Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, December 24, 2014
The Magic Of Christmas Eve Goes Beyond Religion
For all the crushing weight of consumerism and faux emotion to be endured each December, there is nothing that can touch late-night Christmas Eve. The tenderness of those hours, somewhere between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m., are without equal. It seems to me that, religious or not, in those few hours we collectively agree to something so valuable it almost makes two months of holiday carols worthwhile.
In that short window of late Christmas Eve, we see in each other the same vulnerabilities we know so intimately in ourselves. For those few hours, we let the charade and the walls drop and recognize each other for what we all are fellow travelers on a journey no one understands.
There is a great deal written about the science of altruism and the willingness of human beings to extend help to genetically unrelated strangers. But if you’re out late on Christmas Eve, you can often find something quite different from altruism. It’s a human attribute whose scientific explanation means a lot less than its direct experience. In the quiet of Christmas Eve what we can often find is a special kind of compassion and a compassion born of identity. (Source: Adam Frank, NPR)
Christmas, shopping, Christmas Eve, consumerism, peace, December