The Ultimate Gift

In the next video, Red thanks Hamilton and Hastings for putting in so much effort on behalf of Jason. Hamilton realizes he’s simply glad to do so.

Red tells Jason the greatest gift is having dreams for the future. He tells of his friend Walt Disney, who always was drawing up plans for new ways to stimulate people’s imaginations. On his death bed, Disney had a reporter lie next to him so they could look up at the ceiling, where Disney had installed the dream board for his latest plans.

Another friend also dreamed: He wanted to retire at 50. His dream came true, but he had no further dreams and died by suicide a month later. What matters, instead, is to have an ongoing, passionate dream that animates a person’s life. To that end, Red assigns Jason the task of taking inventory of his own biggest dreams.

Three weeks later, Jason returns to the conference room. He says at first he drew up a big list of things he wants to do, then realized they were simply a to-do list he could accomplish any time. Instead, he has a bigger project in mind—helping young people learn the lessons Red taught him. Hastings claps with enthusiasm, and Hamilton concurs. Hamilton reminds Jason to always keep his dream alive; privately, he reminds himself to keep his own dreams alive and growing.

At the ninth monthly meeting, Hamilton notices Jason seems eager to know what Red has next in store for him. Red says his mistake was giving money to relatives out of a sense of obligation. This spoiled them. Instead, Red learned to give from the joy of giving. He tasks Jason with offering a gift to someone each day during the month—not from the money Red already gave him but from Jason’s own resources.

Frustrated, Jason demands to know what he has that hasn’t come from Red. Hamilton assures him Red wouldn’t give an assignment Jason couldn’t do. To himself, Hamilton wonders how Jason will fulfill this difficult challenge.

At month’s end, Jason gives his report. He’s unsure whether each of his 30 gifts fits Red’s requirements, but he reads them off. On the first day, at a shopping center, he gave up his close parking space to an elderly couple. On day two, he shared his umbrella during a storm. On the third day, he donated blood. On the fourth day, he found a great deal on new tires for a neighbor who needed them.

His good deeds also included reading articles at a blindness center, serving at a soup kitchen, jump-starting someone’s dead car battery, and hosting a charity reception at his house. He also helped build a Habitat for Humanity house, raked leaves for a neighbor, and baked cookies for an elementary school fundraiser. In all, Jason completed 29 tasks.

Hamilton asks about day 30. Jason answers by offering some of his cookies to Hamilton and Hastings. Hamilton tries one and says, “Not too bad, but I’m glad that your dream does not involve a lot of baking” (85). Everyone laughs. They talk for hours about the people Jason met and assisted. Hamilton thinks “a small gift when it is given can be a magnificent gift as it is received” (85).

By month 10, Hamilton feels both encouraged by the nearness of Red’s goal line and worried that any mistake might ruin things for Jason.

In the next video, Red says that, though he enjoyed more than a lifetime of great experiences and hobnobbed with presidents and kings, his fondest memories come from the worst things he endured. He recalls being un-housed in his teens and riding the rails for a year alongside an older man, Josh, who always seemed happy. Josh said his secret was, every morning, to imagine a “golden table” on which was inscribed 10 things, trivial or deep, that he was thankful for.

Red adopted this habit of reciting a “Golden List” every day. He wants to pass along this technique to Jason, so he charges him with building a Golden List of his own and reporting its contents to Hamilton and Hastings. (Hamilton, inspired by this assignment, constructs his own list.)

Jason returns at month’s end with “a gleam in his eye and a spring in his step” (91). He recites his Golden List: He’s grateful for his good health, youth, beautiful home, friends—Hamilton, Hastings, Gus, boys at the Home, Red himself—and education. He’s also grateful for the travel he’s experienced; his wonderful car; his families, both old and new; his wealth, made possible by Red; and Red’s 12-month challenge. Jason says a list of 10 isn’t enough to encompass all the things for which he’s grateful.

The next morning, Hamilton adjusts his own Golden List to include Red and Jason.

As the 11th month begins, Hamilton wonders at how he and Red Stevens, two vastly different people, maintained so marvelous a friendship for half a century. Hamilton feels honored Red asked him to administer Jason’s challenge.

In his latest video, Red declares he and Jason are “kindred spirits.” As his death approaches, Red ponders how he would live his last day, and he wants Jason to do the same. He says that “if I can get that picture in my mind of maximizing one day, I will have mastered the essence of living, because life is nothing more than a series of days” (96). Jason’s job is to plan his last day and report its details to Hamilton.

Jason returns with a final day crammed full of activities—nothing spectacular but simple pleasures all the same. He’d spend the morning contacting friends and relatives, expressing what they mean to him, giving gifts, expressing sorrow for his mistakes, and listening to their dreams for life. In the afternoon, he’d go for a walk in the park with someone special—young Emily, perhaps—then make a brief visit to a museum and enjoy a sailboat ride. In the evening, he’d hold a banquet for his friends and their invitees, where he’d describe the gifts he’d received from his relationship with Red. The moment would be videotaped to share with other young people after Jason died.

As he leaves, Jason smiles, shakes Hamilton’s hand, and gives Hastings a hug. Hamilton understands how remarkable Jason’s transformation during the year was: “I knew that Red Stevens was smiling down on us” (99).