good will

Yesterday me and my friends made the Goodwill rounds. Well, I don't know if they were "the rounds" per se. Basically, Bemidji has two Goodwills, and they're right next to each other. But "made the Goodwill rounds" sounds much more interesting than "we went to the two Goodwills--the ones right next to each other."

I used to feel kind of guilty about going to the Goodwill with my group of friends. The name "Goodwill" seemed to imply that the place existed for the benefit of those less fortunate, or rather, out of someone's "good will" inexpensive goods were provided for those that needed them.

Then I realized that I'm a poor college student, and I need things.

Plus, Goodwill was the place where I finally found my coveted Ned Land shirt.

So I feel better about going now. I never seem to buy anything, though. Besides the Ned Land shirt and some pants for a Han Solo costume, the only other thing I've ever bought at the Goodwill was the book "Catch 22." I bought it yesterday--for 50 cents.

My friend, on the other hand, buys tons of stuff at the Goodwill, and he's never felt guilty about it.

Yesterday, he bought an original Nintendo system with two controllers, the gun, all the cords, and the original instructions for $4.00. For the videogame illiterate, that's a tremendous deal.

The thing is, he already had two fully functional Nintendos.

Walking out of the store, he exclaimed, "Buying this third Nintendo keeps some sucker from having one!"

He was genuinely pleased at the thought.

Ah, Goodwill.