'Happiness Bible' Author Donates Whole House in Protest of Black Friday
The author of the newly released "Happiness Bible" decided to do something different this Black Friday. Instead of shopping like most people, he chose to give away his personal items for absolutely no charge; approximately 200 people showed up and, to their disbelief, realized that everything truly was free.
"We had to get rid of a bunch of stuff and instead of just donating it to Salvation Army, all those places, they sell it, so we thought we would meet the people directly that need it," author Brian Bagnall told CBS.
However, it was not Bagnall's idea to go to such extremes for those in need. Instead, his girlfriend, Tiffany, made the suggestion that benefited a great deal of people this holiday season.
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"Brian had written a book and I was actually the editor for it and it is called, 'The Happiness Bible,' and just reading the book just really makes you think about what you have and how you can help other people and basically what you put out comes around six-fold," Tiffany explained.
The couple then put the ad listing everything for free on Craigslist, which shocked people and led them to wonder if the ad was too good to be true. But eventually people showed up out of curiosity and took full advantage of Bagnall's kindness and generosity.
"People were waiting all over the lawn and cars were lining up and down the street. There were 40 or 50 people on the front lawn when it first opened," Bagnall said of the day. "Happiness is not something that comes from outside of you, it is kind of a choice that you make," Bagnall said.
Bagnall opened up his entire home for the public, including his furniture, kitchen goods, beds, and anything else people needed. He did, however, post a few rules in the Craigslist ad: "Holds can't be placed on anything. If you want it, you need to take it right then and there. No pushing, shoving, running, yelling or any other mean stuff. This isn't Walmart. All that we ask is that if you take something, please pay it forward to someone else."
