Gift Giving

Santa Claus came to me in my sleep last night, and anointed me as one of his special Helpers. Santa has many Helpers, as you know, and rather than all having the same job, we are given a number of different jobs with different gifts to give. Some Helpers take lavish gifts to homes on their lists. Some Helpers concentrate on toys for children. And some Helpers, like me, have been given unusual gifts to hand out.

In my case, it is doling out cloth shopping bags as gifts. The nice thing about these bags is that they are made out of replaceable plants grown for that purpose, not from trees. And they can be used over, and over, and over. Paper bags are used only once by most people, made out of trees, and unless the recipient is conservation-aware, forgotten on the spot.

Also, my clients think about the world much as I do. A tree, to us, is a thing of beauty, shade on a hot day and some shelter on a rainy day, and MOST OF ALL, a safe home to many animals and birds. In fact it may come as a surprise to those of you who do not think the same as we do, Tree and Pet Huggers think about this stuff alot. And it is our hope that our numbers will continue to grow. (I am proud to admit that some of us are actually hot and heavy on the subject, but not for ourselves, instead for the world and everything in it.)

Unfortunately, some of our converts have put their cloth bags down and can’t remember where they are, or they leave the house without them and can’t be bothered to go back.
But as a devoted Helper, I will put in my very own word here. If you aleady have at least one cloth bag, GET THE HELL OUT THERE AND FIND IT AND USE IT! And if you are truly sorry that you are NOT doing enough to try to help the world and everything on it, start trying.

For those of you who are not on my list for bags, I’m just one of Santa’s Helpers, and you may be on another Helper’s list. Let’s give up Christmas and replace it with a holiday 365 days long all around the world that includes, not just humans, but all the animals, the plants, and the rocks and dirt, and even the germs. After all, if germs kill us, just think how each and every one of us also kill germs and everything else, both bad and good. Ever thought of that?

Merry Whatever from the Bag Lady


ARW
12/1/09