Christmas is in the air Sunshine abounds, the weather is currently warmer and drier than it was in October, and there hasn’t been a snowflake in weeks.

Yet we insist Christmas is on its merry way. With more than a month before Christmas officially arrives, there are more houses in my neighborhood with red and green lights than without. Red-nosed reindeer and a man of snow have somehow taken almost every DJ in the nation hostage; I haven’t gone a day without a non-holiday related song on the radio since Halloween.

Teens feed on this kind of tangible excitement, but lately it seems many are using their nearly limitless energy for purposes more narcissistic than in the past. Charities which once flourished in the hands of youth are now slowly drying up.

Read through any November or December issue of the Tooele High School Buffalog and you’ll find all 12 pages crammed with stories of charity, from the Festival of Trees to benefit concerts and fundraisers. There’s no shortage of ideas or good intentions — the problem is the lack of follow-through.

This past month’s Operation Christmas is a good example. As a part of Operation Christmas, both Grantsville and Tooele hold a competition to decide which school could fill the most shoe-boxes for children in war-torn countries. Only a few days before the deadline, the club sponsoring the event announced they were in desperate need of participation, as only seven boxes had been donated. Needless to say, Grantsville won by a huge margin despite having the smaller student population.

What happened, Tooele High School? Students and faculty alike point fingers at those who hosted the competition, the student body officers, and at each other. Some blame it on lack of organization, others on the lack of publicity, but I have a different theory. I blame myself.

I, like the majority of my fellow students, was not in any way involved in Operation Christmas. I was fully aware of the situation, but I did nothing.

It all comes down to participation. If more students had chosen to donate, it would have resulted in a better turnout. It’s that simple.

Instead of thinking about how they can help others, it seems the only thing teens can talk about is what they will be receiving for Christmas — candy, games, clothing, iPods, cell-phones, computers. The items demanded become more expensive as the list grows longer.

Another common phrase, surpassed in popularity by “That’s what I’m getting,” and “What I want,” is “I’m going to get you that.” It seems there’s an unofficial competition to buy the biggest, most expensive present among teens.

With the local food bank in need of supplies and many families potentially out of work this holiday season, it may be time to scale back on the present buying and save our close-to-minimum wages in order to lend a hand in the charities which have yet to begin.

Emma Penrod is a junior at Tooele High School.