Mankind is our business; Christ is our example

“A Christmas Carol” has ruled the roost around here the past two months, as three of our children have roles in a local production. Even the younger kids are play-acting parts and singing songs, since they have had to sit through many rehearsals. How cute to hear our 4-year-old daughter squeak out like Marley, “Scrooooge!” and our 7-year-old son sing “The First Noel” with absolutely no idea of notes and tunes. The kids with roles have watched every film version we could find and reread the book. It has always been a beloved story in our house. For many years we have watched the film version starring George C. Scott as part of Christmas Eve’s festivities.

This novella of Charles Dickens retains its place in public affection all over the world. There are festivals in England, of course, and Holland; and from California to Texas to South Carolina. It has never been out of print since its first printing in 1843. Why is it still so popular?

From a literary standpoint, the story has the elements of an epic: three-part structure (past, present, future), redemption (the whole point), supernatural guides (the best part), and a trip to the underworld (always excellent). Dickens also wrote delightful descriptions of dinners, clothing and shop windows, appealing to readers’ senses. My boys want their own newsboy caps and all the kids have requested English pudding and goose this year for our Christmas Eve dinner (I’m half-heartedly searching for easy recipes.). Theologically, it is a blend of Halloween, Christmas and Easter, with moaning ghosts and a man who takes stock of his life and rises a new creature.

And we need the story. Today. We need to remember our past, the pain and the pleasure, and allow those memories to flower into consideration of our own growth, and compassion for our fellow travelers to the grave. There is important insight into human nature here – the value of each person, the true worth of wealth, the purpose of society; indeed, the purpose of life itself. There is wisdom.

A story line meaningful for our family is that life demands respect. Scrooge believed the poor and disabled were surplus population, better off dead or in institutions. Dickens wrote pointedly to bring attention to such wickedness. There is not much difference in our time, where the poor and disabled are regularly killed in the womb. When I read statistics of babies being aborted for having the same condition as my children, I want to bellow with the Ghost of Christmas Present, “Will you decide what men shall live and what men shall die? It may be in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man’s child.” May they, too, bend before the Ghost’s rebuke, trembling, and cast eyes upon the ground. We know, like the Crachits, that people with problems are beloved and worthwhile. What cold heart would say that Tiny Tim would be better off dead? Everyone loves him.

From our Catechism: “The duty of making oneself a neighbor to others and actively serving them becomes even more urgent when it involves the disadvantaged, in whatever area this may be. ‘As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me’ (#1932).”

Solidarity is an overarching theme of the story as well. When Scrooge points out to his old partner Jacob Marley, now a tortured soul, that he was a good man of business, Marley weeps and shouts, “Business? Mankind was my business! The common welfare was my business – charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence – was my business!” A heartbreaking vision in the book, not often seen in films, is when Scrooge looks out of his window after Marley floats away and sees the air filled with phantoms wandering in restless haste, chained and moaning. One in particular wept at the sight of a wretched woman with an infant in a doorstep, whom he longed to aid and interfere for good but had lost the power forever. “It is required of every man,” explained Marley, “That the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth and turned to happiness. Oh woe is me!”

We know that Scrooge learned from the ghosts and changed. We know that he began to help, not hurt and that he began to give, not gripe. He promised to honor Christmas in his heart and keep it all the year. So should we all. Mankind is our business. Christ is our example.

Post script – A Christmas Carol, an A.J. Seims production, is playing at the Glen Massay Theater at 7pm on December 12-14. Do come!

Allison Howell and her family are longtime residents of the Valley. They are Catholic converts and keep a hobby farm full of animals and children. This column is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman or its parent company, Wick Communications.