As most people are wont to say, Christmas is just around the corner. And for all intents and purposes, it is. While certain quarters doubt whether the birth of Jesus Christ actually took place in December and on the 25 th at that, the world as we know it generally observes Christmas on Dec. 25. This brings us to a question that everybody should ask but which only a few care to look beyond the trappings: what makes Christmas Christmas? Children think it's time when the Christmas tree takes its place in the scheme of things and when carols start playing in the air. Strange but many adults think so too – with the accompanying headaches, of course. It is amazing how cash can disappear too easily at Christmas time despite the fact that there are supposed to be extra cash infusion at the time.
Time was when Christmas is supposed to be the season of cheer, of giving more than receiving, when people take time to be kind to one and all. Or, was there? These days, there seems little to distinguish Christmas from other times of the year. The scoundrels, who are suppose to transform themselves into angels at this time - at least out of reverence for the season – no longer take a day off. Every day we read of muggings, robberies, swindling, rape, killings and every crime imaginable. Christmas no longer seems to make any difference. To people who equate people Christmas only with the frills, the thrills and the heightened commercial activity, the conclusion would be obvious. And yet, that is precisely why most people miss Christmas.
Christmas is not about what is around us. It is something that is within us. While traders may have thought up of a thousand and one ways to depict Christmas on a visual level, it takes a personal experience to really know what it means. So what if criminals make a heyday during the season? Isn't that they will always be regardless of the time of the year they go for the kill? They are no less despicable just because they abstain from their trade on Christmas. Christmas, as it should be, is not dependent on the bad guys. They can do their worse and they still won't be able to take the luster of the Savior's birth. It was precisely because of man's perversion that Jesus came to earth. If there was any doubt on the need for Him to do that, the evil around us removes that. Those who say Christmas this year is bad are not only doing Jesus a great injustice. These are people do not deserve to celebrate Christmas at all. Just because we miss the celebration does not mean it did not happen.
|
