Dablemont column: Gifts that last

As joyous as the Christmas season is, there is a great deal of sadness to it when you look beyond your own family and see the difficulties others have. In the Ozarks, I think folks do a very good job of helping others during this time we set aside to celebrate the birth of Christ. There aren’t many who do not remember what Christmas is all about and make an attempt to help others less fortunate. In the town nearby, there were many businesses and banks and restaurants where the first names of children hung from Christmas trees, with a short list of simple things they would like for Christmas. Trouble is, there are so many of them, and most of us have too little set aside to help. That’s what bothers you… there are so many in need, and our resources to help are so limited. If only more of us could be rich. But then you think about that meal told about in the Bible, when a limited amount of bread and fish fed a multitude.

Really, the greatest amount of help comes from ordinary people who are not rich, but just working from week to week to pay the bills and get by. If everyone gives a little, if a small bit of help comes from all of us ordinary people, there are so many of us it does a tremendous amount of good. Last year in March, we held a ‘grizzled old outdoorsman’s swap meet’ with the help of a big church in Brighton, Mo. which allowed us to use their gymnasium. We had a grand time, and hundreds of people showed up. We put out a jar for donations and the vendors and visitors together filled it with money, a total of $526. When you added in a percentage of books and magazines that we sold that day, the total neared a thousand dollars. 

Part of that was used to buy some little gifts for needy kids at Christmas, and some of it remains to be used for helping needy children in some local schools. By March it will all be gone, and we will start over with another swap meet and raise some more money for such causes. If you were there last March, be aware that you helped. I know it isn’t much money when you consider the need, but it does a great deal more than the dollar amount looks to be when it is written down on paper.

It is the result of believing in the things the baby born in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago taught us as he became a man, in three years of teaching mankind that life is better when it is lived for others. I have often told God that he made a mistake in not making me a millionaire, so that I could do so much more than I can do. But if I had indeed become a millionaire, I might have succumbed to the greed you see in those who can never quite accumulate enough wealth. In reality, I do not believe the happiest men are the richest. It may be just the opposite. Great things are done more often by the masses who are not at all wealthy, but work together with what little they have to create an ocean with just a few glasses of water from each. Trouble is, we too often forget that the Christ whose birthdate is called Christmas, intended for us to never stop celebrating that season of sacrifice and giving. 

We need to keep on finding the places where our small gifts can make big differences in the lives of the few we can help. Our bank accounts should mean less to us than those around us who need help. As easy as it is for me to say that, it is hard for me to do. For some strange reason, as a younger man, I was always too worried about making ends meet to help others much. As I grow older it dawns on me that the more I can do for others, the less I have to worry about what I need to take care of myself. If you don’t understand what I am saying, don’t worry; you may not be old enough yet. You will understand it eventually.

And I am not saying that it is always money that is most important. All year long we can celebrate Christmas in little ways, as my uncle use to do by giving away much of his garden produce to neighbors in need. Hundreds of other Ozark gardeners do the same thing each summer. In the spring when you are catching fish, celebrate Christmas by finding those who seldom get to eat fresh fish, and give away half of what you catch. When April’s blossoms are fresh and October’s foliage is bright, find those who like to eat wild turkey and deer, and see to it that much of what you put in your freezer finds its way onto the table of those who are less fortunate.

I will celebrate Christmas when morel mushrooms are popping up, by eating fewer of them I find and giving away more. I will celebrate Christmas by cleaning a big catfish in August and giving it to some elderly folks who do not get to have it at all, but remember how good it tasted when they shared their catch years and years ago. I’ll celebrate Christmas by sharing not what I do not want, but what I treasure. You get the picture. If you aren’t rich, like I am not, help me celebrate Christmas in other ways right through the year; ‘til it comes again as the new year ahead comes to its end. There are a million ways to give, and that makes all of us ordinary people potentially “millionaires."

As a postscript to this, I was hunting deer this week with my muzzle-loader, with a message in mind that I received from a lady a few weeks ago that read:

“I figured you might know someone that would like to donate some deer meat. I would greatly appreciate you considering me, if this opportunity arises. I am disabled (but can get around) and the mother of 3 boys, still at home. My twins are disabled, and their brother has a different disorder. We all love deer meat. I don't get food stamps or housing stuff though we do get social security and Medicaid. I try to get us through as best I can because I think others could use that assistance more. We are still warm, covered, and fed. But we haven't had much meat to eat, except chicken, this year. Deer meat would be a grateful and much-needed addition. So, I just thought I would write you, just in case you run into someone that has extra.  If someone has deer from last year that they'd be throwing out to make room for this year's meat, we can use the older meat. We don't mind. I can make even freezer burned meat taste great. Ha ha. I can, truly. I know this is a strange request but I just thought I'd ask that you might at least consider us, if you hear of something.”

I will be glad to pass along the ladies address to anyone who might like to donate some deer meat to her along with me.

Merry Christmas,and don’t be surprised if I wish you Merry Christmas in the spring and summer and fall, just to remind you that there are lots of gifts to give when you are an outdoorsman, hunter and fisherman, even if you aren’t rich. But really I never knew someone blessed with a life close to the outdoors and God’s greatest creations who didn’t feel as if they were.

My website is www.larrydablemontoutdoors.blogspot.com, and the e-mail address is lightninridge@windstream.net. My mailing address is Box 22, Bolivar, Mo. 65613.