Operation Kitty Claus

Sunday morning November 4th 2012 dozens of Glendora residents awoke to find a unique package had arrived at their doorsteps. Some were small, about the size of a standard manila envelope. Others were rolled resembling a wall poster. Several were as large as 4 ft across. All of these mysterious packages had one thing in common. They were all original artwork that I have spent the last few years creating. Did I know these people? No, not at all. They were all chosen at random as I drove around early Sunday morning making my unorthodox deliveries. The idea was simple. I wanted to give complete strangers something different, something positive. I wanted to share hours and hours of my hard work with people who were not expecting it. So I spent the entire day before preparing for what I had dubbed "Operation Kitty Claus". Get it? The play on words there?... Eh?....  Anyway, I gathered up fifty of my cherished pieces of art, neatly wrapped them and loaded them into my Astro Van, aka the swagger wagon, aka the I cant park outside my kids school without getting several suspicious stares van. Attached to each piece was the following letter that I hoped would help explain what they had received.

Before embarking on my quest of selfless gift giving I tried to put myself in their shoes. How would I feel if I were to wake up to such an amazing gift? If I had, I feel at the very least I would acknowledge how cool it is to randomly become the owner of original artwork. Even if the artist was not someone I was familiar with surely their work could possibly one day be worth something. Perhaps it already was. I would research the artist to learn more about them and the work they do. After that I would likely tell someone about this cool surprise. You know... call friends and family to tell them about the unique start to my day.  Unfortunately I have no idea as to whether any of these things occurred. Actually the only people I know for sure were called were the police! You see after I arrived back home from my deliveries I climbed into bed hoping to get a couple hours sleep. I eventually managed to doze off only to wake to the dog wildly barking and a very loud pounding on the front door. I glanced out the window to see a police cruiser parked right in front of the house. The pounding continued and my heart began to match. I clumsily walked to the door reaching for the knob and hesitated for a second. Did I commit a crime? Was delivering unsolicited artwork against the law? I opened the door to face my fate. "Can I help you?" as if I had no idea why he was there. "Yeah, Did you run around town putting art on people's doorsteps?" It was hard no to laugh at how odd that sounded. "Yes... Is that bad?" Still trying not to laugh. "Well, No sir, you haven't committed a crime we are just trying to figure out what's going on. You see we have been getting all sorts of calls from residents who have been quite unsettled by your deliveries. Two in fact absolutely didn't want anything to do with your artwork and had in mind to throw it away. I offered to take it off their hands and return it to you." He gestured toward his car. "Oh" I felt the weight of rejection begin to turn my gaze downward. "I guess they just don't know how to appreciate a unique gift." He said. I shook off the disappointment and realized there was still 48 pieces out there and hopefully having a more positive effect. We walked to the squad car joking about the situation. I collected the returned pieces and turned to head back inside. "Maybe next time knock and say hello." He said laughing as he climbed back into the car and drove away. Once back inside I began to think about what just happened. Of all the outcomes, this was somehow one I did not expect and since then have heard no news of the impact my escapade had on the city of Glendora. The only question I felt worth answering when all was said and done was would I do it again? Yes definitely! And next time even bigger! So be on the look out. You never know where or when the next Operation Kitty Claus will take place!