EDITORIAL: Holiday celebrations will be tempered by memories of lost loved ones
What is Christmas?
This year, it is a time when ultimate joy and deepest sadness may walk hand in hand.
For it is a time of love and faith and family and, for too many, of the memory of love and faith and family lost.
Christmas is a state of mind in which visions of sugarplums can dance in our heads, even when we aren’t sure we’ve ever actually seen one, and families gather around the hearth to share their bounty and give their love.
For it is a time to dream of what could be.
And yet, it can be a time of the most profound emptiness for those who no longer dream.
To children, it is a time to listen for those sleighbells in the snow, and to hope that St. Nicholas soon will be there. To parents, it is a time to renew bonds with children and childhood, and faith. To many, it is a time to believe that peace on earth and good will toward men really could happen. It is indeed a joy to the world.
For it is a time of hope for what should be.
And yet, it can be a time of deep despair for those who no longer hope.
To devout Christians, it is the day to celebrate the birth of the Christ child, the day God came to Earth in the body of a baby, delivered to a virgin in a barn, under a magical star, as all the Heavenly hosts trumpeted his arrival to a handful of poor shepherds and as three kings from the East bowed down to pay homage. And to know that’s the way it was.
For it is a time to believe that human life has purpose and all things are possible.
And yet, it can be a time of the most utter cynicism for those who no longer hear the angels sing.
Has Christmas been trivialized by commercialism? Hardly. It remains the most powerful spiritual and emotional symbol of our society, totally independent of the cash registers. It is burned into our psyches. All the hosts of Madison Avenue haven’t the power to bring down Christmas in the hearts of those who believe, nor create it in the souls of those who don’t.
Presents and trees, tinsel and mistletoe are just tools we use to express our joy … or hide our sadness.
What must we do at Christmas time?
We each should celebrate the holiday or not as befits our faith, but then we must do more. We must know that there are those among our friends and neighbors, Christian and non-Christian, who need us more now than ever. And that by reaching out to them, we make room at the inn for ourselves as well.
For it is through helping others that our hope, our faith and our ability to dream are restored.
The cattle are lowing. Merry Christmas.