The Spirt of the Holiday Season

Today is Black Friday. While some of us will casually wake up at 7 or 8AM, an ungodly hour to be up on a day when many don’t have a regular work day, even more have been up since 2 or 3AM. What’s more extreme? Many have stayed up all night, camping outside of retail stores, hoping to purchase their coveted item at 50%. Well my friends, this post will not be about shopping, even though in the past this seemed more of my expertise.

So among the many articles on shopping deals and stories of Black Friday successes and disappoints, here is my blog post. Today, I’m going to write about a few heroes.

This past week I saw links on my Facebook Feed to an article about CNN’s Hero of the Year, Efren Penaflorida. Efren started a “pushcart classroom” in the slums of the Philippines as a way to help educate poor children and prevent them from joining gangs. I clicked through the link and found more stories of real life heroes.

There’s Beth Makoni, who built a safe haven for girls who were raped and abused in Zimbabwe. Being a victim herself, her mother told her to keep the rape quiet. She later witnessed her father murder her mother. She knew then that education and a means to speak out, were what these victims needed. "In the first 72 hours, a girl is provided with emergency medication, reinstatement in school, as well as counseling," said Makoni. "It gives them the confidence to transform from victims to leaders," she explained.

Then there’s Jorge Munoz, by day he’s a bus driver, by night he’s a hero. Every night, over the past four years, Munoz and his family has cooked and distributed hot meals to the needy in Jackson Heights, Queens. I think what struck me most about Jorge was that he looked like an ordinary person. He is the guy you’d pass by on the street and not think twice about. Or maybe he was the bus driver that the kids gave a hard time too. But here he was, an immigrant to this country, yet feeding those who needed it the most out of donations and his own paycheck, night after night, without fail.

I’ll end the post with a quote from Efren’s acceptance speech. 

"Each person has a hidden hero within, you just have to look inside you and search it in your heart, and be the hero to the next one in need.”

Stores are open. Parking lots are filled. The holiday shopping season is in full swing. Please be safe. Please be sane. I wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season and I hope that beyond the long lines, big screen TVs, and the to-die for dresses and coats, the real holiday and human spirit will be celebrated as well. Efren is right, there’s something in each of us that’s called to be a hero for someone who needs it. We don’t have to be extraordinary people. We don’t have to perform these huge life changing acts. We just have to see value in being something for someone and have the courage to rise up to that challenge.

Happy Holidays, Friends!

-Rae is a blogger for The Daily Vine. Check out her bio to see where her view comes from.