Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 21, 2014 News
By Ralph Seeram
It’s called the season of goodwill, a season when relatives and friends should forget their differences and join in celebrating the birth of Christ. No doubt Christmas has lost its religious significance, hijacked by commercialism, but never the less it has transitioned into universal celebration.
For me Christmas is also a time for reflection, sometimes very sad, as you realize that there are some friends and relatives not around anymore, not as fortunate as you are to celebrate another Xmas.
Christmas is that time of the year when we remember friends and relatives even though we did not “break a voice” to them during the year. We take our time to write cards, or as some do these days send greetings electronically, then we discover than some that were on our list last year have transitioned this life.
Whatever we wanted to tell the departed becomes too late. We had the opportunity to tell them while they were alive, but as usual we waited until Christmas, when it’s too late.
Too often we do not realize that the spirit of goodwill should be a year round event, not just for individuals but for big business also. In Guyana you probably read how so and so company brought Christmas cheer to some orphanage, senior citizens home or some poor communities.
The problem is that those individuals or communities need our goodwill throughout the year.
And while we are at the subject of giving, I wonder where or when the spirit of giving gifts to children was hijacked by us adults. Now it’s not a children’s affair; we grown-ups feel that we should also be getting gifts as if we are kids also.
Time was when you gave the family or household a gift. That was it, one gift for the family. Now it has transitioned to individual gifts for each member of the family or household. We now feel that we are obligated to give and receive gifts, then we complain how Christmas has become expensive. Those of us in the Diaspora know how expensive it is when we get our credit card statement at the end of January.
For the past few years, with the exception for the immediate family, my gifting has been restricted to the needy, the people more in need, people where the gift is not an ornament sitting year round it the house, but what would make a direct impact on them economically.
I do not buy gifts; I do not have the patience for it; I can’t be bothered if this person would like this, if this will fit, and whether it’s a fitting gift. I do monetary gifts; to be honest its fewer headaches for me. In any event most of my monetary Christmas gift goes to Guyana.
And speaking of Guyana I was lying in my grandson room’s cuddling up with him and telling him that he has got to be nice or Santa would not bring him any toys, and believe me he doesn’t need another toy.
He promptly informs me that there is no Santa; that his gifts are already under the Xmas tree. You can’t even fool a five-year-old about Santa these days.
As I sat watching the unlimited number of toys in his room (believe me you can shop in his room for toys) I reflected on the dark days of the 70’s in Guyana when I wanted to buy toys for my two kids. There were no toys, this is no joke. There were no imported toys. The only toys that were available were locally made wood toys. Those black cakes were also made with locally made fruits. (They still are).
When one looks back on those dark days of the 70’s and 80’s this generation of Guyanese has a lot to be thankful for compared to their parents. Despite the faults of the government (and since it the season of goodwill we will leave that subject for another day) Guyanese have very little to “bitch and moan about”. Just take a walk down Regent Street in Georgetown. There was a time when at Christmas those stores will have only essentials in stock such as rice, sugar, oil and little else.
There was nothing like Xmas trees, (I made mine, actually my wife made one from a black sage tree) lights, toys and the plethora of goods both Christmas and non Christmas goods. When I reflect on this I can’t help but say that Guyana has come a far way from the dark days of the 70’s and 80’.
In the spirit of goodwill I am asking you my readers to remember the friends and family you are not on speaking terms with. Pick up the phone, or if easier send them an email greeting, a card, Skype or Ovoo or all the other modern means of communication, which by the way is so easy now. Don’t hold grudges; break the” ice”.
After all, who knows if you or, for that matter, they will be around come Christmas 2015. By then it would be too late. You don’t want to be like people crying over the deceased who while alive they had not spoken to in years.
So this Christmas Day as you celebrate in true Guyanese fashion, pepper pot, roast pork, garlic pork, curry duck or lamb, black cake or fruit cake, be thankful to your God for his blessing, and remember the less unfortunate.
For you my readers, my friends in Guyana, the Sukhraj family, Gregory, Joey, Adam and some of you, and you know who you are, have a very Merry Christmas.
Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: [email protected] and Facebook.
Jagdeo giving Exxon 102 cent to collect 2 cent.
Apr 25, 2024
By Rawle Toney Kaieteur Sports – The French Diplomatic Office in Guyana, in collaboration with the Guyana Olympic Association and UNICEF, hosted an exhibition on Tuesday evening at the...Kaieteur News – Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, persists in offering... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Waterfalls Magazine – On April 10, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]