Any Color But Pink

by Todd Jenkins

Not long ago I accompanied our youth group on a shopping excursion to purchase Christmas gifts for two anonymous children- a girl and a boy- from a nearby school district. Through our local "Angel Tree' organization, we received a child's first name, a clothing chart, and a wish list.

I accompanied those shopping for the boy. We had a good lesson in economics and a brief experience of the perspective of those with less privilege than us. I would like to talk with them about it sometime, especially as the holiday market-monster unleashes its arsenal to pump us up into a salivating frenzy of consumerism. The boy we were shopping for had the following list: Gameboy Advance, Pokemon "Fire Red" game, Underwear, Clothes

With a preset spending limit, we had to do some exploring before we could decide which course to take. We found out that the gameboy and one game would have totaled more than our spending limit. The initial response of the youth was: We can't afford to get him the toys, so I guess we'll have to buy him underwear and clothes. Someone said, "I wonder what it would be like to wake up on Christmas morning and find only underwear and clothes under the Christmas tree?" Hmmmmm.

Another of our adult chaperones said, "The gameboy and game are at the top of his list, and it would be fair to assume that they are things that his family could never afford to get for him. Surely they will be able to clothe him; but if we don't get him the game, he may never get it." Hmmmmmm. Then we found the actual game he wanted in the "Rollback" section for a lower price. That would have made the total for the two $10 over our limit. Due to the generosity of accompanying adults, we were able to get them anyway, and someone else bought him a shirt and pair of pants, as well as a nice pair of Adidas running shoes in his size that someone had purchased at a Hibbett close-out some months earlier and couldn't return.

For just a moment, our youth had an opportunity to vicariously experience the consequences of economic insufficiency. But we were rescued by generosity and economic abundance — a good thing for our Angel — but also an easy out and perhaps a hindrance to the lesson we all could have learned.

It all reminded me of an incident that occurred last May during a "neighborhood basketball" afternoon in the church gym. It was a day when not many people showed up — only two. These two were regulars who walk from the far side of town almost every time the gym is open. The older one is a good athlete who enjoys the challenge of basketball. The younger one is not the brother of the older one (not sure if they are any kin), but the two of them are always together. He is not very good at basketball and more interested in talking.

These two were shooting, and I was rebounding their shots and passing the ball back to them so that they could shoot. At first I didn't notice the conversation they were having, because I didn't understand it all, and thought they were only talking in some coded shorthand dialect. The younger one would pause at the free-throw line, say the name of a color (he started with "blue"), then shoot the ball. Most of the time he missed. He would frown with a look of slight disappointment; then he would name a different color and shoot again. Finally, before the last time he shot he said, "Any color but pink."

My curiosity piqued, I asked him what he was doing. I could tell that the older boy knew all about it, because he was playing along also, and he made most of his shots. When he made a shot, the younger one smiled and would say, "Man, you're lucky!" I asked the younger one, "What are these colors that you are talking about?"

He said, "They're the color of some pants I saw at Wal-Mart the other day. I'm pretending that I get to keep a pair of them for every shot I make."

My heart sank. I remembered the imaginary games I used to make up when I was little. I would stand in the back yard with my baseball and glove and throw the ball at the pitch-back, imagining that I was striking out Mickey Mantle or Stan Musial. But this boy's gaming dreams were of a pair of pants from Wal-Mart. I couldn't help but think that all of our youth wouldn't dare to dream of something as "cheap and simple" as a pair of pants from Wal-Mart. Their dreams, if about clothes at all, would be from Abercrombie, American Eagle, Hilfiger, and other elite places. And, more likely than not, their dreams would be of things like PS3's, I-Pods, cell-phones, and other pieces of expensive technology. I wondered if any of us (adults included) could relate to the simple neediness of "anything but pink from Wal-Mart."

The starkness of the contrast creates both a sense of profound gratitude and also a conviction to do something about the disparity in dreams. We can buy the younger generation pants from Wal-Mart until the pants are all gone and Wal-Mart's shareholders are rolling in money, but that won't shift the balance. I believe we need to get personally involved in the lives of these young people—to find a way to mentor them and give them hope that goes beyond new clothes—hope that can inspire them to dream big, work hard, and fulfill their own dreams.

What do you think?

Todd Jenkins is pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Fayetteville, TN.