Christmas is Bitter Sweet

I have always had a bitter-sweet relationship with Christmas, as long as I was old enough to dwell on human nature at least, and it's been much more bitter these last couple of days since Jamie lost someone very special to her. Allow me to explain.

It's not that Christmas is a bad or horrible time of year, or an evil holiday or anything, I think it's the sway it has over people in relation to the rest of the year. I'll sum it up as succinctly as I can: No food pantry goes empty in December, but the needy starve in May.

I think my contention is that the Christmas season is a time of sharing, of caring, of giving, and of good will towards men. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas we're all supposed to be the best we possibly can muster towards each other - and that's just great. But what about the rest of the year? Does a single month of plastic smiles and crocodile tears make up for 11 months of compassion-less back stabbing? Or is it just like placing a poster over the hole in the wall?

I think the true meaning of A Christmas Carol wasn't that Scrooge had to understand the true meaning of Christmas, not at all, but rather that...well...in Scrooge's own words:

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future."

The optimal phrase here is to keep it all the year. What Scrooge understands, but clearly the audience has forgotten, is that just being cheery in December cannot undo the sins of the year, and it is well and good be the best you can be to everyone you meet all year round, instead of just slapping on the veneer for a short time.

So please, three, four, eight months from now, keep holding doors, letting people merge into your lane in traffic, helping your friends, and being unselfish. Otherwise, I wonder, what's the point of celebrating our penance?