Small Town News

Give the gift of selflessness

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JOURNAL EDITORIAL

When George Bailey stood on that bridge in Bedford Falls, ready to take his own life, it was because he had failed to take sufficient stock of his own life.

So the fictional character in the classic film was sent an unlikely hero in the form of an angel named Clarence, who granted George his wish: that he had never been born.

Whether or not you believe in angels, or God for that matter, there are acts of kindness and sacrifice everywhere you look. You just have to look for them.

"I'm at the end of my rope," George Bailey prays, not because he hadn't had a wonderful life, but because he had failed to consider all the good that had come of it. Or as someone of that era might have told him, "count your blessings."

As 2015 draws to a close, it is natural for us all to make an accounting of our year. Hopefully your mailbox has been stuffed with a few good Christmas letters so you know how your friends and relatives fared.

But how have you fared?

Many of our local businesses have told us that business is growing and that's a far change from just a few years ago, when we all were suffering from the fallout of the Great Recession. We expect some of that success might be seen by your eyes.

Are you still vertical?

No matter what state your health may be, or your age, if you're reading this editorial, you still have a pulse. Which means you still have work to do and in this season of Christmas, by "work," we mean "giving."

Nothing is better for the spirit than to perform a selfless act. To give without expectation of anything in return flies in the face of Sir Isaac Newton's Third Law of Motion, which we paraphrase: For every act there is an opposite and equal reaction.

Perhaps this is why giving freely fills the spirit: That reaction has to go somewhere.

Is your mind well?

If not, this too can be an easy fix and we would suggest that you refer to our last piece of advice: give freely. Find someone more troubled than yourself (they're out there and probably closer than you imagine) and spend a little time with them.

And what of your health?

Well, since it's Christmas, it's probably best to enjoy as much food and company as you feel appropriate and resolve to make a better body for yourself in 2016.

Merry Christmas from your friends at the Mason County Journal.



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