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Christmastime lesson: children learn to do for others

November 27, 1995
Web posted at: 10:30 a.m. EST

From Correspondent Linda Ciampa

DECATUR, Georgia (CNN) -- It's the time of the year when many children think about Christmas and what Santa might bring. But some children are also learning one of the holiday season's truest lessons -- it's better to give than receive.

It's a lesson 10-year-old Arthur Rozier and his sister Tamara are taught at home and at school. Their parents emphasize doing for others. "It's always good to give something away, even at this early age," says their father, a firefighter. (115K AIFF sound or 115K WAV sound) It's a quality that's missing among today's young people says their mother, a therapist at the local Veteran's Hospital. (98K AIFF sound or 98K WAV sound) "I kind of push it."

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The Roziers teach their children it's better to give than to receive.


Arthur's school pushes it, too. Students recently brought canned goods to class before delivering them in person to a local senior center. The class writing lesson that same day focused on the importance of giving back to the community. Some senior citizens don't have any family members, a teacher tells Arthur's class. "When we go there to read, talk and play games with them, it makes them feel that they are still wanted, don't you think so?" The children respond with a "yes".

Reading their essays aloud in class, one girl says "it is our duty" to put others first. "Be happy to give," says one boy. (193K AIFF sound or 193K WAV sound) Another boy's essay talks of making people "feel like they still have someone that cares for them." (585K QuickTime movie)



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"It makes me feel good because I'm giving stuff away that people need"

-- Arthur Rozier, 10


At the senior center, residents responded with smiles and hugs as the students dropped off their donated canned goods. "It makes me feel good because I'm giving stuff away that people need," said Arthur, who plans to join the Beta Club, a national, non-profit organization that advocates leadership by serving others. Most people learn the lesson of charity somewhere along the line and given the difference it can make in a community and in one's own life, it's a lesson worth remembering.

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