My Christmas wish list

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When the holiday season comes around, we roll out our favorite traditions. For many families, that includes compiling wish lists of gifts we’d like.

In our youth, my brother and I folded down corners of the Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog and circled items like a Hot Wheels Sizzlers Juice Machine racing set. At autumn family reunions, aunts and uncles asked, “What do you want for Christmas?”

It’s also a great time of year for reflection. I’ve been thinking about the young people in our state, who will grow up to shape South Carolina’s future. They may be dreaming of video games and Disney dolls right now. But I’m wondering what the best gifts might be for those kids. What can we give to the children who already have shelves filled with toys and closets full of clothes? What about those who have just enough to get by—or less?

What would I wish for the children of South Carolina? Let’s start with the children in need:

  • A safe place to live and enough food that while they may get hungry, they never have to endure hunger
  • Parents and caregivers who are present and involved in their lives
  • Teachers who care about them—not just about their test scores, but about them
  • Opportunities to catch glimpses of what life is like for others, so that they might be inspired to have dreams and set goals for what they can do
  • A certainty in their hearts that dreams can come true and prayers are answered
  • A love of books, where they can discover ideas well beyond what a text message has to offer
  • Exposure to music that spans generations and cultures, not just whatever happens to be streaming on Spotify or Pandora
  • An awareness of the wide world in which they live, with an understanding that history and current events are inextricably linked—and that Facebook posts may not tell them everything they need to know
  • Less time invested in technology and more moments that fully engage them in the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and feel of a reality that is much more than virtual
  • The blessing of learning early that our lives are a shared experience, and it is not what you get, but what you give that leads to happiness

Now, how about that other group of kids? The list is the same.

In his song “Shed a Little Light,” James Taylor sings, “We are bound together in our desire to see the world become a place in which our children can grow free and strong.” That desire should be on all our wish lists.