It's been a week of grim headlines. The hostage situation in Sydney. The eight children stabbed to death in Cairns. The horrific massacre of schoolchildren in Pakistan. The shooting spree in Philadelphia.
Shock is turning to grief, grief is turning to anger, anger may soon turn to revenge. And the trouble with revenge is a lot of innocent people get caught up in the paybacks that invariably occur. That's human nature.
Then there's the bigger picture stuff. ISIS continues to grow in the Middle East. Russia (and Japan and China and Venezuela and ...) are in economic freefall. Our uncontrolled president continues to suppress our God-given Rights using only his pen and his phone, while a sycophantic Republican Party reneges on every election promise it made to stop him.
What's the old line? If it weren't for bad news, we'd have no news at all. Not that bad news is palatable at any time, but it always seems particularly poignant in the days preceding Christmas.
That's the ugly.
Then there's the bad.
Christmas is a time when petty bickering often becomes outright hostility. People seem to pick on religious differences now more than any other time of year. It is widely believed that Jesus wasn't born on Dec. 25. My grandfather (God rest is soul) was born in 1895, but for whatever reason by the time I came along in 1962 he couldn't remember whether his birthday was Oct. 7, 17, or 27. So when he was in his 70s we picked a date, and for the rest of his long life we celebrated his birth on Oct. 27. It didn't matter that the date was probably wrong. What mattered was we loved him dearly and gave him a special day to celebrate. Yet people will damn each other to hell for celebrating the Prince of Peace's birth on the wrong day – or even celebrating His birth at all.
But it's not just religious differences. Bickering relatives can make our lives a misery, especially during holidays when we all we ache for – but fail to find – the simple love that should come with family gatherings. Since humans are flawed and imperfect, often family gatherings only serve to amplify every flaw and imperfection, making them miserable experiences.
For many, Christmas is a time of trial and endurance, a time to cope with a massive and unyielding workload and unreasonable demands from strangers. For others it's a time of loneliness, or a time to endure the fallout from substance abuse or poor choices. For some people, it can be a poignant reminder of the loss of loved ones or personal tragedies from the preceding year. For the most dispirited, it's the end of another year of useless energy spent and a mile marker closer to the oblivion of the grave.
Christmas can be a time of great greed and avarice, a time when parties and festivities and gift-buying reach stressful proportions. It can be a time when people (particularly women) feel defective and inferior on all fronts because their homes and holiday efforts aren't up to snuff. Advertisers show us beautiful skinny people dressed in designer clothing surrounded by adorable and well-behaved children opening beautifully wrapped gifts in homes that could be lifted from the pages of Architectural Digest (on what planet?), and people get stressed trying to achieve perfection when perfection isn't achievable.
And of course there's a constant war between the secular and the religious celebrants, where atheist Grinches try their best to drain any and all Christian overtones to a Christian holiday through complaints, vandalism, theft, or lawsuits.
That's the bad.
And then there's the good.
Oh my goodness, the good.
Christmas can be a time of mercy and charity, a "kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of … when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely" (to quote Dickens).
In the Introduction to the photo essay "Christmas in America," the publishers wrote: "Just when the air turns frosty and the days shrink into darkness, the Christmas season arrives in America. It begins at Thanksgiving – with families, feasts and football. Then, during the next six weeks we shop and decorate, worship and make merry. Our hearts warm in the winter cold. We find compassion for strangers, and we remember there are miracles. Pious or festive or both, we join together in an extraordinary national festival."
An extraordinary national festival. For believers and unbelievers alike, that is true. Christmas is a time of great joy, wonder and loveliness, a time when the whole nation throws itself into celebration. We see little miracles like Santa talking to a deaf child in sign language. We see random acts of kindness from strangers. We see flash mobs of choral singers bringing music to crowds. We see more charity than at any other time of year. We see beauty – lights, trees, decorations, packages, smiles, laughter and music.
At Christmas, we catch up with distant friends and relatives through cards and gifts. We remember to offer appreciation to our loved ones, our neighbors, our employers, our employees, those who serve our country and our communities, and those who serve us in stores, restaurants, industries and utilities.
In addition to the usual secular celebrations of gifts and decorations, Christmas is a time of reflection and personal examination, a sort of end-of-the-year performance review. It's a time when those who are too often strangers to God remember they should pay Him a visit once in a while, and crowd into churches. It's a time when even the most singing-challenged will lift up their voices and make a joyful noise.
But above all, this is the time of year when even non-religious folks are forced to remember what started it. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
Remember the good. A blessed and Merry Christmas to everyone.
Media wishing to interview Patrice Lewis, please contact [email protected].
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