Boomers: If your parents are from the midwest then they might remember the troop trains...

Like many baby boomers, I have trouble finding interesting gifts for my 70-something parents. It is increasingly difficult to find things that: 1) they enjoy; 2) they don't already have; and 3) they weren't expecting. It's far too easy to take the safe route (gift certificates, socks, etc.) rather than venture into the unknown. But without the element of surprise, gifts go from being something special to a simple annual exchange of gift cards. I give you a Barnes & Noble card on your birthday and on my special day you give me a gift card from The Gap. Boring!

Every once in awhile however we trip across something that catches our eye as a perfect gift and it doesn't really matter whether or not a gift-giving occasion is nearby. The decision to buy is a no-brainer. The only question is whether I just send it now as a "thinking of you" or hold it in arrears. Gretch Rubin (Happiness Project) just tipped me off to one such gift.

It's a booked called "Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen" and describes a little town in Nebraska who decided to meet the countless thousands of American recruits during WWII crossing the country in "troop trains" with extraordinary hospitality. Given the shortages and rationing of the time, the coffee, sandwiches, books, playing cards, donuts, etc., that the citizens were able to provide at their own expense is nothing short of heroism.

Several years ago there were tremendous wildfires in Southern California and fire companies from around California responded to the emergency and fought them for several days until the brush fires were brought under control. A hundred homes were lost but many more were saved by these brave crews. As the fire was wanning the fire teams were sitting around on their trucks waiting to be discharged and make the long drives home. Many of these crews hadn't slept in days and now they were just sitting in the sun--exhausted, hungry and bored. In the middle of all of these giant fire trucks from around the state there was a little boy in a Superman costume walking up to the firemen and giving them homemade cookies and telling them that they were the "real" Supermen. It was one of the most touching images that I've ever witnessed in my life.

Charity today is far too often giving away things that we don't need anyway, going to a fund raiser because someone important to our company is being honored, or just part of year-end tax planning. But parents of boomers will remember a time when during a period of unprecedented scarcity little towns across the country figured out ways to do things like that little boy in the Superman costume, and that's what Greene's book is about.