There's a This American Life show on do-gooders -- "stories of people trying to do good and why they often fail and why they occasionally succeed."
I was reminded the other day of one tiny attempt to make the Christmas season of one underprivileged child brighter.
You know those gift trees that often pop up in book stores and malls during the holiday season? The trees that have little tags on them with words like "Sam, age 5, toy truck" handwritten on them? Usually the children are part of financially-strapped families. A lot of times, they are at-risk youth. Basically, you're supposed to buy the present on the card and return it to a drop-off location.
Well, one year there was this sort of tree in my college cafeteria. Ben and decided to each pull a tag and participate in the gift-giving. The tag I picked said: Mario, age 8, Power Rangers Sweatshirt (Size 12-14) .
I thought, easy enough.
We first went to Mervyn's and strolled around the boy's section. While there were quite a few sports and famous brand sweatshirts, not a Power Ranger was to be seen.
We asked a clerk and she look confused. She told us to try Kids R Us. The nearest store was an hour away.
Me: Aren't Power Rangers popular?
Ben: Yeah, maybe like three years ago.
Me: Size 12-14. That's pretty big. That's a pre-teen size, isn't it.
Ben: Seems like it.
Me: So, basically we've got to find an almost adult-size sweatshirt with a Power Ranger on it. Oh, and Power Rangers haven't been popular for a couple of years.
So I called Kids R Us:
Me: Hello, do you carry Power Ranger sweatshirts?
Clerk: Let me check.
Me: (please, please, please)
Clerk: Hello? Yeah we carry some.
Me: Oh great, would you have size 12-14?
Clerk: (pause) M'am, that's pretty large. These are for little kids.
Me: Okay, thanks.
I called Sears, Macy's, JCPenny, Target -- every bay area store imaginable. After a couple of days I started to lose hope.
Me: Ben, what am I going to do?
Ben: Why don't you put the card back on the tree?
Me: No! That's so wrong. Maybe I can make him a Power Ranger sweatshirt.
Ben: Come on, that's pathetic. Let's just go to store and get him another sort of sweatshirt.
We went back to Mervyn's and looked around for a good substitution. I didn't want to pick a team sweatshirt since I didn't know what sports or teams he liked. And, I couldn't get a famous brand sweatshirt since the instructions told us to avoid any brands that were likely to cause a disturbance at school. Oh, and we were given a list of about ten colors to avoid because of their gang significance.
So what did I end up getting this kid?
A size 12-14, black sweatshirt. The most boring present any child could possibly receive. For days, I picture this kid opening up his present and staring at blandness in a box. "Where's the Power Ranger?" he would ask. His parents, of course, would just shake their heads.
I seem to remember buying the kid a toothbrush.
The toothbrush had to be a specific brand as well. So, the kid got an Oral-B and a black sweatshirt.
Merry Christmas.
