Think-Thank-Thunk

Normally, when confronting salvation army bell ringers, I try to look very busy and avoid eye contact. They make me feel guilty. If I can go out of my way to avoid them by sneaking in a side or back entrance I will.

I’m a jerk, make no excuses for it, and have no defense. I’m a selfish, crabby, cynical, skeptical kind of a person.

So I wouldn’t be caught dead standing around, freezing my butt off, ringing a bell outside the doors of a busy shopping center–under normal circumstances. I mean, what if someone I knew saw me? I have a reputation to think about.

So what does Lisa do? During one of my Masters weekends, while the clipboard is going around at church, she signs us all up to man a shift of bell ringing outside of Walmart.

I hem. I haw. But eventually I come around. After all, it’ll be a great character builder for the kids, and a good family memory. Plus it’s not like I have much of a choice.

But then Lisa comes down with pneumonia which leaves me holding the bag (or the bell) on a blustery single-digit December Sunday morning.

Sheesh.

So I muster all of my courage, bundle up the kids and decide to make the best of it. It’s only for an hour, and we can always duck inside the store to warm up if we need to.

The ringers just before us got cold during the last half of their shift, so they bought hand-warmers and stuffed them in their gloves to help keep warm. Having no use for them, they gave them to us–which was very cool . . .I mean warm . . .I mean nice.

Next, we strapped on the aprons and started ringing–and saying thank you . . .a lot. The money poured in. I was shocked at how many people dropped spare change, and bills into that red pot. I actually saw a crumpled twenty spot stuffed into the slot–with a smile! Little children pleaded for coins then struggled with their mittens to drop them in the slot. You could see people digging out their wallets and into their purses while they walked toward us in the parking lot.

Not only that, but people actually started thanking us (you know, for standing out in the cold ringing the bell).

What did I learn from all this?

1. Most Salvation Army Bell Ringers probably aren’t all that different than myself.
2. Probably most of them couldn’t care less if you don’t drop anything into their pot.
3. Either a lot of people have really good hearts, or
4. Bell ringers under the age of ten can really bring it in.