Dear Editor,
Christmas is just hours away, a time to celebrate with family, friends, and loved ones. While we engage in merriment and fun, we must take all necessary precautions during this joyous season. For many, preparing for Christmas often takes a commercial and materialistic approach, highlighted by the emphasis on purchasing goods, enjoying sumptuous meals with families and the excessive consumption of alcohol during celebrations. Excessive drinking can lead to negative outcomes, including accidents caused by drunk drivers, increase in domestic violence, and other troubling issues at home.
During the festive season, we also see a rise in plastic and other litter, which pollutes the environment and harms the ecosystem. We must remember that we are stewards of this planet, responsible for caring for and protecting it for future generations. It is worth asking ourselves what have we done this year to address Guyana’s environmental and ecological degradation caused by extractive industries and logging. Our actions that damage nature, and trigger social ills and injustices to others metaphorically dim the lights of the Nativity tree, replacing joy and childlike innocence with darkness.
However, it is crucial to remember the humanitarian aspect of this season, which involves giving, sharing, and reaching out to those who are less fortunate. For those who spiritually prepare by attending church services to commemorate the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day, December 25th, let us pray for our country to receive continued blessings and for our leaders to govern the nation wisely on the right path.
As we reflect on our lives this Christ-mas, we recall the confusions, negatives, and wrongdoings that occupy our hearts and minds. Yet, amid the chaos and sufferings we face, God entered the world with humility and innocence. We must recognize that, despite the darkness in our lives, the good spirit is at work, and we need to take time to perceive it. To do this, we should examine how this spirit operates. We can do this by adopting a divine perspective to recognize the good in others, exercising empathy, and seizing every opportunity to say, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening; I want to do your will for the betterment of Guyana and make the world a better place.”
As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, the Nativity story offers profound insights into the mysteries of our fragile existence. Humans have always questioned themselves and others: Why is our existence so delicate? Why do we face so many problems, confusion, and suffering? Often, it seems that God is silent. However, in the Nativity, we find an answer: Jesus made himself as fragile as we are through suffering and chaos. This was God’s response—not in words, but through an act of identification.
The birth of Jesus occurred outside the city, in the middle of the darkest night, in an animal shed away from the chaos of society. Almost no one noticed; neither Rome, the capital of the empire, nor Jerusalem, the religious center of the People of Israel, acknowledged it. Only the humble shepherds of Bethlehem came to the shed where the Divine Child shivered from the cold. As a result, we are no longer alone in our immense loneliness, suffering, and struggles; God is with us. His name is Jesus! Wishing everyone a blessed Christmas!
Sincerely,
Medino Abraham