“Every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart!”
-Ebenezer Scrooge

Ah, the holidays. Growing up, I never thought it so, but it turns out that it is really better to give then to receive. When you give that perfect gift to someone special an incomparable feeling comes over you and it’s not satisfaction, it’s pride. Giving not only makes others happy, but it makes you look good. And looking good it more important then you think. You might come from the school of thinking that other people’s opinions of you don’t matter but in the macro: sticks and stones might just break bones, but words can destroy an industry.

Gaming is headed into a dangerous time, as its profile rises; it makes a bigger and bigger target for those who seek to make their names by bringing it down. We are under a microscope and everything we do is being watched. So it is unbelievable important that we look good. And that’s where the holidays come in.

Yes, I’m talking about Child’s Play, what else? It there a gaming journalist who hasn’t mentioned it in the past three years? If they haven’t it only means they haven’t been doing this job for very long. Child’s Play is a great idea, it makes gamers look great.

Look what we have to point to every time some media wag or polico scold tries to make hay at our expense. Gamers are good people! Hundreds of thousand of dollars of donations! Won’t someone please think of the (sick) children???

And it would be ludicrous to think that these same gamers wouldn’t have donated the same amount independently of Child’s Play? I mean it’s better to give then to receive? It’s better to just be generous for generosities sake? We don’t really need to get positive press out of it, just that warm feeling that comes with giving. Right?

Even though we’ll never know for sure, I’d like to think so. Call me corny, but I believe that people a generally good, but sometimes just need either a little push or a little pull. A friend shows you why you’re help is needed, or an organization shows you how you (and you favorite hobby) can benefit from doing good. Donating to things like Child’s Play is a bit selfish, but it’s the good kind of selfish.

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Back of the Bus is © 2006 by Seth “4:10” Robison, used with exclusive permission by gamertransit.com. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.