Living the indignities of a global recession, knowing we live the times and walk the steps of history - the double dip recession of the early 21st century. The Great Depression of the 1930s are only stories to us but its devastating completeness was more real and dangerous than the worst of times today.
A Secret Gift is a take-your-breath-away story of genuine altruism. Christmas in 1933, B. Virdot (pseudonym) annonymously placed an ad offer of financial aid in return for letters that detailed the true circumstances of its writers - conceived to affect 50 to 70 beneficiaries, 150 responses poured in. $5 cheques arrived for Christmas and there the story slipped into quietude.
Until his grandson, former Washington Post journalist Ted Gup unearthed a suitcase of letters and a bankbook. He traced the recipients of his granddad's benevolence, their children and grandchildren. Their letters are reproduced in this remarkable tome. The writers urged Virdot to keep the secret of their frankness in the letters even urging him to destroy them - a safe-zone for their total veracity.
.....a gesture of generosity can deliver, along with small relief, good fortune that rings with hope.
I love this story.
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