This Time of Year
I’m sure many of you know of the elderly, angry and miserly character Ebenezer Scrooge from the novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Scrooge’s reaction to this time of year was “bah,” or it was a lot of nonsense. At this time of year many of us are thinking the same thing — lots of stress and anxiety. But is this story’s message really a lot of nonsense?
Scrooge is visited on Christmas Eve by his former and now-deceased business partner Jacob Marley, who is in chains because of his life of greed and selfishness. Marley informs Scrooge he will be cursed with the same fate if he doesn’t change his ways. Marley informs Scrooge he’ll be visited by three spirits: the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas to Come. Each ghost shows scenes from Scrooge’s life — and what’s to come if he doesn’t change.
The story is a classic of how someone can be transformed when they are clearly shown how their life was or will be if they don’t change for the better.
It’s a story of how kindness, generosity and compassion can change not only our lives, but the lives of others as well.
Because the towing and recovery profession is 24/7/365, not all of us will have the opportunity to be off of work to celebrate the holidays with family and friends, but that doesn’t mean we have to be like Scrooge and let the anger, stress and/or anxiety take over.
Regardless of what or how you celebrate at this time of year, let’s reflect on how we can show kindness, generosity and compassion, along with wishing others lots of love, joy, hope and peace. I’m pretty sure all of us want all of these things in our lives, not only at this time of year, but every day of the year.