Rev. Joe: A Christmas Carol

"Forgive me if I am wrong. It has been done in your name, or at least in that of your family," said Scrooge.

"There are some upon this earth of yours," returned the Spirit, "who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us."

-- A Christmas Carol

The background of the story and author is interesting, Dickens himself having a rich biographical background, including his time as a journalist and observer of the U.S. shortly after Tocqueville's more well known journeys. Some years ago, I read a book on Christmas over the years and it was suggested that the story is a type of establishment middle class view of things, which given his background (son of a government employee, if one of lower middle class means), is not too surprising.

And, Dickens was a big part of the Victorian nostalgia over Christmas, a holiday with mixed expressions over the years. Dickens started a holiday tradition of sorts himself by giving readings of his work, the beginning of many versions of the story. I myself have seen various ones, including animated (e.g., Flintstones), but never read the original until now. The usual versions are basically loyal to the text, though when the spirit of Christmas present shows him various people (usually of the middling sort) celebrating, I think the movies tend not to be as complete, focusing on Fred and the Cratchits.

The original is a bit overly verbose at times though it provides many intricate word pictures of events. Sometimes, it has a nice sense of humor:

Gentlemen of the free-and-easy sort, who plume themselves on being acquainted with a move or two, and being usually equal to the time-of-day, express the wide range of their capacity for adventure by observing that they are good for anything from pitch-and-toss to manslaughter; between which opposite extremes, no doubt, there lies a tolerably wide and comprehensive range of subjects. Without venturing for Scrooge quite as hardily as this, I don't mind calling on you to believe that he was ready for a good broad field of strange appearances, and that nothing between a baby and rhinoceros would have astonished him very much.

Dickens also includes support of being in trying to keep in good cheer, even when life is hard, and the value of having a sense of humor that I concur in:

Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.

His nephew and clerk both were poor but had happy lives, including good cheer and families who loved them. Dickens was in no way complacent about such things, biographies noting he never forgot about his own father being in a poorhouse and what that meant to the family. But, it does provide perspective that applies to many things. You might be wanting but still have a good head on your shoulders and view things in the right fashion.

Happy Holidays -- we are in the midst of Kwanzaa.