“What’s today?” cried Scrooge calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes.
“Today?” replied the boy, “Why, Christmas Day!”
I’ve always enjoyed the end of author Charles Dickens’ "A Christmas Carol." Especially the part when Ebenezer Scrooge realizes that he hasn’t missed Christmas Day. Those first giddy moments of joy when he throws himself into planning and offering kindnesses to all in his path. Of course, as everyone knows, it took a visit from a former partner-turned-specter, and some scared-straight experiences with three spirits to bring him around.
We need those spirits to lead a communal ghostly intervention right now as Scrooge’s emblematic greed seems to be a grim reality for many Americans. They would be the millions not reaping the benefits of a strong stock market and economy. Worse, in this twisted season of giving, Congress is taking away insurance for children, while giving more money in the form of a permanent tax cut to the wealthy. The ones who are already richer than most are getting even richer as President Trump champions it as “The big, beautiful Christmas present for the U.S.” So many of our lawmakers seem to be willfully ignorant about the long-time impact of this gift. Ignoring the pleas from the people rallying in the streets and protesting in the offices of their representatives. Sen. Susan Collins, I’m talking to you.
Remember how the unrepentant Scrooge at the beginning of the story dismisses the men collecting funds for the poor? “Are there no prisons?" He asked. “And the union workhouses, are they still in operation?”
“Many can’t go there,” explained one solicitor, and the other adding, “And some would rather die.”
“If they would rather die," said Scrooge, “They had better do it and decrease the surplus population.”
But like reformed Ebenezer Scrooge I’d prefer to embrace goodwill to men and women on this Christmas day. To reflect on some of the recent examples of humanity at its best. I am humbled by the volunteers — the ordinary people — who rushed to Houston, Florida and Puerto Rico to pitch in for hurricane recovery. And those like celebrity Chef Jose’ Andres who continues to use his special talent to provide and cook hot food for Puerto Ricans throughout the country. Call me sappy, but these stories get me every time. Real Christmas spirit at work every day.
And I’m cheered by evidence that kindness blooms even in the midst of an environment steeped in ugliness. Greater Boston ranks fourth highest in a new survey by the online website WalletHub measuring most caring cities in 2017. WalletHub’s survey of the 100 most populated cities compared how the residents care for their communities, their vulnerable populations, and for their coworkers. Boston earned high percentages in categories like numbers of sheltered homeless persons and my personal favorite, doing favors for neighbors.
At the end of “A Christmas Carol,” the newly caring Scrooge pledges to “honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” I’m under no illusions that many of the modern Scrooges will ever change and find redemption. After all, the Dickens classic is fiction. Yet, what is Christmas Day, than a moment — however brief — to embrace joy?
