You and Kathy have a safe and wonderful trip. Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to you both. We'll leave the light on for you.

 

He did keep the money!

Just kidding.

 

I read this thread with interest, having arrived at the forum too late to participate as it was developing. As I was puzzling over the odd variety of reactions, what I was planning on saying, before it got mooted by the final chapters, was that it's hard for us to judge from a quick description of the event and the relationships whether it was or was not inappropriate for "Jack" to do what he did. My guess was, before I knew the answer, that "Jack" had a good feel for the particulars of the situation and wouldn't have done it all if it had been likely to make people uncomfortable; this position was vindicated, mostly, by the reactions of the participants (one out of ten felt weird about it -- not bad but not perfect).

Fast forward to the present. The thread had another benefit: it got me thinking about Heifer International, to which one of the participants gave his share. While it's not my own charity of choice, I realized that the concrete, tangible nature of the gifts might be appropriate to help a child understand the value of giving (and the continuing prevalence of poverty). Hence, Kellen (my nine year old) and I had a discussion this morning, and we are going to be giving (next week -- it's a tax thing) a substantial amount to them. Yes, we: he thinks he should use some of the money he "earned" this year by being helpful when I had to work.

Thank you, Jerry.