Christmas: It Shouldn’t Be All About Materialism
It’s one of the most favorite scenes in the right-of-passage Christmas classic A Charlie Brown Christmas. Charlie Brown, distraught over the commercialization of Christmas, screams to the heavens, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?!” And then, out of the mouths of babes (as they say), Linus illuminates the true meaning of Christmas for all to hear.
Taking center stage, evidently at a school unsullied by woke school administrators and agendized teachers, Linus said:
“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
“And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’”
Regardless of your religious beliefs – or lack thereof – the very idea of Christmas is about the universal notion of “peace on earth, goodwill toward men.” To put it more succinctly, it is about kindness, compassion, thoughtfulness, and selflessness. This very basic reality is – year after year – drowned out by the materialistic screeches of Madison Avenue, now amplified by the rhetorical megaphone of the internet and social media.
So, too, is this very basic reality marginalized by aggressive secular Woke and Progressive movements that seek to replace any recognition of a higher power with the authority of man, shallow and arrogant as that may be. We see the scars of these movements on our society in the expungement of holiday songs that mention the Christ Child, the banishment of Christmas Trees and nativity scenes from schools and the public square, and even in the canceling of the simple salutation of Merry Christmas.
In addition to this depressing state of affairs, we are faced with the diminishing half-life of the time period for the season’s kindness, compassion, thoughtfulness, and selflessness. Political opportunists and globalist ideologues seek, at every opportunity, to keep the people focused on the divisive rather than on all that we have in common, not only as Americans but as human beings.
Imagine what the world would be like if we all held just a modicum of the Christmas season’s kindness, compassion, thoughtfulness, and selflessness throughout the year. Imagine how much more we would enjoy those in our lives if we issued good tidings with the happiness we do during Christmas, and even to strangers?
Kindness, compassion, thoughtfulness, and selflessness are not acts attributed exclusively to any one group, be they religious, political, ideological, or otherwise. We are all capable of executing each.
In fact, we should exist in a constant state of each in tandem just as we are supposed to live in the constant state of freedom as outlined in the Charters of Freedom. We can jettison the bravado, the arrogance, the jaded competitiveness, and the quest for egotistical superiority, and we can choose to emulate those who bring joy to the lives of others; those who people gravitate toward because of their kindness, compassion, thoughtfulness, and selflessness.
So, this Christmas I, and mine, wish for you and yours an abundance of kindness, compassion, thoughtfulness, and selflessness. We wish for you all peace of earth and – truly – goodwill toward men and women.
We don’t need to be in opposition to one another. We have more in common than we do in difference. And when the overwhelming number of us make it known that we will not tolerate opportunistic divisiveness anymore, only then will the forces of oppression and greed make way for goodwill toward all.
Merry Christmas and may you have a happy, healthy, prosperous, and – yes – blessed 2023.
