A new holiday was launched in 2012 to balance out the self-absorbed madness of Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Giving Tuesday. That’s TODAY! People from all over—business, charities, communities, families—are entering into the spirit of giving. In fact, as of yesterday, the movement’s website listed over 2100 partners in this endeavor.
The beauty of this is that EVERYONE can participate. If not with our wallets, then with our excess food in our pantries or the second Buy-one/Get-One-Free item. Or with that like-new clothing we that loved when we bought it but know we’ll never wear. Or with those toys our kids opened Christmases ago but sit in their boxes, un-played with. Or blankets and rain ponchos for the homeless who are about to be caught in what promises to be a series of bad storms. Or simply with the gift of our time: to help at a shelter or soup kitchen; to visit a lonely elder in a nursing home; to comfort a grieving family; to be with a troubled child.
Yes, I really like this idea of a Giving Tuesday and hope it grows larger and stronger every year. It turns my sour taste of Friday and Monday into the sweet anticipation of a Christmas season packed with all the meaning it’s supposed to have.