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Cultural Musings on Chatham-Kent
REFLECTION IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF CHRISTMAS
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
All too often, our lives do not allow time for reflection. Intent on getting and spending, we rarely spend quality moments in thoughtful reflection. If one does not take the time at Christmas to do a little thoughtful reflection, when will one take the time?I am quite sure that throughout the ages this time of year has allowed many a man and woman to pause, reflect and evaluate not only the past year, and past Christmas seasons but their lives to date. A most worthy and necessary task, for after all is said and done, is an unexamined life really worth living?
At this time of year, I choose to believe that I am contemplating many of the same thoughts as someone of my age and position must have thought 50 years ago, 100 years ago or even 200 years ago. I speculate that those reflections revolved, and still revolve, around family, friends, and loved ones and the experiences that were shared in Christmas pasts with those cherished ones.
It is a time to recall, with bitter-sweet reverie, the Christmas memories of those who meant so much to us in Christmases long gone but never forgotten. It is a time to remember those parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, children or lost friends who brought to life the true spirit of Christmas.
It is a time to fondly recall those who are no longer with us in body but reside within us, stronger than ever, in spirit at this time of year.
It is a time to remember those who instilled within us the true meaning and spirit of Christmas that we are all in danger of losing amidst the commercialization that grows ever stronger each year. Without exception, I would speculate that it is not a gift nor any material manifestation of any sort that we recall. I would venture to guess that it is, rather, the sound of a grandfather's voice raised in laughter, a grandmother's heartfelt kiss, an aunt's gentle, playful scolding or a father's slightly embarrassed smile that we remember, cherish and keep locked away in our heart of hearts as our most precious gifts.
When we were young, or possibly not so young, we foolishly thought that those people who created our vision of Christmas would always be with us. As a result, we took them for granted and probably never gave back to them the same Christmas "gifts" that they gave to us. Oh, we may have bought them expensive gifts, anguished over the material object that we thought would make them happy, but failed to realize that it was not those gifts that they longed for nor desired.
They wanted us to be happy, full of Christmas spirit, brimming with love, passion and compassion. They wanted us to include them in our Christmas thoughts as they had so unselfishly done for us. They wanted to revel in the Christmas joy that they could see that we were hopefully passing on to our own children.
In the past, Christmas gifts were, of necessity, simpler, fewer and yet much more personal and, I speculate, much more valuable. They came from the heart and represented our most valuable gifts – time, thought and effort. In to-day's world, it is so easy to quickly, and without a great deal of thought, purchase an expensive gift for someone and justify its value by its monetary worth.
Unfortunately, it is not until middle age or possibly until old age comes creeping upon us that we manage to see through the mists of time, corporate slogans and meaningless Christmas materialism. It is only then that our thoughts return to those Christmas seasons from our near and distant pasts.
It might be the memory of a moonstruck skate on a mystical Christmas Eve pond, a clumsy Christmas kiss from a teenage love in a snow filled deserted park, a hug from a loved one on the last Christmas morning they would share with you, or maybe it was simply the meeting of eyes after midnight service with a stranger that uttered no words but spoke such volumes.
The true Christmas spirit, as it has for hundreds of years, does not come in a box, from a store nor is it that which you can grasp in your hands nor confine to a cupboard. It is a feeling, a sharing, or maybe it is only a memory. A memory of a time that we did not appreciate or even fully understand when it occurred but one that we have been valiantly and vainly trying to relive, recapture and reclaim for a lifetime.
It is a feeling not new to the world nor is it singular to our generation. It is a timeless quest that has possessed mankind since the first Christmas and one that will haunt us all until our last Christmas.
From the Gilbert home to yours.....Merry Christmas!
Jim and Lisa Gilbert are local, national and international award winning educators and historians.
