This is the season for holiday mail. Catalogues stuff my rural box, while
cyber reminders of deals and sales stack my in box with temptations. This year,
I get Aunt Ruth’s mail. She
doesn’t get Williams Sonoma or Neiman Marcus. She gets letters from Sloan-Kettering, Hadassah, The Policeman's Fund, The Free Clinic, Catholic Charities, The Jewish Community Center, and
organizations I didn’t know existed.
Aunt Ruth believed that helping people, loving people was
simple to do. She gave something
to everyone who wrote to her from a dollar to ten, because she thought that
this was the right thing to do.
“Imagine how many mouths the Salvation Army could feed or new research
for cancer could be funded, if everyone gave something?” she would ask
off-handedly. She’d add, “If you
don’t have money, then give your time.”
She talked like this as if the lessons were filling space like commas,
because she wasn’t preaching. She was narrating her daily life.
I get her mail now.
I stack the envelopes and watch the Giving Tower grow. Her goodness shines light on everything
she taught me, everything she did, and everything she hoped others would do.
Aunt Ruth said, “Everything
is better shared.” Little by
little adds up to a lot, and a lot
surely makes for better. I know it is trite, but Aunt Ruth didn’t
have a Giving Season, and my hope is that her Giving Tower inspires me towards
kindness, because opportunity is always right
in front of me. It can be as easy as answering the
phone with a happy voice.
My dad’s photographic legacy taught me that a camera is a
key to open doors or hearts. Aunt
Ruth opened the door to her apartment and let me photograph her life, and my
heart has been full ever since
May her Giving Tower inspire you to start yours, but most of
all, thank YOU for Loving Aunt Ruth.
Happy Holidays.
