The spirit of Christmas - brought to us by a Jew. (No, not him.)

This Christmas-time miracle was set in motion when two women bumped into each other – literally.

Kim Kerswell backed into the car driven by Sherene Borr as Kim left her job at the local Panera Bread store.  As the women exchanged information, Kerswell could not help but remark that the cost of the mishap came at a time when she did not even know how she would provide her two children with a proper Christmas.

When Borr asked Kerswell about her situation, Kim confessed that it was her first Christmas as a single parent.  According to the account given by Kerswell, Borr began to cry.  Sherene explained that she had grown up in a single-parent household and knew how difficult that financial situation could be.

After parting company, it did not take long for Sherene Borr to decide what to do.   Every year Sherene and the members of her synagogue adopt a family for Christmas.  She decided that this year while she and her family are celebrating Hanukkah, she would make  sure that Kim’s family has a Merry Christmas. Sherene and her friends and fellow congregants have already purchased toys, household supplies and gift cards for food and gas for the Kerswell family.

Sherene said, “I just feel very blessed and want to give those things to other people.”

Kim feels that she  not only received material goods from Sherene; she believes that she has found a new friend.  The two women have promised to continue their relationship long after the holidays have faded into the new year.

However, there is a price to be paid for accepting Sherene’s generosity:  someday, someway, Sherene would like Kim to pay it forward.  It is a price that Kim is more than willing to pay for Sherene’s kindness and generosity.

“I know things are going to get better and when they do, my daughter and I and my son, we’re going to help another family,” Kim pledged.

Merry Christmas, Kim.  Happy Hanukkah, Sherene.

Preparing for when the Bank of America implodes

Don't be concerned about the Bank of America - they are not in trouble by any measure.  But the government is finally doing what we all should do in order to be prepared for when an unthinkable disaster strikes:  the government is planning ahead.

 

Last week the Clearing House Association  - which is comprised of the largest banking institutions in the world - organized a simulation of a mega-bank collapse as part of an industry symposium in the state of New York.

 

The scenario was sculpted around the hypothetical implosion of a $2 trillion bank.  For ten months, the organization planned the fabricated catastrophe, attempting to see how members and government officials might employ the orderly liquidation authority established in the provisions of Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act.

 

The association organized 180 people to play various roles in the simulation of the fictitious bank's collapse. Some people played the executives who ran the failing bank while others were executives at competing banks. There also people playing the roles of regulators, investors, politicians and journalists reporting on the situation.

 

Although the results are still being analyzed, spokesmen are pleased that participants appeared to be able to address the different issues that arose.

 

I, myself, am just happy that the matter is being considered before the next market collapse.

 

If acorns are outlawed, only outlaws will have acorns

The anxious mother of two children with allergies has petitioned her hometown to have oak trees removed.

 

Donna Giustizia of the city of Vaughan in the province of Ontario appeared before the city council requesting that oak trees be cut down to prevent children from being poisoned by fallen acorns.

 

She was not specific as to the target of her animus.  Was she against the nasty Northern red oak?  The dastardly Dwarf chinquapin oak?  The brutish Bur oak?  The wily White oak? 

 

Giustizia has stated that to have a school "putting a sign on the door that says (that the environment is) nut-free", but then to have the school grounds covered with acorns gives parents "a false sense of security."  Giustizia has a child with food allergies who attends St. Stephen Catholic Elementary School, where the offending acorns lie. 

 

How concerned is Giustizia about allergies?   She is so concerned that she is chairman of the Saint Stephen School's Allergy Committee.  (Who knew there was such a thing?)

 

Vaughan is a good-sized town north of Toronto.  The population of people is about 290,000; the population of oak trees is unknown.

 

To allay the fears of those reading this article, medical experts have disputed the toxicity of acorns.  “For the most part, as long as they’re just handled and not ingested, there’s no scientific literature to suggest anyone has had a reaction” said Dr. Maria Asper, a pediatric allergist at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.  (Out of curiosity, is there also a Hospital for Well Children?  Just asking.)  "You really have to eat them to have a reaction” agreed Dr. Paul Keith, an allergist at McMaster University.  

  

Giustizia is reported to have added, "I’m not a crazy mom."

 

One thing is certain:  the city of Vaughan has too many nuts.  Unfortunately, some of them are their citizens.