10 October 2016

A generous man

Today I received a box sent to me by what many outside the online geekery circles would call a stranger. There is a better word from the Winnie the Pooh tales, however, and that is an unmet friend.

Here is the box:


What is in the box? Well, in local lad John Bunyan's allegorical tale, A Pilgrim's Progress, the hero Christian asks for a box of truth at Vanity Fair; there wasn't one to be had. This isn't a box of truth either, but it is a box of generosity. Look!


A softback copy of Basic Fantasy Roleplaying for each of my school gaming group, a bestiary, and three adventure/sourcebooks. There's even a hardback of the rules still in the post for yours truly. And all this as an unsolicited gift from a man on the other side of a lot of water who I doubt I'll ever meet in person. Extraordinary.

He has asked to stay anonymous, and I shall respect his wish, but wanted to support the promotion of gaming with youngsters and isn't in a position to do so himself (I often forget that for those outside education, mingling semi-informally with teenagers is pretty rare and the desire to do so is often considered suspect) having been supported in his own geekery by a teacher when he was a boy.

After the political turmoil of the last couple of months all across the globe, my faith in the general goodness of others was in serious need of a boost. This has given me that boost; I doff my cap to you, sir. Thank you.

Rab

4 comments:

  1. Quite tremendous. I hope the youngsters are appropriately appreciative.

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    1. I'm sure they will be. I'll find out tomorrow evening.

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  2. In anglosaxon countries, suspicion about older people who interact with youngsters reaches paranoid levels in most instances. Anyway, it's nice what this man has done - not a lot of people would be so generous, specially doing it anonimously

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    1. I agree, both about the generosity and the sadness about levels of suspicion. I really value the time I spend with my students and think that share interests, like gaming or sport or whatever, are another great way for the generations to mingle.

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