pretty tree, sad tree
They put a huge Christmas tree in the lobby of the building where I work. It seems to be fifteen feet high. It’s covered with huge ornaments and surrounded by proportionately large gift boxes. It’s very pretty – beautiful, actually.
Across the hall from it, they put a normal-sized tree. This one is covered with blue and yellow index cards. Scrawled on the cards are the Christmas wishes of children from a local elementary school. A school where “60% of the students are at risk for dropping out of high school” and other sordid fates, as our building’s management’s newsletter tells us.
I wish I had money to buy a gift for one of the kids whose names are on the cards, but I reallly don’t. Not this year. Every day I check this tree anxiously to make sure the cards are dwindling. What will happen if they aren’t all selected by Christmas Eve? Hopefully, there’s some process in place to keep the leftover children from feeling slighted. I imagine Elida (Grade: “segundo“, Wish: “Bratz o una chaqueta“) pointing out to Brandy (Grade: 5, Wish: “cd player or dairy”) that her index card simply wasn’t heart-stirring enough.
I like the way they decorate the lobby here. The sad tree and the pretty tree keep each other in check – keep each other from being too smug or sentimental.
