In 2015, can we still learn anything from a Christmas tale written in 1843?

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.