Maybe it’s the flu or Mad Cow or the latest “the sky is falling” from the Bush administration or an economy that is still pretty lousy for most of us peasants, but Christmas seems to be hanging like a dark cloud over a lot of people this year.
In fact, if it weren’t for KJAZ’s occasional Christmas tune on internet radio, and the mob scenes wherever there are three or more retailers, it would seem more like late March than late December.
It seems like everyone I know is a) out of town; b) sick themselves or nursing sick kids; c) on call for the holiday; or d) exhausted, fed up and looking forward to a quiet day off with a bottle of sherry and their cats.
Plans cancelled because of illness and wanting to do something in the spirit of the holiday, I called almost a dozen organizations this morning to offer volunteer services. To their credit, most were appreciative of the offer, although none took me up on it.
First, Jewish houses of worship have a lock on many volunteer opportunities on Christian holidays, which is a fine and ecumenical thing for them to do.
Second, at many places, you can’t just sign up to be a volunteer on the spur of the moment, you have to fill out an application and pass a background screening, even if you’d be working with able-bodied adults.
Third, a lot of social service organizations use volunteers to help them with administrative tasks, not dealing directly with their clients. And most of them are off tomorrow.
Fourth, some organizations like the Salvation Army don’t need the time, but they are desperate for cash. The “dress a doll” program, which was fully booked last year, came up short due to a bunch of failed commitments. Rather than disappoint the kids, the Army dug deep into its own reserves. Unlike the federal government, they are not deficit spenders, so they are looking for contributions to make up the difference.
Thus, I’ll be home for Christmas, you can count on me. I’ll be working on customer projects, maybe watching one or two Blockbuster rentals, and passing on the roast beef, thank you, until someone figures out what happened to that poor cow out in Washington state.