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| Sunday, 22 December 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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This Christmas:Celebrating the revival of peace by Jayanthi Liyanage
The Prince of Peace was here before. He came the last Christmas. And the one before that. But we were either too muddled in our thinking, or not really ready, to receive the free gift of peace He held out to us. This Christmas, He is here once again. And now, there is vigour in the air and a melting nip in the blood which sends warm currants through the heart. With celebrations, no more marred by shadows of conflict, motley crews of relaxed shoppers, of variegated origins and destinations, cram for last minute bargains. In spite of the December chill and the overhanging clouds and droplets of rain, the sun sings. And revellers get ready for the first Christmas to be celebrated, after nearly a decade of having to shear the spirited wings of living. Hepzie Samuel of Ragama says that she feels a sense of liberation this Christmas. "There are no Government-imposed restrictions or barricades so people can have more meaning in their celebrations". Just a few weeks ago, the Vavuniya Railway Station was thronging with people travelling to Colombo for Christmas, she remembers. "After more than ten years, families segregated by the war are being reunited and it is time to have the neglected and forgotten family celebrations once again".
The words ring true also for Rani Weragama of Gampola who gave a much-loved son to the Armed Forces when the conflict raged high up North. "Giving a son to the country does not lessen the pain of losing that son", she reflects. "Besides the agony of love, it's also like losing a huge chunk of money. He would have looked after me in my old age. But now for many mothers with children in forces, the big spectre of fear is gone and Christmas will truly be a happy family affair". It took September 11 to remind Americans that being home with the family is something so fragile and precious that it could be snatched away and smashed into smithereens in a split second! The tragedy was in a sense, an awakening of family traditions not only in America, but the world over. Socialising parents began coming home early to spend a quiet evening with the kids and isolated family units picked up neglected links with ageing parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. As you lay the Christmas table with the turkey, game, chicken, sausages, mince-pies, puddings, cakes, holly, mistletoe, fruit and punch, remember, it is time you picked up the discarded threads of your relationships with other members of the family. And people no longer harbour a grudge against one another, adds Hepzie. "So they are more open to receive the Prince of Peace in their hearts". But would they really receive Him, she casts a doubt. "Often what you see is a roaring Christmas party where money is spent lavishly on food and after much liquor, the men gather Dutch courage to have a bawdy brawl. God was born in a manger, so that the poor could come to Him, which makes Christmas the door which opens our hearts to the less privileged. Is our manner of celebration in keeping with the true meaning of Christmas?"
The question has been repeatedly asked throughout different eras and different locales though not to much avail. "It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men and my spirit never walked beyond the narrow limits of our money-changing hole", Dicken's Ghost of Marley tells the miserly Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol". "Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raised them to that Blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which its light could have conducted me?" Hark back to your much-loved childhood tales and remember Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy of "Little Women", who ignored ravenous hunger pangs to give away their mouth-watering Christmas breakfast to six freezing toddlers whose mother had just had a baby and had no strength or means to feed them. Of course, "Christmas won't be Christmas without presents!" "Santas of our times would pack their bags of gifts and visit villages to give away goodies to poor folk", Hepzie remembers. "Now, what some Santas do is pool a collection and have a party among themselves. Which is not at all the way to foster the spirit of peace".
In this first Christmas we celebrate sans the fears, mistrusts and the doubting shadows of war, we could take our first step towards celebrating the real meaning of Christmas. Some people believe that a very lack of external influences such as glamour and trappings make them appreciate Christmas for what it should be. They feel that one should glance over its guise of being a commercial festival to make it a time of close and meaningful relations with friends, family and those who truly need the peace the Prince of Peace could bring into their hearts. They think of gifts for people whose work they depend on throughout the year and those whose lives are less fortunate than theirs. "Pay more attention to the seasonal Goodwill", they say, "In the West, it is often an afterthought!" Some dreams never come true, no matter how hard the wishing. Peace is one dream which has come true for Sri Lankans, but unless you truly comprehend the Prince of Peace with His true meaning, Peace could very well slip through our fingers and fall by the way-side. |
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