Consider

Lament for Jacob Marley

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Why is that Jacob Marley, the true hero of A Christmas Carol, is so oft unappreciated by readers or the viewing audience? While Scrooge may be the central character of the story, can there be any doubt that the hero of the story is Marley?
The dictionary defines hero as: A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life.

While subsequent plays, stories and interpretations have Marley’s soul being saved by his actions leading to the redemption of Scrooge; in the original Lewis Carol tale there is no evidence that Marley received any benefit from his actions in saving his old partner and friend Scrooge.

Indeed the last we see or hear of Marley is: “The spectre, after listening for a moment, joined in the mournful dirge; and floated out upon the bleak, dark night.” The only comfort the reader is left to imagine is that even though Marley is condemned to walk the Earth bound in his chains of greed for eternity, his spirit can take some comfort in the knowledge that Scrooge will not share his fate.

Scrooge’s action, of allowing the light into his dark life and soul, led him to joy and friendship. Marley’s action, of securing “… a chance and hope of escaping my fate. A chance and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer”, still leaves Marley’s ghost wandering the earth with “’No rest, no peace. Incessant torture of remorse.”

Is this not the embodiment of nobility of purpose, to save Scrooge from sharing his own fate with no gain for Marley?

Why this concern for Marley? Because it is in Marley’s words the true lesson or principle of A Christmas Carol is found. A lesson often lost in the joy and happiness of Scrooge in reclaiming his humanity and letting the light back into his life.

Consider Marley’s words:

“I wear the chain I forged in life, I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.”

“’It is required of every man, that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men…”

“Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”

Marley forged his chains, link by link, dollar by dollar, possession by possession, and girded them on of his own free will. It is our choice whether we let the spirit within us walk among our fellow men or hoard it to ourselves. Focusing, as did Marley, on accumulating possessions, property and wealth for no purpose but the amassing itself. As far too many today focus on the accumulation of possessions and dollars, rather than upon letting the spirit within walk among their fellow man.

In locking his spirit within Marley became possessed with his worldly goods letting them become the entirety rather than “…but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”

Whereas in truth “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business.”

The common welfare, charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence are all of us our business. Mankind. No qualifiers or limitations, simply all of Mankind. Not those we judge deserving, not those who agree with us, not those we approve of, not those we go to church with, not those who profess the same faith. Simply Mankind in its entirety, no ifs, ands, or buts.

The welfare of every single person is our business and to him or her we owe charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence to help in achieving wellness; in order that we may achieve our own spiritual health and wellness.

Wishing All a Joyous and

Consider

“Are you spending Christmas with family?”

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With my sisters in the Toronto area and my brother in Newfoundland the answer would appear to be “No”, but is that true?

I had breakfast with the homeless and volunteers at Resurrection Life. I had my Christmas turkey dinner at Seven Oaks Alliance with hundreds of other dinners. Both halls were well populated with people I know and with whom I exchanged meant wishes of a Merry Christmas.

In between I got to visit, play bingo and carol with a diverse group of homo sapiens, most of whom I have shared the past several Christmases with. This custom started when, in the knowledge that I had no place to go or share Christmas with, I was invited to come and join the celebration.

Although my recovery and activities have resulted in other opportunities for visiting and celebrating the Day, it would not have been Christmas without attendance at this special celebration.

It was sitting there, in a in a moment of quiet reflection between bingo games, that I found the true answer to the question of family and Christmas. Yes I was celebrating Christmas with family and friends.

For family, friends and community are terms that we each, as individuals, get to define for ourselves. Not with words and rules but with our hearts and spirits.

Municipal

RE: Compassion Park sparks real results

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I ‘m sickened by the damage and misery that result from the Abbotsford Salvation Army and its PR machine constantly harking upon how successful its outreach program is in housing the homeless. It present s a false and misleading picture of what is happening on the homeless front in Abbotsford, allowing “leadership” in Abbotsford to avoid taking action by citing non-existent “real results”.

The outreach program at the Salvation Army is more about generating good-looking numbers to ensure more funding than it is about generating lasting, positive results to help the homeless to move off the streets.

The public would be shocked and dismayed at the facts an independent audit of the 180 people claimed by the Salvation Army as housed. Of course, that is using my definition of what I would mean by housed: they remain in housing and off the streets at the time you claim them as being housed successfully.

This would mean that those on the list who lasted only days, weeks, until the end of the month or a month or two before ending back up on the streets would not count as successful – although they are counted “successful” in the Salvation Army’s books. It would also mean the Salvation Army could only count an individual once – not every time their outreach “successfully” placed them in housing.

Such an audit would reduce the number of “successful” outcomes in housing the homeless to a number that would not even require removing your shoes to have enough digits to total those still housed and off the streets.

Public awareness of the truth will deny city council and other community leaders false “results” to hide behind, forcing them to face reality and act. One can only hope that public scrutiny would force the Salvation Army to change focus from good-looking numbers and PR to reality-based positive outcomes and results.

Until public awareness of the facts behind the claims of “real results” occurs I can only shake my head and remember the words of Franklin D, Roosevelt “Repetition does not transform a lie into truth.”