Did you notice Christmas is 4 Days Away?

So for many of us, finals are over. This means going home to welcoming parents, a warm bed, and of course Christmas. (FINE, "holidays" -- politically correct amirite?)


http://tinyurl.com/2c5w8ue
Well, for some of us anyway.


On an alarmingly random and misplaced note: Finals are over and that means I can finally start posting more often on this blog! Stay tuned for a BIG (you'll get the pun later) announcement on my next post :D


I've always done my best to be a cheerful giver during the holiday season. I was given fairly nice gifts as a child and it's pretty much a terrible thing to be a jerk during Christmas. You know...the birthday of Jesus. Plus, it’s a gratifying feeling to give someone a good gift.

http://tinyurl.com/2eyw5b6
Pictured: Good gift

So it was nice to see someone do something meaningful this holiday season. A recent article on CNN had the headline: “9-Year-Old Raises $15k to Buy Christmas Gifts for Hospitalized Children”. As the astute reader might have already guessed, the story is about a 9-year-old girl that raised $15,000 to buy presents for children at 8 different hospitals.

HOLD UP. If you haven’t already, slap yourself in the face for being shown up by a 9-year-old. When I was 9, it was 1998. Frank Sinatra died and President Clinton was trying to not get impeached. I was probably learning how to count past 20 (“MOM, I ran out of fingers and toes!”) so that I could finish my math homework.

The more amazing thing is that this girl has been doing this for FOUR years. Let’s do the math. 9 – 4 = 5. Five. Holy hell…next to this girl the Pope looks like a Sith Lord.

http://tinyurl.com/2e6vkr3
Google “Sith Lord”, this is the first picture that pops up. Seriously.

The first year that this girl did this, she raised $160. Sure, pocket change for an organization providing for 8 different hospitals, but remember she was 5. At 5 years old, $160 is basically like winning the lottery. Plus, trying to raise that much money at an age when your only fiscal experience is from trading your chocolate pudding for your friend’s Ruffles at lunch that one time….that’s pretty impressive. It’s kind of like me trying to explain “Inception” to my Asian mother in Latin
...and her understanding it.

Wait, what? There’s more? Oh right, how about the approximately 9200% growth in fundraised money she accomplished in…4 years. Yeah, she went from $160 to $15,000. You couldn’t get that kind of exponential growth if you had Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet as CEOs of your lemonade stand.

The only part that bothered me was the last paragraph:

“Katie is delivering gifts like iPods, board games, craft sets and art supplies to patients at Levine Children’s Hospital, Presbyterian Hemby Children's Hospital and six other hospitals. She raises money through the organization’s website, raffles and speaking engagements.” (Courtesy of: WSOCTV)

So some lucky bastard is going to get a brand new iPod for Christmas while the poor sucker next to him gets Candy Land and crayons. Let's hope it's at least the box of 64.

Also, she raises money through “speaking engagements”. What kind of talks is a 9-year-old giving? Wait, there’s a video of her being interviewed? BRB.

Wow, nevermind. This girl has more media-prowess and public speaking abilities than some of the millionaires that I see on TV:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgRdRwNgs9A -- Seriously, at least watch the first 10 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdsEekRE4pA

So, with Christmas just around the corner, let’s not get caught up with ridiculous spending and wild shopping sprees. If we learned anything from this 9-year-old, it’s that we are all capable of doing totally awesome things. So if you can’t think of something meaningful or useful to buy someone this holiday…do something awesome instead.

Remember, “Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” – 1 Tim. 4:12

Merry Christmas fellow pauleetixians.

Source:
http://www.wsoctv.com/holidays/26196565/detail.html

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Paul Lee is a senior at Rutgers University studying Journalism and Media Studies. His role models are Andy Dufresne, G.I. Jane, and Lil Wayne.