Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose. When everything extraneous is gone, all that’s left is the space it once took up, opened up to choices and potential. Unemcumbered is a lighter way to live. We’ve convinced ourselves of the worth of the material trappings of wealth and fame – but that’s just what they are: a trap.
We know, and at this time of year we spend a lot of money celebrating the fact, that the really important things in life aren’t material: goodwill and tolerance towards others, compassion, fellowship, peace on earth.
So to hammer home this point to ourselves, we spend months listening to endless carols playing under endless miles of tinsel around endless shops full of endless offers buying endless presents – and I sound like Scrooge.
But the point Dickens was trying to make wasn’t about Scrooge hoarding his material wealth, it was about Scrooge needing to reach out to other people, to overcome his lonely misanthropy and so find warmth and joy in other people.
I won’t pretend I don’t find the endlessness of the festive season tedious. I do. It seems to start in August and last until February, what with the after-Christmas sales and credit card hangover. By the time we finally limp there, the day itself is a let-down – all hype, and then it’s over. So why do we put ourselves through all this? Why not just simplify it to what we repeatedly tell ourselves it’s about: people treating people like people?
Free ourselves up from the endless mall-crawl and present-buying-panic to spend some time with other people without seeing them as something to tick off our to-do lists. Isn’t that closer to what Christmas is supposed to be about?
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