After an hour of Christmas shopping, I stepped out of Best Buy with bags full of commerce in my hands, and was met with the sound of an incessant jingling bell. I looked up slightly and saw three volunteers standing expectantly around a Salvation Army collection bucket. I felt a twinge of guilt, but my stride was steady as I passed them by. “Merry Christmas,” one of the volunteers called after me. In that instant, I questioned whether the volunteer was being sarcastic, or if she truly believed in spreading holiday cheer. And that got me thinking. Who turns wishes of holiday joy into indignant epithets? And really, what right does that lady have to judge me? I could be one of those people that never carries cash. Maybe I had already donated twenty bucks to another charity earlier that day. Perhaps I’ve been sponsoring a child in a third world country since 1998. Or maybe I run an orphanage and fund it with homemade “Free Tibet” merchandise.
Or you know, maybe I’m an over-privileged brat that couldn’t be bothered to drop a few dollars in the name of charity. Sheepishly, instinctually, I answered in kind. “Merry Christmas.”
‘Tis the season for winter guilt trips. Humbug.
I always think it’s rude when these people act like they’re going to snap me into charity mode by ringing a loud bell in my face. Maybe you could train a dog like that, but it does nothing to motivate me. And I just helped organize a toy drive for the Guardian ad Litem program I work for, without a single loud bell.
Actually, I’m relatively against the Salvation Army. They’re a pretty messed up organization. Also, how do you know that person’s not just going to take the money for himself/herself? There’s no real way to track the money that is donated each day or in a shift. You should take out the extra y in “guilty trips.”
I agree with what Tara…ahem… I mean ‘me’ said. It’s hard to trust people. Most people in this world honestly aren’t worth trusting anyways. But what I find even more sad is that these people who swindle others in the name of charity do so much damage. The repercussions don’t really fall on them themselves but on the homeless really. They swindle you, you don’t trust these kinds of events and so you don’t help out even if its legit, and so the homeless receive no help. It really is sad when you really want to help someone out but doubts like this prevent you.