I have always enjoyed A CHRISTMAS CAROL written by Charles Dickens (did you know he was also a magician? He was!). I like both, the book and the movie versions. I like them a lot.
With apologies to so many great British actors, my personal favorite movie version is the one in which George C. Scott plays Ebenezer Scrooge.
When I was a kid, I remember reading A CHRISTMAS CAROL, and was puzzled by the Ghost of Christmas Present, as he opened his robes to reveal two emaciated and scared children. He calls them IGNORANCE and WANT. I just couldn’t figure out what that meant.
I’ve always loved the redemption story of Scrooge.
He’s lost connection with the important things in life and has come to ONLY value money and business.
Several years back, I was watching the Ghost of Christmas Past (played by Edward Woodward), in the (1985) Scott version, and it dawned on me what the children were.
They were OUR ignorance OF want.
They weren’t ignorance AND want.
We cloister ourselves to believe that OUR problems are the only problems in the world, we isolate ourselves to believe that if I am safe and well fed, then all the children in our neighborhood are safe and well fed, and all children around the world, are safe and well fed.
It’s – WILLFULL IGNORANCE – of the pain others are experiencing around the world – AND – right next door.
This is useful, because we’d buckle if we could actually feel – ALL – the pain and anguish that exists every minute of every day in the world.
Fortunately, we can’t. But there – IS – PAIN and people are suffering each and every moment of each and every day, and to completely ignore this IGNORANCE and WANT immoral and a bit false (I got mine… I don’t care about anyone else).
This isn’t to say we should be morose. The GHOST OF CHRISTMAS present is the opposite, he’s ALIVE, he’s PRESENT, he’s filled with joy, but for Scrooge to be truly alive, he must share his joyous bounty, and that he can do his part to help.
To me, that’s a good message that we can all take and use.
If – THIS – is the message of Christmas, then, I say, we should all “keep Christmas in our hearts” each and every day and as each new morning sun rises, we attempt to do what we can to be kind, understanding, helpful, cheerful, generous, and most of all, share the only thing we will ever really have that’s truly our own, and that’s love.
Love is expressed through word, deed, and action.
Our redemption awaits… make the most of today.
by Steve Trash – PBS TV Star and Rockin’ Eco Hero
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