Walking
down the street in this day and age, it would be harder to find someone who has
not heard of A Christmas Carol and Ebenezer Scrooge’s reckoning with
the three Christmas ghosts, than someone who has. Whilst undoubtedly a
testament to Dickens’ cross-generational appeal, his timeless call for
generosity and a kind-spirited nature at this festive period is in danger of
being taken for granted in a modern capitalist society which is becoming
increasingly globalised, the paradox of which leaves us ever-conscious of the
existence of others around the world, and their plights, but at the same time
desensitised to their suffering and all-the-more focused on our
own well-being and success. Perhaps, therefore, in a time when
magnanimity too often halts at the threshold of our front door, this
Victorian author’s call for social justice and a heightened awareness of those
less fortunate than ourselves deserves a revisit, and could prove a lesson even
more wanting than before.
Fortunately, we have an immediate opportunity to begin
showing the sort of munificence which Dickens called for in 1843. With the
refugee crisis still unrelenting across Europe, and showing no sign of abating,
it is worrying that news coverage of this catastrophe wanes at the same time
that opinion both hardens in those countries initially receptive to the dire
need to aid these people, and galvanises impregnably in those which were already
unsympathetic. Whilst I hope that nobody would simply forget about the
existence of this issue, and the real people whose Christmas is to be spent
huddling amongst one another in makeshift refugee camps far from home, or
on dinghies halfway across the wintry Mediterranean Sea, the decreasing
attention which they are receiving in this country runs the risk of misleading
people that the crisis is improving or, at the very least, not a concern over
the Christmas period. It is at times like this that Dickens’ words must be
heeded in order that the emotional disconnect between nationalities and races
becomes secondary to a universal desire to help those in need.
Will reading a Victorian novella today result in us all
changing our ways and approaching the New Year with more empathy and altruism?
Probably not, as it didn’t do much good when it was first published; in January
1844, just one month after A
Christmas Carol’s release, Parley's Illuminated Library began
selling a pirated edition, making a mockery of the tale’s central tenet of
moral scrupulousness. This suggests that Dickens’
endeavour to stem the incessant flow of mankind’s selfish pursuit of self-gain
was futile when still recent, so the chances of doing so over 150 years later
is unlikely. But that does not stop us from trying.
So, as you enjoy Christmas Day with friends and family,
wherever you are and whatever you do, think on the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and
the lessons which we ourselves can learn from his spiritual awakening. Whilst
the protagonist of course takes centre-stage throughout A Christmas Carol, the
Christmas message which can still resonate most strongly, and has the power to
make a difference most profoundly, is perhaps best summed-up by the
rueful words of the minor character of Scrooge’s nephew, Fred;
"Christmas is the only time when men open their shut-up
hearts freely and think of people below them."
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
