Francis Gay Why splash out? Love’s the most precious gift of all

A lockdown birthday isn’t much fun, especially for an eight-year-old.

When I remembered it was Angel’s birthday, I asked what she would like as a gift. She’s not a girl with extravagant tastes, but she did have a notion for a packet of crisps.

Bless her! I was prepared to splash out a little more than that, so I asked if there was anything else I could get for her.

“No,” she replied. Then, “We-ell...” I got

It was one of those “kids these days” rants. George was in full flow.

“When I was a boy, we learned to do practical things by watching our fathers, by asking annoying questions, by giving it a go, and making mistakes until we got it right.

I thought I’d pass all that hard-earned knowledge on to my lad in due course, but he was never interested.

“My wife wanted a bedroom papered, but I just never had the time, so she asked him.

He said he’d do it. I couldn’t believe it. When I asked him how he’d know what to do, he said he’d watch videos on Youtube!

“So,” I asked, a little dubiously. “How did it all work out?”

“Oh, he did a good job,” George muttered. “But that’s not the point!”

Isn’t it, George? Each generation has its own, often radically new, way of doing things. my hopes up and asked what she had in mind. A toy? A book?

“A little love is always nice.” Learning values from children. I seem to do that a lot.

I bought her those crisps, and a few other things, then delivered them – with added love.

If we appreciated the importance of little things, if we valued love more, we could make the whole world a little more Angel-ic.

Robert’s work – and peace of mind – rests on him doing a good job. He takes pride in his work and this day he had stayed late to prepare something for the next day.

But when the next day came, the piece he had prepared didn’t work. Because he had worked on it, he couldn’t return in. And it was going to be expensive to replace.

“My energy, my enthusiasm, my trust, just fell through my boots,” he told me. “All I could think was ‘Well, that’s just the way the world is!’”

The people he was working for heard about it and offered to pay half the price of a replacement. His supplier, when he heard about this offered, to pay the other half.

“Feeling people understood, and cared,” Robert added, “I was able to give my best again.”

Because that, my friend, is just the way the world is!