I want to preface this post by saying that I'm not trying to brag, only to relate a somewhat similar personal story that perhaps might spark others to something similar themselves, much like I hope this young man's story will. (Ahem, Toddrn)
First, major kudos for the what the young man did. At an age where selfishness - due to an understandable, general immaturity - is usually very prevalent this young man decided, on his own, to act selflessly. That, as much as anything, is a sign of maturity and a good heart.
As for the personal story... Several years ago my wife and I decided that exchanging gifts at Christmas was, for us at least, a pretty stupid tradition - or at least a pointless one. If we really need something - or often just really want something - then we buy it whenever we need it. Exchanging gifts at Christmas always seemed to be a bit of a chore, trying to find different things that we would like while there was nothing that we really needed. This one year, we were at the mall shopping for gifts - for each other as well as for some others - and passed by the Salvation Army's Angel Tree setup. My wife mentioned that, since we were starting to do a little better financially (digging out of the hole we had gotten in early in our marriage), she thought that we should get an Angel from the tree to buy some presents for that year. For some reason, we just hadn't really thought of it before - most likely because up until that year we had been scraping by at Christmas trying to stretch every penny to buy gifts for friends and family that we felt like we "had to buy" plus whatever we felt we could spend on each other. I agreed, without really thinking about it. As we were looking at the tree, trying to pick out an Angel, I thought aloud that it would nice to be able to pick out more than one. My wife - the accountant-y one - agreed that it would be nice to do that but that all of our "Christmas money" was already budgeted. I thought about it for a second and suggested that she just not get me anything for Christmas, since I didn't really need anything anyway, and spend that money on an Angel or two. I figured, at first, that she wouldn't like the idea since she loves giving me presents that I like - even though she hates the process of trying to find them.
Instead, she immediately and enthusiastically agreed and suggested the same for herself. That year, a new tradition was born.
Every year, now, instead of buying any presents for each other at Christmas we will buy presents for the Salvation Army Angels as well as - when it's being done - a similar program that targets local, elderly people in need. We'll usually get one infant or toddler - because they're fun to shop for
- and a couple of older children, since we think that there's a better chance that the older children might be left out. Then we'll either get one or two of the "elderly" Angels or additional Salvation Army Angels.
It would be nice if we were able to get the chance to see the people that we buy for actually open the presents - for a little extra bit of self-gratification - but the process of shopping for those less fortunate each year has turned out to be exponentially more rewarding than all of the giving and receiving of gifts with each other was for the first few years of our marriage.
While I understand that the exchanging of Christmas gifts is a very time-honored tradition that many hold very dear, I have two personal theories about it: 1) I believe that few Christmas gifts exchanged between many spouses/significant-others are actually things of need but rather things of want and 2) I believe that the primary reason for the exchange of Christmas presents between most spouses/significant-others is really, basically just tradition. Given that, as well as the general attitude in this thread toward the actions of the young man, I decided to post this as a suggestion for others on the board. It's something that is very simple, very rewarding, and generally not that much of a financial sacrifice.
Next year, rather than spending the money you were planning to spend anyway on each other an/or on yourself for things you don't really need, why not spend that money on those less fortunate? Rather than going to the mall and shopping for yourselves, go to the mall and pick up an Angel or two or five and shop for them. You'll get far more out of it than exchanging gifts with yourselves and those less fortunate will receive some things they otherwise wouldn't have been able to receive.