If we received the ultimate gift this Christmas, what would it be? A Yacht? Gold and silver? Maybe a beautiful home on a mountainside overlooking the ocean? Then again, we might decide that a material gift wouldn't be right for us; we might set our sights on things like love, peace, goodwill, and brotherhood.
All of these gifts would be wonderful to receive.
But what about the people who seemingly don't have the capacity to give any of these, or anything for that matter - the downtrodden, the ones with the slow minds or disturbed souls that cannot cope with this life of ours in the fast lane? What about them? What do they have to offer? What they have to offer is the ultimate gift.
In order to receive their ultimate gift, however, we first must notice them.
They are the ones with their heads down in embarrassment as we pass them on the streets, and we hope that they won't ask for a handout.
We see them in the emergency rooms and behind the malls rummaging through dumpsters, sitting near intersections with scrawled signs: "will work for food.
"They are telling us something about ourselves, and this is a part of their ultimate gift.
In order to receive their gift, we must come to terms with who they are, and who we are as well.
Are we so different from them? How far away from the dumpsters are we, really? How would we cope if eating out of trash cans became our reality? Some bad luck, a sudden illness, an accident, an economic depression - something out of left field could change our fortunes in a heartbeat.
Maybe that's how it happened to them; they didn't figure it would turn out this way; surviving like animals, but they get by as best they can now; what else can they do? If they were smarter, more connected, more aggressive, or even more personable .
.
.
but they are what they are, and they do what they can with what they have been given to work with.
If they could do better, considering all things, they would.
But can "we" do better? That's the real question.
Can we do better for our fellow human beings, especially this time of year when we are reminded of a man who gave up wealth and family, and devoted his entire life to help the downtrodden, the ill, the outcasts of society? Perhaps we can't.
Maybe we look upon these destitute people as no-good lazy fools, scourges upon our lifestyles ruining our shopping experience by showing up in their dirty clothes and sleeping on the streets.
How inconsiderate of them.
But in their inconvenient presence, they offer us the gift.
Will we accept it? This ultimate gift is the only thing that will accompany us to our next world.
We can't take our yacht, our family, or the big house, and especially we can't drag along our inflated egos, but we can take this one thing.
The gift they offer is the gift of selflessness.