THERE I WAS, doing my servant job. The day before—a hard day of stupid, entitled, rude, horrible, rotten people—left me tired and in a bad mood. So doing it all over again, a group of two or three girls and an adult came walking up when I was in the middle of helping a customer. I was expecting them to tell me they needed help, but instead, the little girl handed me a note, a candy cane, and Starbucks gift card. The note said something about giving and making people smile during the holidays. I accepted it, smiled, and said thank you. What I wished I’d done was ask them if I could hug them. I didn’t. They’d walked away by the time I had the thought, and I was helping someone else. Perhaps if I wasn’t busy, I would’ve had the courage to hug them and say thank you. I cried after, because these days generosity, kindness, and love are so overcome by division, fear, and hate. They wanted nothing in return. I hope someday someone will show them my thanks, because I didn’t express myself how I would’ve liked.—Anonymous
Making people smile during the holidays.