Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Time Warner Cable is conspiring to prevent my RACs from being accomplished…

Don' MAKE me go all DirectTV on yo' a$$...

Yesterday, I had extreme good fortune to stumble across a featured WordPress.com blog when I was randomly browsing the posts under “Christmas” (there’s a surprise).  These posts can range in topics from buying Christmas trees online, creating your own holiday cards, and making that perfect Pumpkin Eggnog Bread Pudding (featured on WordPress.com’s Freshly Pressed page).  One in particular, with the post title “Compassion at Christmas,” caught my eye.

The author of the post, Jenn, has been involved with a company called Compassion International for the past two years.  This company is dedicated to sponsoring and supporting children in need throughout the world.  Every Christmas, these children receive gifts from their sponsors, which in itself is a wonderful act.  However, they rarely ever receive an accompanying card, a written joy that brings much happiness to their day.  Jenn describes how meaningful a written note can be to these children:

“I think it’s hard for us, in our culture, to realize the significance of a card.  As kids we tended to open the card just for show, and so we would know who to thank after we ripped the paper off of the package. The card was incidental, a hassle, a temporary barrier between us and stuff.

But for so many children living in poverty, words of encouragement and affirmation, words of love and care may be few and far between.  I grew up among daily words of love and affirmation; words on a card just echoed what I had already heard over and over.  Many of these kids don’t have that experience.

So strange as it may seem to us, the kids who only receive gifts but no cards tend to be a little sad and disappointed at the Christmas parties. There is something special about being sponsored.”

I was really moved by her words and affirmations.  Towards the end of her post, she informs her readers that even if you can’t afford to spend $40/month to sponsor a child, there is a way to bring them a little joy this holiday season. DaySpring and (in)courage, two Christian websites, are partnering to send greeting cards to Compassion International children without sponsors.  Throughout the month of December, young ones in Ecuador will receive your well-wishes and know that they are treasured.  You can choose to create a card, personalize it, and send it off to a child for less than $3.

I knew in an instant that I had to complete Jenn’s challenge for my RAC that day.  I knew without questioning.  I’ve been meaning to grow beyond the scope of merely bringing food with me everywhere to complete my daily act of kindness.  I needed to go beyond myself.

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Bumbles, Beers and Bouquets

An act of contrition.  An act of frivolity.  An act of appreciation.  These 3 acts comprised my weekend RACs, and also helped me understand something about myself, too.

First off…the act of appreciation.  I took some time this weekend to see a friend of mine in a dinner theatre show, an outing I had been planning since the middle of October.  Suffice it to say that during the past two months, I have nearly forgotten to schedule blinking and breathing into my agenda, let alone an entire afternoon of theatre.  My last possible opportunity to see my friend’s show came this weekend, and I astonishingly had an entire Sunday afternoon open.

My RAC came in the form of flowers for said friend, which I presented to her at the opening of the show.  Now, some people out there are under the assumption that merely attending a friend’s play or musical is an act of kindness in itself.  The show nearly ran for 3 1/2 hours…time enough to bake two cheesecakes, write your memoirs, or feel your butt go numb.

But simply attending this show for my friend wasn’t enough; she was my friend, a person who has stuck by me through thick and thin…someone who has attended shows I’ve performed in, time and time again.  The very least I could do for her was to be in attendance.  It’s part of the friendship code:  thou shalt attend all manners of theatre/concerts/operas/symphonies/drag shows/poetry readings that your friends engage in.  It’s there.  Look it up.

Nay, I could not simply just attend her show, although she later intimated to me that she was thrilled I could be there.  That’s my duty as a friend.  That’s not allowed to count for an RAC:  it’s not something done out of the ordinary.  It has to be something that you wouldn’t normally do.