Are you a giver? Or a taker?

The best people I know are givers. They give of what they have; be it time, money, or talent.

In the Christmas movie classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Peter Bailey puts it in a most distinctly metaphysical/spiritual way, “All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away.”

The ancient Egyptians apparently valued a giving heart so highly that they considered it practically a guaranteed way to pass through the underworld after death. A soul with a “heavy” heart, one encumbered with selfish ways and self-centeredness, would not make it through the journey.

My hometown of Bristol is filled nearly to the brim with givers. I know so many fellow citizens personally who give to those less fortunate in this world. And they especially give a lot at this time of year, during what I call The Giving Season.

No, we don’t forget about the lonely, the wretched, the homeless, the sick, and the poor all the rest of the year. We help them then, too. But this time of year, near Christmas time, we all seem to feel a little extra compassion in our hearts toward those who suffer among us.

It is within the power of virtually all of us to alleviate suffering in some way. Everyone needs kindness. And kindness is something that everyone can give.

If you have no money, you can volunteer your time to a worthy cause; the worthy causes in Bristol are endless. Every one of us has the same amount of time in a day. What we do with it is entirely up to us. May we use at least a few minutes of each day to help our fellow creatures on this globe in some way.

Most friends know that I dress up as Santa each year and visit the homeless, the lonely elderly, the working poor, the out-of-work poor, and the just-out-of-prison-and-jail needy folks.

Thanks to the beneficence of my friends with material means, Santa delivers turkeys, educational toys, children’s books, grocery gift cards, clothes, spay-neuter vouchers - and whatever other dire needs a family may have.

Perhaps most importantly of all, while Santa is in their midst, and has their rapt attention, he impresses upon each family the value of their children doing well in school and working hard as the “best way out” of poverty.

(If the reader feels led to help this Santa, as many friends have, you may send a donation to: Ben Talley, P.O. Box 861, Bristol VA 24203. Venmo: Ben-Talley-7. Paypal: btalley7@gmail.com)

My son, a Certified Financial Planner, even touts “giving” as the ultimate purpose of accumulating individual wealth. He knows that once our basic needs and a few wants are met, what better thing to do with our money than to give it to good causes that build and strengthen our communities? And, oh, what a feeling it gives you, as well. You can truly “get high” (as my generation was once fond of saying) on giving.

---

I have found that both the rich and the poor have equally giving spirits.

One year as Santa, while visiting a family with a dirt floor (yes, we have those here in Bristol), a little girl heard her father tell me that he wished I’d go to someone more needy, that they were fine. (He didn’t say this with a mean spirit at all, but with an honest and giving heart.)

The little girl had disappeared while I was talking to her father. Upon return, she smashed her tiny piggy bank on the floor. After stooping down, she then raised up with not a coin missing from her two little hands and said, “Please give this to the poor, Mr. Talley.”