often expressed through ordinary people like each of us.
The need to serve those who live with loneliness, poor health, no money or resources, and the challenges of old age are matters that the spirit and energy of our adults, students and children should confront in a way that joyfully connects them to the outside world and the real meaning of relationships with others.
Even though a majority of our students have a comfortable life, with most of their material needs readily met, paradoxically, they are strangers to many truly blessed events in life. They rarely, if at all, experience the feeling of laboring only with one's hands, of sacrificing for the good of another, of being generous with time and energy to help the less fortunate, of bathing in the comforting and all-embracing light of service to others.
As we bring in the holiday season, learning to serve represents the best of what our educational process can be. It is a most precious time for everyone's heart, head and hands to work together to make a difference. It's a golden opportunity to seize the moment to make our students heart-smart, not just head-smart. Connecting them with their communities for thoughtful, reflective engagement in the solution of real problems and current issues helps develop successful, well-rounded citizens for the 21st century.
Serving others is a very special holiday activity we need to emphasize.
As the "Keepers," we know that the opportunities are boundless: baking dog biscuits for the dogs at the Hawaiian Humane Society; preparing activity bags for pediatric patients at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children; collecting rubber slippers and raincoats for the homeless; writing letters to our soldiers around the world.
By spending time with our children in after-schoolicare programs, scrubbing the decks of the USS Battleship Missouri or becoming involved in saving the Kaimuki electric Christmas tree on Pu'u Street, our students can witness firsthand the fruits of their labors and gain an enhanced feeling of self-worth because they realize that their efforts make a real difference to everyone, no matter what their station in life.
Making dolls for surgical patients at Shriners Hospital, adopting a city park to clean, sponsoring a mini craft-sale with proceeds going to the Aloha United Way, or putting together packages of toiletries and socks for the Youth Outreach at the Waikiki Community Center offer our students fantastic opportunities to live a commitment to service.
Of course, we must not let holiday opportunities cloud the true meaning of service as a way of life; they are not just a program activity for the holiday season. As the "Keepers," we need to emphasize that what is learned during our blessed holiday season should be practiced 365 days a year.
Connecting our students with the community helps them develop gentleness, compassion, confidence and dignity. One's family experience affects a person's giving and volunteering behavior for life. Taking part in a successful volunteer experience as a child increases one's likelihood of volunteer activity throughout adulthood. A concerted effort between home and school portends a successful experience.
It makes sense for parents, as the "Keepers," to seek out service opportunities for the entire family. It is not difficult to find such an outlet. Look to civic clubs such as the Soroptimist, Zonta, Rotary and Kiwanis organizations, which mentor students and work with them in community service projects.
It takes parents, teachers, families and communities to lead today's youth to an understanding that life itself is the greatest gift, not only because of what it gives each human being, but because of what it enables each person to give to others.
As "Keepers of the Holiday Spirit," we must join with our students and children in such endeavors as serving at homeless shelters, working with the visually impaired, tutoring non-Englishispeaking persons, reading to small children, visiting the frail and aged in nursing homes, or helping do yard work for a disabled neighbor. There is no better time to start service-learning than this holiday season, and no better time to share the spirit and meaning of this season than in a contented home environment with loved ones.
As "Keepers," the greatest lesson in service to others that we can help our precious youth learn is to hear with their hearts, see with their souls and be guided by a hand they cannot hold. Our world will be a better place when this lesson is learned and taken to heart by all.
Betty White is principal of Sacred Hearts Academy.
