There is a poll on the side of the Sedalia Democrat website that goes like this: “Based on your personal experience, the holidays bring out the ______ in people.” “Best” “Worst” and “No Opinion” are the options, but that’s kind of a complicated question that requires a little more than a one (Or two) word answer.
In reality the end of the calendar year brings out both the best of some and the worst of others. We are inundated each day with good news about good people doing good things in the spirit of the holiday, but sandwiched between the encouraging news is some of the same old bad news: shooting, theft, political nastiness and praise for the Oakland Raiders.
We are lucky to live in a city where many of the people and local organizations see fit to do what they can to make sure that as many people as possible have a happy holiday. It’s great to see the great people at the Sedalia Police Department host their third annual Cops for Coats initiative – they work hard for the public year round and they strive do to more good during the winter. The least we can do for the less fortunate is help them deal with the temperature. It’s tragic to think there are people out there who are forced to choose between feeding themselves, or paying their other bills or being able to afford a reasonable winter coat.
The Pettis County Community Santa Campaign is one of the best parts of the holidays – I know the elves there work very hard but it must be worth it to spread Christmas joy to those who might not have been able to afford any. Even the young people are getting involved for a good cause: this Saturday, from 11-2 in the gym at Smith-Cotton High School will be host to “Deck the Gym”, a fun fundraiser for the Santa campaign. Bring your kids, buy some tickets and have some fun!
Even the Facebook sales pages, normally full of people who are looking to wheel and deal are full of people responding positively to requests for cheap or free essentials and holiday toys. It seems like every day there is someone asking for some assistance and without delay there’s always someone else responding with help, or at least some resources.
So we’ve established that good people do great things this time of year, but the criminal element apparently doesn’t take any holidays. Any crime against our fellow person seems like a crime too much during this time of year.
Sadly each year this does seem to be the season for robbery, theft, armed robbery and general shoplifting. I don’t think they’re doing it for fun, or for sport but maybe there’s something about the holidays that turns up the pressure on those who think they can’t provide without breaking the law.
There’s always been this unspoken rule that the modern mature American isn’t really a successful member of society until they’ve provided at least their immediate families with great Christmas gifts. The songs and speeches insist that Christmas presence is much more important than Christmas presents, but materialism does seem more prominent with each passing holiday season.
So each year in a state of desperation there are those who break the law: they steal something and sell it to someone for a few Christmas bucks, or they get right to the point and steal exactly the gifts they’re hoping to give. This behavior shouldn’t be excused, dismissed, encouraged or allowed but maybe there should be a little understanding. When society pushes down on someone with limited resources and makes them believe that the quality of a person is based on the gifts they give then it shouldn’t be too surprising when they’re willing to do just about anything to live up to the platonic ideal of the holidays.
Don’t get me wrong: I know there are plenty who break the law year round and are criminals for all seasons but there are also some who allow the holiday pressure to get to them and it causes them to have a lapse in good judgment.
But it’s not worth it. The holiday season is about spending quality time with your friends and family and anyone who would think less of us because we can’t afford the perfect gift probably doesn’t deserve any gifts at all.
