A Christmas Challenge

Editorial printed on 25 December 1997

Christmas season. Bah, humbug! The weather is often cold and miserable. The skies are dark; the streets are sloppy with snow and muddy slush. Everyone has a cold or the flu. Our cars are filthy. Our shoes are wet. And, we are forced to wear layer upon layer of bulky winter clothes. Tempers are short. Tension is high. Worst of all, shopping at the mall. Elbows flying. Children crying. Too many people. Too few Cabbage Patch dolls, Tickle-Me-Elmos, or whatever toy the marketing scams have decided will be this year’s must-have (and next year’s has-been).

Being cynical is easy during this time of year. In fact, cynicism is virtually a national obsession. Fussing and fretting, griping and grumbling, moaning and whining – all have become accepted, even expected, forms of holiday behavior. Fortunately, though the crankiness of the masses generally receives the most attention during the holiday season, those who live the role of Ebeneezer Scrooge are in the minority. For most of us, the Christmas season is the time of year during which we become the people we wish we were all year long.

This transformation is startling as it is brought upon us not by force, but merely by a tradition that honors the memory of a God who became a Man and provided humanity with a model by which kindness and selflessness could be measured. Leading by example, He challenged us to live in His image. Miraculously, in a society in which vigorous debate is a right, His teachings have transcended most of their religious overtones. The altruism prescribed by the Church affects the behavior of nearly everyone during the Christmas season, regardless of religious preference.

We are more likely to toss a couple of extra quarters to the same panhandlers we curse, step over, and ignore most of the year. Each year’s December finds charities suddenly inundated by volunteers, donors, and benefactors. Blankets are handed out to the homeless people who are usually forced to huddle in doorways under mounds of discarded newspaper. Strangers are often acknowledged with a smile and greeted with a "Merry Christmas" or a "Happy Holidays." Instead of bread and thin broth, the soup kitchens and food lines serve countless turkeys with "all the fixin’s." Even the nightly news, usually a chronicle of depravity and mayhem, reserves a few minutes each night for "feel good" stories of people spreading a little holiday cheer.

From Thanksgiving to Christmas and finally to New Year’s Day, roughly one month out of every year, we shed our selfishness and adopt a new attitude. Why? Are the homeless people begging for a quarter any needier during the Christmas season? Are the men, women, and children at the shelters more hungry in December than they are the rest of the year?

Despite all of our good intentions and our attempts to be better human beings, even the charity of the Christmas season is tainted because the motivation for our December kindness is fueled, in a large part, by guilt. Sure, we all like to kid ourselves that we do all we can during the year, but if we are honest we know that one month of charity does not atone for eleven months of indifference.

Seeing the misery every day has made many of us immune to it. We are tired of people asking for money. We yell, "Get a job!" We lie, "No, I don’t have any change." We rationalize our refusal to help by saying, "They’ll only buy booze." or "What good will a dollar do?"

Sure, our rationalizations allow us to go home with a clear conscience and order a pizza and watch a movie on our big screen television while talking on our cell phone and lounging in a plush recliner. But think about this: How many of us - with college degrees, new clothes, a haircut and a shave, and a good night’s sleep – have had trouble finding a job? If you really want a challenge, try finding a job when you have no education, your clothes are tattered, you have nowhere to take a shower, and your "bed" the night before was a cardboard box under a bridge.

And, maybe we don’t have any change, but will a dollar or two send us to the poor house? Maybe we could skip the extra cheese on our pizza, or we could not order a third beer with dinner, or we could wait until next week to read the news about "who’s sleeping with whom" in People magazine.

A dollar doesn’t buy much in our world, and it certainly is not going to change anyone’s life. However, the next time you are in the grocery store, look and see what you can buy with one dollar. A loaf of bread. A can of soup. A couple of apples. A carton of milk or orange juice. Even a candy bar. The list is endless. Something as simple as a dollar may provide a poor person with a moment of pleasure and a chance to eat something other than someone else’s scraps.

Sure, we’re all tired of scams. Yes, some people who beg for money do buy alcohol. But before we climb up on our high horse, if that is the real reason we refuse to offer help why can’t we stop into Burger King or a bakery and buy a sandwich or a loaf of bread? Certainly, five minutes out of our day won’t make a difference in earning our next million.

As always, I thank God for all the blessings in my life. I am lucky enough to have a loving wife and a wonderful family. Never do we appreciate our loved ones as much as we do during the Christmas season. But let us not limit our appreciation of people to one month of the year.

Also, I want to thank everyone who helps to make the Italian Tribune such a success. We try to publish a paper for the Italian American community providing news with a little something for everyone. Judging by your response and continued support, we are succeeding.

Let me conclude by wishing all the friends of the Italian Tribune a wonderful Christmas and prosperity during the New Year. And, let us endeavor to carry our Christmas spirit throughout the entire year. If we do, America will once again be a nation of kindness, a nation of good will, and a nation of neighbors.

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