Christmas is nigh, and we all have the chances once again to do something special for someone else this Christmas season. Personally, I love the Christmas season because it's a time when people let down their guard a bit and treat each other just a bit more kindly, with a bit more respect and caring and love. And to be honest, that's that way I want to be all the time, and this time of year allows me to share that feeling with others. The rest of the year, it often seems like I'm the only one who wants to do special things for other people, and at times that can get very frustrating and even discouraging, because most people aren't ready to accept that kind of behavior if there's no special occasion for it.
Think about it: If you were to give some of the gifts that you give for Christmas on just some random Tuesday in June, how would people respond? In my experience, their first response would be to be baffled. Why is this person giving me a gift? That's often (usually?) followed by suspicion: What does s/he want from me? Is this a come-on? It's a shame, but in our societies we're often taught to be suspicious of anyone doing anything out of the norm, and it's also a shame that doing kind things for people for no particular reason is quite out of the norm.
Of course, I'm not talking about buying a car for a co-worker that I hardly know. Rather, I'm thinking about the little acts of kindness that we can show to others that can help them to have a better and brighter day. During Christmas season, we see tons of those--candy and cookies in the mailbox or on the desk, kind words in the hallway, asking about our holiday plans or what we want for Christmas. What most people don't seem to realize is that these things are natural for us--it's natural for us to be kind to others, to share gifts with them just because, to actually speak to them as if we're interested in what they say.
But as Francis says, we see this as "unusual" behavior. We see this type of treatment of others as an aberration. But what if we were to take back our right to act in ways that come naturally to us, no matter the outcome? What if I were always to be kind to others even when I get rudeness or indifference in return? What if I want to be giving even when others aren't ready or willing to be getting? What if I want to share even when others don't seem to be interested in sharing?
It isn't always easy. I work at a school at which fully half of the faculty doesn't even look at other teachers when they pass them in the hallway--honestly! That makes it hard to continue to say good morning to people who simply ignore the greeting. After a while, my tendency is to say to myself, "Okay, they're not interested in hearing a greeting from me, so I'll stop." When I do that, though, I'm very clearly allowing their actions to affect my decisions about how I'll treat other people. And I don't want that to happen, so, I have to keep on saying good morning even when someone doesn't respond--if I want to be true to myself and the person I want to be.
At Christmas time, I think it's easier because so many other people are also receptive to what we have to give. They not only accept it, but they express their appreciation for it, too, and that makes us feel better about having offered our gifts in the first place. So we have a chance to be ourselves because we're not afraid that being ourselves will cause us negative results or feedback.
So let's take advantage of this Christmas season and give all that we can in all the ways that we can (in a realistic way!). And let's use this season as training, getting experience in giving and in getting, so that we can continue to be ourselves every day of the year. It really is up to us if we want to show our true selves to the world.
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