Gift Exchange

Gift Exchange

 

The 7^th grade teacher Mrs. Bothersome was dutifully cutting up the class roster into equal indistinguishable pieces. She put all of the names of the students into a cloth sack and invited each child to walk up to the front of the class and select a name for the holiday gift exchange – something affordable, and an item they may like and, of course fun. No peeking and no telling the person that you selected them; it was supposed to be anonymous.

 

Duncan, shy and dubbed a loner by his classmates, reached into the bag and pulled out the little slip of paper. He held it tightly in his hand as he walked back to his desk. He opened it slowly and crouched over his cupped hands so no one else could see and peered in to read the name Monica – the new transfer student that nobody liked. He let out an audible sigh, crumpled up the paper, stuffed it into his pocket and slouched back into his desk chair. This was not a good choice he thought. He wondered why he couldn’t have been luckier and picked somebody that he knew. There is no fun in shopping for someone you don’t know anything about he thought; what’s the point?

 

The scoop on Monica, pronounced Moan-eek-ah, was she had moved from some foreign country in either Latin or South America and had joined the class after the Thanksgiving holiday. It was reported that her parents were arrested or died or something and that she and her little brother had to move here and was living with an uncle. A couple of people thought that maybe she was retarded because she never talked at all outside of class. And when she did talk, her English was so poor, the kids laughed out loud at her. This hurt her because the truth was that she was alone without her friends or parents and Christmas was coming.

 

Well, whatever her story, Duncan started to pay attention. It’s funny what you can find out about a person just through observation. As Duncan started considering gift options he began to observe and study Monica. He found himself watching her every day and noticed that she was always alone. None of the other girls or students talked with her or sat with her at lunch. Duncan would stare at her when she wasn’t looking. He saw how people avoided her and even ignored her. He watched her try to start conversations and see people just turn and walk away. In class she was shy and frustrated because she could not always find the right words. Students would snicker when she would make a mistake. In a very short time she had become completely ostracized.

 

She was retreating too. She stopped trying to make friends and ate alone and left school in a flash every day. This was not un-noticed by Duncan who had fought his extreme shyness his whole life and resigned himself to the role of a loner. He could tell Monica didn’t want to be alone which caused him to become strangely drawn to her. He began to wonder how he would feel if he were in her shoes and he even felt like he should approach her, but he never could get up the courage.

 

At the last period of the day before the Christmas break, the teacher took all of the gifts and piled them in the middle of the room. This way no one would know who placed what package and thus the secrecy of the giver would remain intact. As students started unwrapping their presents one could see a wide range of gifts from simple trinkets or books to bizarre and funny gag gifts. Monica grasped the card with her name on it. She opened it and read “I want to be your friend.” It was unsigned and she quickly moved her eyes around the room to try and discern the giver’s identity. Nobody returned the eye contact. She closed the card and thought how cruel a gift this was. She began a stifled cry and sat down in her seat.

 

Duncan worked his way through the noise and wrapping paper and came up behind Monica. He tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and looked up and heard him say “it was me, I want to be your friend, is that okay?” She nodded yes and they exchanged the biggest smiles you ever saw.

 

When we give what we seek we draw situations and people to us that bring us what we need. Kindness, compassion, appreciation and friendship are powerful gifts and work great not only as last minute stocking stuffers but as living breathing conduits attracting the happiness God has in store for all of us. Merry Christmas.

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Today’s Szenippet: The gift you always wanted has forever been inside you waiting for you to open it.