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Christmas Time: Filling the world with love and positivity



“When senseless acts of tragedy remind us that nothing here is promised, not one day…
We lived through times when hate and fear seemed stronger; We rise and fall and light from dying embers, remembrances that hope and love last longer” – Lin Manuel Miranda


It is so easy to get caught up in all the glamour of Christmas. As the clock ticks over to December, it is suddenly so important that we have the brightest Christmas lights, the tallest Christmas tree with the most presents beneath it. We spend hours on end at shopping malls, trying to find the perfect present for every person in our lives. It becomes so easy to be very narrow minded, to think only about our own situation and not to consider that of others. This year specifically it is so important that we change that mentality.

·      Right now, a large portion of our country is on fire
·      Just over night, two Rural Fire Service volunteers lost their lives trying to save the homes of people they didn’t even know.
·      In the 2019-2020 Bushfire season, it is estimated that there have been upwards of 2500 homes and buildings lost. And we are only at the beginning of a very long, hot summer.
·      An extreme drought is forcing farmers across the country to kill their own livestock.
·      It is predicted that entire towns may have no access to fresh drinking water in just a few months.
·      The country is blanketed in a thick layer of smoke day in and day that does just as much damage to our lungs as smoking 38 cigarettes would.
·      As of the 2016 census, 116,427 individuals were living without a home. Just as many, if not more people could be left on the streets, alone this Christmas.
·      In addition to this, it is estimated that 13.2% of our entire population is living below the poverty line.

The 2 most important things we can be at Christmas time is grateful and benevolent. Being generous does not end with our friends and family. If you can afford to spend hundreds of dollars on the people closest to you, you can afford to give just the smallest amount to the people who need it even more. If you can’t, then give your time or even just your thoughts and prayers to those who will not be having such a merry Christmas this year. So, while we all sit around our Christmas tables, sharing stories and eating way more food than we probably should, spare a moment to think about those who aren’t so lucky this year. Keep them in your thoughts and be grateful for every single little thing you have.

I knew a person once, and the story that follows may give you some indication of why I am using the past tense when speaking of them. Every single Christmas and Birthday he would whinge and complain that he had not received as big a present as his two brothers. Now I am sure that something like that might be hurtful, I can see how it can make you feel like you aren’t as loved as they are but at the same time… GET OVER YOURSELF!! Oh, and he didn’t just complain to me about it, he complained directly to his parents!! Every year I would raise the same issue. “There are people who have literally nothing at all and you are complaining about getting less than your brothers when you know full well your parents are struggling?” and every year it was met with the same grunt of disapproval and a swift change of subject. What this person failed to recognise, but what I saw quite clearly even from a distance was that he worked full time while his brothers didn’t work at all. So yeah, obviously, they got more, because the others couldn’t buy things for themselves. Is that fair? Probably not. But is that the thought process of a parent struggling to get through the week let alone the Christmas period? Of course, it is!

We see it every year in viral Buzzfeed posts - 21 ungrateful brats and their “horrible” Christmas presents – from teenagers complaining that their mother got them the wrong colour iPhone to grown women who publicly shame their fiancé for the size of the engagement ring they were given. It is one big epidemic of ungratefulness and complete apathy toward the struggles of the less fortunate.

Being ungrateful for the things we are given is one of the most hurtful things you can do to a person who has put time, effort and thought into buying you a gift. Sure, we have all opened a present on Christmas morning and have had to pretend that we love it when it is quite literally the last thing we would have bought ourselves, but you keep it to yourself! You don’t walk around bitching about it for the next year making the person who bought it feel bad the whole time. You try to get as much use out of it as possible and in the worst-case scenario, you give it to charity or someone that you know would like it so that someone else can get more use out of it than you could. 

Of course, this is something that most people know. Most humans are overwhelmed with a desire to help others at their time of need, and there is something about Christmas that brings this out even more. So whether it is donating to charity, volunteering at a homeless shelter, giving away old clothes and toys to op shops, or giving your leftovers to those on the street rather than throwing it in the bin, I implore you to give into these very natural desires that are part of what makes up our humanity. Pay it forward, help those who have helped you, help those who need it most because you never know when you might get stuck in the same position as they are.

Nothing on in this life is promised, not a single day, you don’t know what tomorrow brings. The thought of that can send me and so many other down a deep, dark spiral of anxiety if you let it control your mindset, or you can use that to fuel your fire to make changes in your own life and in the lives of those who are not as lucky as you this year.

Wishing you all the Merriest of Christmases, cherish the time you have with your loved ones and, no matter how hard the struggle is, never forget how lucky you are to just be alive.

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