Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010

‘Tis the season for giving, and many local schools and organizations are doing just that with several food and clothing drives planned throughout the area.

As it is important on all of our parts to give what we can to those who need it, it is especially important for parents of our area students to take part and encourage their kids to give to their school drives.

There is no better place than inside the halls of a place where the goal is to educate, to do just that and educate the area’s young people about the harsh realities faced by some of our fellow neighbors.

Charitable organizations like the Salvation Army and various food pantries have said the need on behalf of residents for assistance just keeps growing and the sad fact is many of the faces continue to be new faces.

New families facing hard times.

New friends unable to make ends meet.

New citizens facing a cold, hard winter without the luxuries we take for granted every day, like warm clothes or a hot meal.

There is another luxury we often overlook — an absence of fear.

That absence of fear means we don’t feel a pit in the stomach when we switch on the lights, afraid that the electricity may have already been shut off. We’re not faced with the challenge of asking for rides to work because we can’t afford to fix the car.

Though we might indulge in flu shots or echinacea tea to keep the inevitable wintertime sicknesses at bay, there are those who face the fear of getting sick without the health insurance to help in covering the costs of getting better.

This year it seems more evident that is is the absence of fear that is our greatest luxury.

And it would seem incredibly appropriate to teach our young people about that fear, in the hope that they never have to know it and the faith that they do what they can to help those that do.