A Christmas Carol is one of my favourite festive stories, centred around Ebenezer Scrooge, the selfish and unfriendly old man who hates everything about Christmas.
I was lucky enough to see A Christmas Carol this weekend at the Old Vic. All the precautions were in place and after being cancelled last year, it was such a treat to see the show live in the theatre. After a difficult few years even I was starting to feel a little of the Christmas magic.
What A Christmas Carol can teach us is that the best lessons can come from our mistakes and failures. In A Christmas Carol, Scrooge was given the opportunity to see the mistakes he’d made by turning his back on family and friends and his fellowman, the opportunities that had passed him by. While unable to change the past, he had a glimpse of the present and future to show him that he had the opportunity to learn from those mistakes and not repeat them in the future.
Although published Dec 19, 1843, the problems of society, wealth, poverty, relationships, and struggles can still be recognized in our modern world. However, there’s no value in criticising ourselves on what happened yesterday, or even last year, as you can’t change it. Just like Scrooge we should instead look at the present and the future as an opportunity to make changes for the better, whether with loved ones, our community, planet or all three.
Other themes of A Christmas Carol is hope and optimism. That people can change, and circumstances can change for the better. Today is the first day of Winter, instead of thinking how dark it is out there, remember that it’s the shortest day, and gradually the nights will get lighter.
All of us have faced adversity these last few years but instead of Bah! Humbug I wish you all our supporters, farmers and everyone we work with and hopefully will work with, a Happy Holiday, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.