How about a Dickens' quote to start Christmas week?
Christmas time has so many characters; from Rudolph to George Bailey, Baby Jesus to Santa, from Frosty to the Grinch.
One character that we often overlook is Ebenezer Scrooge. His message is a rough one that doesn’t appeal to those in the Christmas spirit.
Scrooge is a jagoff!
… but the message in his story can be useful to learn.
Scrooge was given the gift of releasing his regrets and cleansing his soul. Scrooge woke up on the morning of Christmas Eve a painful bitter man that left a negative impact throughout his life. He made everything around him miserable.
Scrooge woke up on Christmas morning with a cleansed soul that was ready to brighten the world. The transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge is the biggest gift we can learn during Christmas.
Sure, Rudolph conquered the bullies and showed Santa his worth. George Bailey ended up realizing that his life didn’t suck. Charlie and Linus bought a crappy Christmas tree that showed the crowd the meaning of Christmas…
… and then there is the biggest message of all on Christmas; the baby born in a manger.
Make the message that Dickens gave us through Jacob Marley and the ghosts that followed important in your life.
Scrooge can’t change his past and neither can we.
BUTT, it is never too late in life to fix the mistakes we made. It is never too late to correct taking the dark path and merge onto the lighted road.
Scrooge lived the remainder of his life making his world a better place. His lesson learned wasn’t a cute and fuzzy story built by Hallmark. Dickens purposely scared the living shit out of Scrooge.
Learn from Marley’s chains and the Christmas ghosts. Learn that living in a life of regret and misery can be left in the past. Learn that this week is a present of light. Light through the Nativity and Light from the Menorah. Learn that we can carry that light into the future and brighten the world.
It is the symbolism of Scrooge that can make us better. He went to bed in a dark place and woke up the next day grabbing for his sunglasses.
Most of you Chalkheads have seen the fifty or so movie versions of “A Christmas Carol.” Make it part of Christmas next year to read the book. You can even get the audio version read by Starfleet Officer, Jean-Luc Picard. His voice captures it perfectly.
These last few days of December are the best time to ditch the past, enjoy the present and strive towards the future. A future limited by time and not limited by regret.
Go be astonished, go bring light into your world….
