A Simple Gift

What would you do if you found out that your grandfather had done something noble while at the same time perpetrating a lie about his background? If you are Ted Gup, you write a book entitled A Simple Gift.

In December 1933, during the Depression, a man calling himself A. Virdot put an ad in a Canton, OH newspaper offering to send $10 to 75 people who would write and tell him their stories. The response was so great that he decided to halve the amount given and double the number of people helped.

In 2008, through the gift of an old black suitcase filled with papers, Ted Gup discovered that A. Virdot was his grandfather, Samuel J. Stone. He eventually began a journey to discover the stories behind the recipients of the gifts and the true history of his grandfather. A Simple Gift is the result of that journey.

This book gives insight into what it was like living through the Depression and what is was like to be an immigrant to the United States, just to name two themes included.

My thoughts after finishing the book are these. Even though my family experienced some lean times when I was a child, we experienced NOTHING like those in the Depression era. As a WASP (White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant), I have not experienced the prejudice or distrust of others because of my heritage, faith, or skin color. I have not had to live in fear that I would be persecuted or thrown out of the country because they no longer wanted people of "my kind" living here.

After reading this book, how can I not feel thankful for the relatively easy life I have had. I have done nothing to deserve all the blessings that have come to me and my family. It's all grace.