Tags
Birth of Jesus Christ, Christmas celebration, Crime to be poor, Homeless & Hungry, National Coalition for the Homeless
Homeless & Hungry
Photo Credit: DoSomething.org
Since a kid growing up in Guyana, Christmas has always been a magical time of the year. My poor, working class parents always found a way to make Christmas a special time of the year for me and my four siblings. My happiest childhood memories are of our Christmas celebrations.
Following the world economic crisis of August 2008, I’ve been downsizing our Christmas celebrations, in keeping with our new socio-economic reality in the United States. Job security is a thing of the past. Joblessness, homelessness, and food insecurity are new experiences for the American middle class. The situation is no better for the working poor.
What’s also disturbing is hearing high-profile people in the media, in the business community, and among our government representatives blaming the poor for their poverty. In a number of cities across the United States, it has even become a criminal offense to feed the homeless in public spaces (National Coalition for the Homeless).
This Christmas, the magic finally fizzled out.
How can I celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ – born into a poor, working class family – when it is now a crime to be poor and homeless?
How can I celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ when the labor of the poor has little value?
How can I celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ when my value as a human being is determined by my buying power?
How can I celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ when millions of people across the United States and around the world do not enjoy the basic human rights needed for their survival?
Am I expecting too much of humankind? Are we incapable of doing what is morally correct when we wield power? Was Jesus’ coming all for nothing?
Three Worlds One Vision 
Reblogged this on Guyanese Online and commented:
Rosaliene ..Try to have a Merry Christmas,. irrespective of the present human conditions.. We live in “Interesting Times”. Let us all hope that 2014 will be better.
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I will be working both on Christmas and Boxing Day but Christmas to me is what lives within. I am celebrating another Christmas and blessings of life. My 8 year old is so excited and can’t wait. I will enjoy a piece of black cake, ginger beer and remember the good times of magical childhood innocence. I will also remember the warm spirit of my dear dad, Stanley James Allicock who passed Jan 6, 2000 and forever keep him in my heart. Wishing you and family a wonderful Christmas of peace and happiness, Rosaliene , it is always a great pleasures to hear from you and read your articles.
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Thank you, Dmitri. My father passed a year after yours but not so close to Christmas. Yes, they live on in our hearts.
Sorry that you have to work on Christmas and Boxing Day. I’m sure, though that you will be spreading Christmas cheer with those in your care.
Peace and joy be yours.
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I cannnot speak to the “Jesus” question, Rosaliene. But, one way that helps me dealing with the injustices (very real) about which you speak, is to try to find individuals who represent the kinds of values that resonate with me. Groups are often more of a disappointment. I hope, despite all of the world’s unhappiness, that you find a way to celebrate at least part of a day that I know means much to you and many others for reasons that have to do with what is in your heart and the best of the community of mankind.
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Thank you, Dr. Stein. I’m sure that Christmas Day will turn out better than I expected.
I know that I’m not alone in working towards change. That gives me hope.
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“Hope is a sense of the grand mystery of it all, the knowledge that we don’t know how it will turn out, that anything is possible. It means recognizing that the sound of a trumpet at a school dance in Austin, Texas, may resound in the Supreme Court 20 years later; that an unfortunate hike in the borderlands might help turn two countries away from war; that Edward Snowden, a young NSA contractor and the biggest surprise of this year, might revolt against that agency’s sinister invasions of privacy and be surprised himself by the vehemence of the global reaction to his leaked data; that culture which left Africa more than 200 years ago might return to that continent as a tool for liberation — that we don’t know what we do does.”
~ Rebecca Solnit, “The Arc of Justice and the Long Run: Hope, History, and Unpredictability,” Truthout, 23 December 2013
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