Christmas Gift: A Random Act of Kindness
From: Peaches <fsgchi_at_wwa.com>
Date: 1997/12/16
Message-ID: <01bd0a38$11adefa0$913ff1cf_at_ww.wwa.com>#1/1
My Christmas stories are all happy. The most vivid occurred when I was working (on a Fullbright Grant) in Helsinki Finland in 1966. We had five little children, one just recently adopted in Finland. We were talking about the real meaning of Christmas and I read an article in the _Helsingin Sanomat_ (the Helsinki Newspaper) about a man who had angrily sent away a reporter who asked him about his Christmas Feeling shouting that if he had a Ham for his family he would think Christmas was "okay" (or the Finnish equivalent). We spent some time with the newspaper tracing down the man's name and address. Each of the children was allowed to put some of his/her Christmas money into a kitty (well- honestly the two one-year olds were not that interested) and we went and bought as big a ham as we could afford, bundled the kids up and went to deliver a ham. I will always remember two parents five kids (the oldest was eight) and a ham bundled up trudging through Helsinki with two Kick sleighs (you have to know them to appreciate them) in temperatures about 20 below 0 celsius ( a little warmer than 20 below Fahrenheit but still darn cold) when we got to the door and knocked a voice in side told us to go away. I replied that if he wanted a ham I had a ham for him. He opened the door looked at the seven blue apparitions before him and wanted to know why I talked funny (with an accent). I told him that we were Americans studying at the National Theatre and that we wanted to give him a ham. He replied that "Perkele" (devil-- one of the worst Finnish swear words) He wasn't taking charity from the *&###+?_at_@@@%#$ Americans and sent us on our way. Our children were broken hearted and we took our freezing bodies on down the street till we came to a trolley stop. I decided we would take the trolley home, kick sleighs and all. One of the ladies at the stop asked us where we had been (by then the children were really NOT happy) I told her the story, and she asked us to follow her. She took us into a scruffy court yard and down a sort of basement stairs. She said "this family will appreciate a ham" We knocked, and a scarecrow with three little scarecrows behind her answered the door. The lady with us (who turned out to be an employee of a church fellowship) explained that we had a ham to give someone in need. Tears streamed down her face, she embraced the lady, me, my DW and my kids. She offered us coffee or heated "mehua" (sort of a fruit juice punch) but I had the feeling she really had little to spare. We explained that we had to get the children home so Santa could visit (in Finland Santa comes on Christmas eve when all the children are at home) so she embraced us again and sent us away. We thanked the lady who led us there, she thanked us and we all hugged again and I blew what was left of our Christmas money hiring a cab to get to Puotala (The little suburb where we lived). No one caught Pneumonia, Santa (our next door neighbor lady with a fur coat and a beard) came later that evening and it all worked out pretty well.
Date: 1997/12/16
Message-ID: <01bd0a38$11adefa0$913ff1cf_at_ww.wwa.com>#1/1
The following is posted here with the permission of the author, Richard B. Johnson. He is generously allowing me to pass this story on to the denizens of ARC. In return, I ask that no one repost or otherwise copy this story without the author's permission.
A while back there was some chatter about commercialism and the meaning of Christmas here at ARC. In the meantime, a group of doll makers were sharing their own Holiday stories in another venue. I present one such story to ARC. -- Merry Christmas.
My Christmas stories are all happy. The most vivid occurred when I was working (on a Fullbright Grant) in Helsinki Finland in 1966. We had five little children, one just recently adopted in Finland. We were talking about the real meaning of Christmas and I read an article in the _Helsingin Sanomat_ (the Helsinki Newspaper) about a man who had angrily sent away a reporter who asked him about his Christmas Feeling shouting that if he had a Ham for his family he would think Christmas was "okay" (or the Finnish equivalent). We spent some time with the newspaper tracing down the man's name and address. Each of the children was allowed to put some of his/her Christmas money into a kitty (well- honestly the two one-year olds were not that interested) and we went and bought as big a ham as we could afford, bundled the kids up and went to deliver a ham. I will always remember two parents five kids (the oldest was eight) and a ham bundled up trudging through Helsinki with two Kick sleighs (you have to know them to appreciate them) in temperatures about 20 below 0 celsius ( a little warmer than 20 below Fahrenheit but still darn cold) when we got to the door and knocked a voice in side told us to go away. I replied that if he wanted a ham I had a ham for him. He opened the door looked at the seven blue apparitions before him and wanted to know why I talked funny (with an accent). I told him that we were Americans studying at the National Theatre and that we wanted to give him a ham. He replied that "Perkele" (devil-- one of the worst Finnish swear words) He wasn't taking charity from the *&###+?_at_@@@%#$ Americans and sent us on our way. Our children were broken hearted and we took our freezing bodies on down the street till we came to a trolley stop. I decided we would take the trolley home, kick sleighs and all. One of the ladies at the stop asked us where we had been (by then the children were really NOT happy) I told her the story, and she asked us to follow her. She took us into a scruffy court yard and down a sort of basement stairs. She said "this family will appreciate a ham" We knocked, and a scarecrow with three little scarecrows behind her answered the door. The lady with us (who turned out to be an employee of a church fellowship) explained that we had a ham to give someone in need. Tears streamed down her face, she embraced the lady, me, my DW and my kids. She offered us coffee or heated "mehua" (sort of a fruit juice punch) but I had the feeling she really had little to spare. We explained that we had to get the children home so Santa could visit (in Finland Santa comes on Christmas eve when all the children are at home) so she embraced us again and sent us away. We thanked the lady who led us there, she thanked us and we all hugged again and I blew what was left of our Christmas money hiring a cab to get to Puotala (The little suburb where we lived). No one caught Pneumonia, Santa (our next door neighbor lady with a fur coat and a beard) came later that evening and it all worked out pretty well.
copyright 1997 Richard B. Johnson
-- Peaches http://miso.wwa.com/~fsgchi reply to: fsgchi at wwa dot com What lies before us, and what lies behind us, are tiny matters compared to what lies within us... --Ralph Waldo EmersonReceived on Tue Dec 16 1997 - 00:00:00 CET