Sunday, December 21, 2008

Think With Your Head, Act With Your Heart

For this year's Christmas season my mother took on a family who has been hit hard by recent financial difficulty and can't afford Christmas gifts. Or so they say.

This is a family of six; a mother, father, two daughters and two sons. My mom is such an incredibly kind-hearted person, that when she heard of their difficulties she felt the need to help, regardless of her own problems. They say that they have gone to numerous organizations and have not had any luck, because the resources of each organization have been used up.

When she first told me of the family, I wanted to become involved too. I immediately started mapping out various plans of action in mind, thinking of ways I could help. I decided to sleep on it, but unfortunately what I woke up the next morning with were doubts instead of ideas.

What if this is a scam? What if these people don't even really have children? They'd sent photos, but how could we know that the photos belonged to them? Even if they were their photos, did that prove that these people weren't going to try to take advantage of us?

My mom and I talked it over and she decided to move forward, with some caution. She was still convinced that this was not a scam; that the situation is exactly what it looks like on the surface: a family in need of a little kindness. The plan was still to collect gifts for the children and bring them to the family's home, in person.

Long story short, my uncle brought up even more worries that, even though neither my mother or I wanted to think about, were important to take into consideration. After much more discussion, she decided to ship the gifts instead of bringing them in person. We both wish that we could meet the family, but feel that this is best this way.

While I'd like to believe the best in everyone, the fact is that safety and kindness have to exist together. We have to think with out heads and act with our hearts.

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