I am struck how so many Christmas trees seem to have appeared in November this year. I’m sitting on the top deck of the ‘Majesty of the Seas’ cruising off the Bahamas. In the centre of the boat is a huge Christmas tree. Always seems so incongruous in this temperature of 27 degrees to think about a festival so tied to snow and frost.
But I also note the growing number of my friends’ Facebook posts showing tree decorations. When in Miami a few days ago we were invited along to a ‘tree decoration party’. Well why not? It is Advent, a period of preparation for Christmas. However, unlike Lent where there is an accepted period of 40 days of preparation with special days like Ash Wednesday, and Palm Sunday, Christmas preparations is now essentially secular.
This is not a post to lament the commercialism of Christmas. This is rehearsed by others regularly, and much more cogently. And for me to do that would be a bit hypocritical anyhow sitting as I am enjoying some early winter sun in Florida; I love the secular as well as the religious build-up. My wife would say I have too great an expectation of what it should be that is never ever realised. Rather I’m thinking a bit about this preparation in a more spiritual way.
I suppose if you read this and are not a Christian, then this post might at first seem irrelevant; I hope far from it. For me Christianity is at the heart of my own self-reflection, and is my moral touchstone. For others whether they are Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or of any other faith, reflecting and preparing are part of your calendars. If you are a humanist, or put no label on yourself then, creating space for introspection I would still see as important. So why not at Christmas and at the end of the year.
For me, the reflection often begins with a bigger trigger. I have just finished reading ‘The Lives of Others’ by Neel Mukherjee set in Bengal in the late 60s at the time of the MarxistNaxalite Insurgency.
I had not realised that this movement still continues today in West India as this clip describes
I was told it was the sort of challenging book I would enjoy. It is rooted in fact and social commentary; I’m not keen on sci-fi, fantasy or detective stories and I certainly don’t need a happy ending. I certainly did not get one! It is a book that will stay with me through the next few days.
I will need to do some more personal research about Indian society and its family and wider societal hierarchies before forming a personal opinion. Having recently returned from Delhi, this book paints a picture a little different from my limited experiences there.
However, there are a few stark challenges that it presents that I suspect are accurate and wider than Bengal:
1. Why is there such a gap between rich and poor, and why in many societies do we allow unscrupulous money- lenders and politicians to exploit the weakest?
2. Why in so many parts of the world are police and/or armed forces who are there to protect and ensure justice put in a position to protect the status quo by force, torture and intimidation? If you think of some of the stories from Iraq, or recently in the US, is this human weakness or institutional inevitability.
3. Not all colonial influence was bad. However, decisions taken in the past over arbitrary division of land, reinforcing hierarchy and privilege have created a myriad of recent problems from the Balkans to the Middle East to Africa. It is hard to create foreign policy that does not reflect old allegiances and national interest. Is it possible to create foreign policy that has a moral and reconciliation heart?
4. And can we take the same approach at home, where we build society that welcomes diversity and celebrates difference?
None of these bigger challenges lie within the realm whereby a personal and individual response by me might create better solutions. But we do elect our governments – well some of us do. We don’t have to be pulled along with political rhetoric that is built on worry and prejudice. We don’t have to assign ourselves to a particular party such that we agree with everything. Whatever we decide to hang our political hat on, we should continue to challenge and encourage debate.
So if my moral compass is focused on the life and values of Jesus, then what better time to re evaluate personal choices and commitment than in the run up to the celebration of his birth. I have a responsibility as the head of a family to model the values for and with them. Some of these opportunities are small. Last summer I was talking to my eight-year old grandson about the fact he’d come third in the javelin at Sports Day and I asked to see his medal. He told me he had not got one. He gave it to a little girl in his class who had not won anything….. That’s a value to be celebrated. I was recently watching a lesson in Kunskapsskolan Gurgaon with 5 year-olds making and decorating a drum. This little boy reached over to the girl next to him offering her his sticker stars.
” Do you want these,” he said, “I think it would really make your drum pretty ”
Others before self. And Collaboration not just Competition?
I am pretty sure the issues in the book I’ve read will be the only ones I reflect upon this Christmas. The issues where I ask, what am I doing here to make that difference? Is what I am doing enough? Of course, as our General Election comes next year I will vote, but will I work and fight for those who seek to advance the values that support the less successful disadvantaged parts of society? Will I ask those who seek to represent us where they stand on welcoming the refugees living without hope, and why we can’t build a consistent moral foreign policy that seeks to deal with underlying and past iniquities rather than maintains self-interest? Can they create a policy on immigration that is based on fairness and human rights and not pander to nationalistic prejudice?
So in preparation for Christmas let’s take time to reflect on actions for the New Year. I will try to make sure it’s not tokenistic; it can actually mean it hurts. The life of Jesus wasn’t warm and cosy. The actions by Supratik in ‘Lives of Others’ living with the dispossessed in rural Bengal, led to torture and death after a life of privilege as he tried to do something about the poverty- albeit contrary to most of our own values.
Lots to think on this Christmas preparation time. Whatever our preparations, whatever your faith, it is good to reflect how your life matches your own moral compass. Build some reflection time as we run towards the end of this year and the start of 2015.
Teaching and Learning Without Bounds 