A Christmas Carol is to my family what the Bible was to
my grandparents or National Lampoon’s Christmas
Vacation was to young families forging through the eighties.
If I’m home for Christmas, I’ll often see the play performed at the
renowned Guthrie Theater, in Minneapolis. If not, I catch a film
version or hunker down with the actual novella in hand. Published
in 1864, the story captured the hearts and minds of readers then —
even compelling them to action — and offers maxims everyone should
consider today.
Live Modestly
Ebenezer Scrooge and his
mantra — “Bah! Humbug!” — has become so infamous the character
itself has become a proprietary eponym. Tell someone who’s rolling
his eyes at another Christmas carol “Don’t be a Scrooge!” and he
will laugh or cringe at the inference. Nevertheless, Scrooge isn’t
all bad. One of my favorite lines, which nearly always makes a live
play audience chuckle, is the narrator’s observation that “Darkness
is cheap, and Scrooge liked it.” (Attempt it with a British accent
and laugh even more.) Obviously Scrooge hoarded his money, was a
lousy boss, and behaved selfishly, but as it relates to American
excess, Scrooge’s miserly ways were onto something.
According to Business
Insider, Americans throw $165 billion worth of food in the
trash and waste $146 billion worth of energy every year. Likewise,
NerdWallet contends nearly half of the households in the United
States carry a credit card balance and those indebted homes owe an
average of around $15,000. (While this is actually slightly lower
than 2009 figures, they estimate it’s because of defaults, not
repayments.)
So while you may not forgo paying your heat or electricity bill
à la Scrooge, making steps towards living within your
means, like going without cable or that daily $4.00 latte can help
pave the way towards more meaningful living.
Give Generously
One of the early
conflicts in the story is the pitiful way Scrooge treats his
employee, Bob Cratchit, father of Tiny Tim, a cripple. He
reluctantly allows him Christmas Day off, unpaid of course, and
never utters a kind word for work well done. (“[A] squeezing,
wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!”)
After the three spirits, Christmas Past, Present, and Yet To Come,
visit Scrooge, he vows to change his perspective on people, wealth,
and the holiday: “Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all,
and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a
second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as
good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city,
town, or borough, in the good old world.” Many well-known writers,
business people, and politicians have reacted to reading A
Christmas Carol by giving more in some way.
Americans are a charitable people, some say the most in the
world. In 2010, Forbes
reported corporations gave $4.9 billion. According to this
pie chart from the Congressional Budget Report, donors who make
up to $200,000 give the most — between 57-67% — to religious
organizations, which often use their gifts to aid the poor. As
income rises, say among those who make $1 million or more, they
give less to religious organizations (17%) and even less to the
category dubbed “Organizations Devoted to Helping Meet Basic Needs”
(4%). We are generous, but we can still do more. Consider living
leaner, so you can give more to those truly in need.
Spend Wisely
Ebenezer Scrooge got to see
what no one does: his future. When the third Spirit, the Ghost of
Christmas Yet to Come, begins his tour, Scrooge has already started
to realize how quickly life passes, begging him to “Lead on! The
night is waning fast, and it is precious time to me, I know. Lead
on, Spirit!” When he peers into his future and realizes he is
mocked for his miserly ways and dies a wealthy but lonely man, he
weeps and beaks down at the sight of his grave. He proclaims with
anguish hoping to change his fate: “I will honour Christmas in my
heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past,
the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive
within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh,
tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!”
The next day, with the magical gift of prophecy (unfulfilled) in
mind, Scrooge becomes a different man, spending his time, money,
and himself much wiser than before: On the things — and most
importantly, the people — who matter. None of us has the gift of
foresight, or a Spirit who will show us how people perceive us at
the end of our lives, but we don’t need one to analyze our
priorities, shift focus, and concentrate on the people in life who
matter most.
Who says a book written almost 150 years ago has no truisms for
life today: Bah! Humbug!
