I’ve begun to help support a wonderful idea for the homeless youth in the city where I work. I’ve fallen in love with how giving and thoughtful those around me are in this common endeavor. It started out as just a simple picture that caught my attention in my social media newsfeed. Then I saw it again with a very humorous tag and reference to a popular song on the radio lately, that I know my students enjoy. (I too like the rhythm and melody of this particular catchy tune, but have strong opinions about the lyrics today’s youth are exposed to on popular radio stations.) I was thinking about all this because of this picture and its clever presentation. Then I started to question why that person might have become involved in this particular cause and how intelligently well-put together her post was. I started thinking maybe this clever person is someone I need to know better and that maybe by helping her I could be a little bit more like her. I liked that thought and went for it. She inspired me and I was grateful for the chance to be like that, too.
I then started to associate my students with these homeless youth sock recipients and how the very people sitting in my classroom could be in need of such an item and how great it would be for those who could and were willing to help, to do that. Socks are not an expensive item to purchase, pretty openly available just about everywhere, but so very necessary at the same time. Right? Think about it. Your feet. They feel happy with warmth and comfort in the colder temperatures. Don’t they? Doesn’t it just make you soooooo uncomfortable to have cold and wet feet. It’s pretty bad to imagine a person having to go a winter season without taking good care of their feet. Especially, if they’re on them for the most part.
I also thought about the times I had given clothes to certain collections in the past and that when I did, I was rummaging through my drawers and closets to find items to give. However, when it got to socks, they were thrown away, not donated. I mean really… who wants used socks. Right? Maybe it’s better than no socks, but I was now thinking that maybe because of this kind of general attitude, there might be a high demand for socks for the needy. So after spending more than a couple of minutes reflecting on it, I had several reasons to become involved and to invite others to do the same. It just seemed too simple and still so significant, to pass up. Won’t you look into such a program by you?
