Season of giving puts life in perspective

I drove to the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center last week to sample how the Christmas Bureau works and experience the atmosphere that fills the huge ag show building for two weeks each Christmas season.

Money never came easily in my working-class family. In the 16th century, we were poor English farmers. My great-great grandfather later moved to the United States and started a generation of poor Midwestern farmers.

Growing up, I understood why I couldn’t have one of the popular Starter jackets or why we couldn’t eat out every night. My parents were strict with their budgeting, but I certainly never felt without.

I know there’s a lot I haven’t seen. After catching a glimpse of the circumstances of a few patrons at the Christmas Bureau, which distributes food vouchers for holiday dinners and toys to needy families, I realize that my life is easy.

The stories opened my eyes: couples not much older than myself raising a family, a single mother supporting herself and four kids on monthly wages less than my own, a woman with two teenage children with disabilities who are developmentally only

age 8.

I have it pretty good. I’m impoverished from lack of sleep, time and perhaps lacking nutrition from my steady diet of pizza, but I’m more than getting by. It’s time I look outward.

As I drove, I listened with a bit of frustration to the muffled heartbreak music on my car’s less-than-top-of-the-line sound system. The tape player recently took a turn for the worse, mysteriously after trying an old Bob Dylan tape – a thrift store find. I’m lucky enough to have a tape player for my hand-me-down ‘80s cassettes and recorded radio songs. It could be worse. I could be stuck listening to talk radio, or any radio for that manner.

I’ve never seriously considered upgrading to some fancy flashing- light CD player and sound system that would turn my car into a mobile discotheque. First, a Mercury Topaz isn’t made to bump. Second, I’m a college student, and while I earn some spending money at my part-time job, I’m always conscious of the daunting student loans that I’ll need to start chipping away at six short months after my May graduation from Gonzaga University.

I’ve always been a saver. I use only half a cup of laundry detergent, I refrain from buying Starbucks mochas too often, and I revel at the chance to get a good free meal. Because I’m always looking out for my own financial well-being, charity work seemed impossible. When my boss at a Gonzaga-area restaurant suggested we donate a portion of our tips to the Christmas Bureau and agreed to match the amount we collect, I – like many of my co-workers – was reluctant to give up my cash. I thought of upcoming credit card bills, spring tuition and my own Christmas shopping fund. Several staff members there live paycheck to paycheck, and tip money gets us through the week.

But really, I can stand to give up a few bucks here and there. It’s the least I can offer. I’ll make do with my scratchy Bob Dylan cassette and pizza-based diet.