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The True Meaning
of Christmas?
As we rapidly
approach the end of another year, it is a good time to take stock.
Not only of our past actions and reactions during the year, but with
particular regard for the forthcoming Christmas frenzy. What does
it all mean? What messages are our children receiving?
Those of us with
some money and a fairly decent standard of living can choose to have
the luxury of deeper contemplation, as we visit shops, see the
decorations and invitations everywhere to buy gifts and celebrate.
I assume all this advertising is for our benefit? What can we do,
to ease the burden of shopping up a storm and then having to “face”
the street kids outside? What do our young children think, I
wonder?
Some of us
attempt to fix the world, so to speak, others try to help just a few
less fortunate, such as workers or individuals known to us. Some may
also think: I pay my taxes, I employ people on decent conditions of
service, I contribute to the economic development of the country, so
why should the plight of the 80% or so who are living in dire
straits be my concern? That too is valid, on the surface. Why
should honest, hardworking individuals have to “pay” again because
there is no social welfare, no decent schools, no decent hospitals
and clinics, no decent sanitation? Taxes here are far, far more
than just what is printed in the Government Gazette. It’s a
difficult one. Christmas is a time that highlights the divisions in
our society more obviously than other times of the year.
As we are a
Christian nation, at this time of the year especially, there will be
many who polish up the fancy cars, buy new outfits and frequent our
nearest church more often and pray more fervently, as we celebrate
the birth of Christ (or covertly check out what our neighbor is
wearing or what new car they have just acquired). Is it enough to
just be a Christian nation? Does merely going to Church every
Sunday inculcate good morals in a society? How much of our standing
in society and amongst our peers depends on how often we are at
Church and how polished our veneer is? How much of the Christmas
frenzy is just a social smoke-screen, even if we can’t actually
afford it, and wonder how will we pay the school fees come January.
Whatever our
opinion of the public spending priorities of our government, in a
society such as ours, where the poverty is laid out bare and
unconcealed, we do have a duty to care about others at Christmas
time. It is called humanity, and it is what sets us humans apart
from other creatures.
Many private
schools spend much time encouraging their more fortunate pupils to
engage with poorer communities through various service programmes
which is commendable. We need to back this up with actions at home,
whether it is by our children clearing out all their old toys and
clothes before the 25th, and taking them somewhere to
distribute or spending time at a hospice or orphanage reading to the
sick, old, young, or just sad for a few hours. There is an
unlimited choice of ways to help less fortunate people in our
society. Books and magazines are hugely appreciated and read a
thousand times over. Take a pile to your local clinic or school.
Even if they are “stolen”, it does not matter, they will still be
read by many. I doubt there are any functioning public libraries.
Sometimes we do
nothing only because the problems seem insurmountable. Where do you
start, who do you help, how much of your own hard earned money
(after taxes and other unexpected costs) do you give away? We don’t
want to look further than the glaringly obvious, it is too much to
dig any deeper. Maybe one way is to think of sharing a percentage
of what we would spend on our Christmas with others.
Christmas is not
only a time of celebration, a time of excess, a time for our own
families to be together again, it is indeed a time of reflection and
a time to share. How we choose to do that best, is a personal
decision, but merely thinking about it is not enough.
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December
2006