BOXING DAY

When he was young he’d thought boxing Day was a day when people went boxing. Like Rocky but for regular people.

Now as an adult he knew better. And even though he still wasn’t religious, he appreciated the concept behind Boxing Day.

It was a day of charity and giving. Of wrapping presents for the poor and donating to good causes.

All year long he’d set aside a little money from each paycheck and bonus. And by the time December rolled around he had close to $6000.

He’d grown up poor. He knew what it was like to not have a warm enough coat or socks without holes in the toes and heels. He remembered going to bed hungry and waking up to go to school without breakfast the next morning.

He remembered the desperation that had driven his child self to steal from the desk of the kid next to him. That kid had always boasted of the toys and candy his parents bought him. His clothes had always been clean and new and the shoes on his feet were always the most popular brands.

There had been a sense of shame about stealing, but the grinding hunger in his belly had been unignorable. Immediately after school he’d run to the grocery store and bought a prepared bagel sandwich and a bottle of chocolate milk.

He still remembered the taste of that chocolate milk. Creamy and sweet. He had sipped and gulped then licked the rim of the empty bottle to get the last few drops.

He hated that poverty had turned him into a thief, but he didn’t regret it.

He’d been a child. And he’d been so hungry his stomach felt like it was eating itself.

No one had helped him so he’d helped himself. Even now he didn’t know what else he could have done. He’d grown up in a time when there were no programs for the poor and there were propaganda messages implanted in shows so blatantly that even now “There’s no such thing as a free lunch” was part of the pop culture of the eighties and nineties.

It had been a relief when people had started feeding the children. Free school lunches for every child. Extra nutrition programs for children and pregnant people. Toys for kids. School supplies and new clothes for those in need. Gloves, hats, and scarves at wintertime and new swimsuits in the spring and summer.

It had finally felt as if the world was becoming a better place. He’d looked around, and while he’d envied the new generation of kids, he’d felt glad they wouldn’t have to suffer the way he had.

Then people became bitter. Sarcasm and “dark” humor was popularized. Kindness became something to be mocked.

Boomers were angry about the “free lunches” millennials were getting. Gen-X was angry about the “pussification” of millennials and wallowed in “we had to live hard, why shouldn’t they?” jealousy. And millennials swallowed the bitterness pill and wondered why Gen-Z needed anything at all.

And programs began to break down. Greedy politicians that pretended at religion began voting against social welfare programs. “We’re not a socialist country! Why should there be social welfare? Back in our great-grandparents’ time, women would squat in the backrooms of factories, squeeze out a baby, and go back to finish their shifts! This new generation is too soft. It’s time to stop coddling and start forcing them to stand on their own feet! If you can’t afford children… then keep your legs closed!”

He had listened to the anti-humanity rhetoric and felt nothing but disgust. It still puzzled him that so many embraced nihilism as a viable lifestyle choice.

Some part of him blamed single shooter games and “one man army” action movies. People absorbed that brainless entertainment by the queue-full, then it was a big surprise when they started buying into the propaganda.

Family first, and self before family. If a disaster happens, do anything you want to survive and overcome, even if it means causing the deaths and misery of those around you. Let nothing stand in your way… You are the most important person ever born and whatever you do is acceptable even if it’s morally reprehensible and a crime in every known corner of the world.

He figured that kids raised on that kind of single-minded selfishness were doomed to lack empathy. He could only hope that after a time they would learn to care for those around them. Especially those kids that had always had everything and never tasted of want or sipped from the cup of authority sanctioned misery.

There was nothing he could do for any of them. And they likely wouldn’t want to listen to him anyway. He was just a nobody with a bit of time on his hands.

Instead he took his nearly $6000 and went shopping. Coats, sweaters, pants, underwear, socks, plush toys, baby formula, anything and everything that he could think of someone desperately needing.

He loaded up his car to take things for those in need. And the last thing he put in the trunk was two cases of single-serving chocolate milk bottles.

As he began to drive, he couldn’t help wishing that he’d bought the chocolate milk in square cartons instead. It was Boxing Day after all.

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