Christmas is a magical time of the year, filled with cheer and goodwill. But this year, with all the crisis and turmoil besieging the country—and the whole world—today, it will be hard to see a holiday season with much glee.
In Charles Dickens’ novel A Christmas Carol, the main character, Ebenezer Scrooge, is described as a man who perfectly justified saving every penny, thus making him a miser.
The three ghosts that haunted Scrooge may very well represent those who see no need to suffer by saving every penny, and who despise and ridicule the Scrooges of the world.
Watching A Christmas Carol today can be saddening, because in reality, it’s the Ebenezer Scrooges who might be able to survive these troubling times. Today, we should prepare for the worse, save every penny and be ruthless in protecting ourselves, our families and our community.
However we don’t have to be a complete Scrooge to survive. True, there are increasingly many people in real distress, but there are ways to balance Ebenezer Scrooge’s petty, mean-spirited and miserly ways with kindness and decency, with the three Ghosts’ narcissistic and overly confident optimism with common sense and creativity.
For starters, start throwing out your expensive gift list, and opt for more meaningful and memorable ones. In fact, purchasing one gift for a whole family is a smart idea, as proven by Nintendo’s Wii, in a report that said the demand for the game console is still strong despite the rocky economy. Of course, we’ll pretend that it’s a gift that only kids will enjoy, but in reality, even your grandmother can use it for light exercise.
Also, the old adage that “it’s always the thought that counts,” very much applies today. As much as we would like to give away the best and most expensive gifts to our friends and families, they would probably appreciate it more if your personal touch will reflect in what you will give them. A friend, who found herself cash-strapped this holiday season, decided to use her creativity to be able to give the perfect gift for her loved one this Christmas. With inexpensive materials, she was able to preserve a memento from their first date. This, she believes, costed less than what she expected, but is priceless.
True enough, the cautious, risk-averse Scrooges are few and far between. But the lesson that we can learn from A Christmas Carol today is not exactly the lesson that Charles Dickens was teaching. Of course we shouldn’t turn ourselves into miserable old folks like Scrooge, but we should all realize that present times are calling for austere measures. The new world war that we are facing today – in the next few years—could be over or more terrible than almost anyone can imagine, depending on how the economy will improve, and will test us as individuals and as a nation. But being able to balance everything is the path to both physical survival as a nation and personal survival as a human being.
Also, holding to faith and hope that what we are going through as a nation would at least change for the better next year. We are not asking for total turnaround, as realistically, we know that coming out of the crisis the country is in today takes a little more time to recover. What we need to understand that being able to survive these trying times is a blessing itself. So regardless of whether we can afford the most expensive gift, or settle for a cost-friendly one, we should always remember the true meaning of Christmas—that is to share and rejoice the coming of the Messiah. (www.asianjournal.com)
(Published December 19, 2008 p.sf2 NC)
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