It's Christmas, time for cynicism and acid indigestion. And while I can't do anything about the latter, short of sending you Gaviscon through the medium of the Internet, I would like to help you out with the cynicism.
One of the blogs I read regularly is The Bloggess (caution - she is sometimes not quite safe for work). Jenny is nothing short of outrageous and reading her stuff tends to put keyboards and monitors at risk from recently-imbibed liquids. But in December she's been a little busy.
She sold a whole batch of Christmas cards with her own designs and ended up with some unexpected money. So she decided to offer 20 gift certificates at $30 each to strangers leaving comments on her blog who needed help over Christmas.
So far, so good. But what happened next was remarkable.
The comments started to come in; a litany of hard-luck stories. Mothers who couldn't get presents for the kids, others struggling with medical treatment, some who were worried about the rent. But what happened when the 21st comment came in?
Another complete stranger posted a comment. "I'll send a gift card to the next person." Then another. Then another. Then another.
A trickle turned into a stream, turned into a torrent. Every time someone would leave a comment asking for help, another would leave one to keep it going. At last count over $42,000 had been distributed from one group of complete strangers to another.
I'm sorry I can't do the same. I don't have enough readers for starters (and not enough of you seem to know how to use the Comment link down there, ahem) but I thought this was something worth sharing with those of you that do visit.
After all, it's Christmas, isn't it? Time for miracles.
5 comments:
What a great story. And idea.
While I may not comment, have no fear. I am here every time you add a new post.
Glad to hear it, MiP, and welcome!
Yes, to have that not tug your heart-strings, you MUST be dead inside.
I confess I do not hit your comment button near as often as you deserve. Forgive me. :)
Dory at Can't Remember Diddly
I posted it to my FB...awesome story ;)
And to think, it all started with James Garfield!
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