At least once in your life, you've probably heard the saying that everyone should be kind during Christmas. While some people don't stray far from their usual level of kindness during this time of year, others take it to a whole new level.
Like the OP of today’s story. They got into a nasty fight with their selfish family, which led to estrangement and a huge unused budget for Christmas gifts. Yet, instead of simply keeping the money, they decided to make the holidays a tad better for 1642 strangers.
More info: Reddit
It’s agreed upon that during the Christmas season, we should all strive to be kind to everyone, even strangers
Image credits: azerbaijan_stockers / Freepik (not the actual photo)
In the summer, the author got into a nasty fight with family, which led to falling out
Image credits: Karolina Grabowska / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
Since they didn't make up until Christmas, the budget that was meant for their gifts was left unused
Image credits: Conscious-Farmer6953
Instead of keeping it for themselves, the author decided to collect thousands of people's debts
Let’s start with the fact that the OP’s family isn’t the healthiest one. We base that on the fact that the author themselves said that for a long time, there was a fight slowly brewing. Finally, in the summer, the cauldron burst and they had a falling out.
Granted, the original poster didn’t specify the reason behind all of it. And they can be various – from mismatched expectations and clash of values to emotional or even physical abuse. In this case, we think that for us, as strangers, simply knowing that they had a falling out is more than enough as context for this story.
The fight must have been awful enough that since summer, they didn’t patch things up until Christmas. So, since their contact had been cut off, the OP decided that there was no need to buy them X-mas presents.
Don’t think they are a Grinch who stole Christmas from kids in their family – all those people are grown-ups, so there was no children's joy ruined. Maybe some adults’ joy, but knowing that they are in a fight, maybe seeing the original poster during the holidays would have been worse for them. After all, usually, estrangement happens due to negativity in a relationship, and who wants that in their life during Christmas, right?
So, by not buying them gifts, the person saved 5 thousand dollars. That’s a huge amount of money! As a comparison, we can take Americans, who on average spend around $900 on Christmas (gifts and other expenses included), which is way less than the post’s author spends solely on family gifts.
Image credits: Mikhail Nilov / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Yet, instead of simply pocketing such a large sum, the original poster decided to do a good deed instead. They bought a batch of debts from strangers to collect them.
Basically, this process happens when the original creditors lose hope of getting the owed money from the people they gave it to and sell the debt, sometimes even for the smallest amount, so that it can be paid off.
Because the OP did that, 1642 people in upstate New York won’t have to hear from debt collection again. So, essentially, the original poster spent money on something that people will appreciate, even if they’re strangers, rather than something their family wouldn’t even care that much for.
Additionally, in a way, this charitable move ended up being an “in your face” moment for the OP's family. Well, it would be, if they found out where the budget for their presents went. They never give to charity, and are even hostile to those who they perceive as a lower status than them, so it would be a hit to them for sure.
Folks online praised the person for handling the situation the way they did. Instead of being tempted to simply save up this relatively huge sum of money this year, they decided to make someone’s holidays a bit better, which is a thing only a kind person would do. And what is Christmas without kindness, right?
People online admired the author's kindness and couldn't stop praising them in the comments
Image credits: kotkoa / Freepik (not the actual photo)
