OTHERS

LINE COUNT: 32

New Prompt! Write a poem or story about a family that decided not to exchange gifts at Christmas. What did they do instead? How did it turn out? What did they learn about themselves (and others?)

OTHERS

Our familys' Christmas plans were quite a trip!
We usually party on a ship--
this year, self-righteous thoughts turned us toward good
as we considered finding what we could
do to celebrate and honor this feast
we know as Christmas day; to help increase
the well-being of our dear neighbors' plans,
to spontaneously throw open our hands
and hearts, showering others with our gifts
and good will, hoping our efforts would lift
the spirits of our fellow souls and give
them hope, incentive, to go on and live
with dignity and purpose, for new days.
But once we identified our new craze
of playing "superman," to share good will,
we learned that charity alone can't fill
all cracks caused by life's hurts and poverty.
It took this wake-up call for us to see
that others' needs exceed our Christmas cheer;
that meaningful change can come about here
only if we commit to gently place
our help and love spread all around the space
we know as our lives, to share more than stuff
with those "others" who do not have enough!
The soup kitchens can only do so much;
to create real change, we have to touch
those suffering among us, with our hearts.
Our efforts this Christmas were just starts
at bettering the world on our own,:
of melting peoples' attitudes of stone!