Christmas Blues

 In my native Eritrea, we celebrate 2 Christmases. The better known December 25th Christmas, with all the glitz and festivities associated with it, and again on January 5th, which is more celebrated by those of the orthodox-christian faith, which most Eritreans follow. Personally, I've enjoyed both, namely because, as public holidays, both have afforded me the luxury of not having to get out of bed before noon. And for those who are slightly sensitive to my lower-than-average reverence for Christmas, I'm sorry.
 As far as traditions go, one fairly common tradition in most Eritrean households was watching "Kevvin" (no, not a typo, just an emphasis on the mispronunciation that is prevalent with my people during their use of the English language, which I find to be quite aggravating at times because if one is to use a medium of communication, the very least they can do is make some attempt to properly........*sigh, sorry for my little rant). They actually meant Kevin, as in Kevin McCallister, the main protagonist of the Home Alone movie and sequel, played by child actor-turned-occasionally employed actor, Macaulay Culkin. With our national T.V. service being somewhat behind in current Hollywood entertainment, these two movies were shown every year. I've seen both so many times that I could write the script down, word-for-word, although the knowledge of what will happen does little in easing the empathetic & vicarious pain I feel for both Marv & Harry (Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci respectively) who, as the main antagonists of both movies, suffered the brunt of the improvised booby-traps.
 When one thinks of Christmas, one might imagine Christmas caroling, church mass, Santa Clause, Christmas trees, so on and so forth. It's suppose to be a time of great laughter and happiness. In a perfect world, this would be the case. In a perfect world, we would all be spending every day of the month of December, with our loved ones, curled in front of a fire, spending time, talking, munching on gingerbread cookies and just appreciating each others company. But, we don't live in a perfect world.
 In recent years, I myself have not fully practiced "Christmas" nor have I made any attempts to do so beyond spending time with the loved one that I have and making an effort to make my regular donation of time, energy and money to the less fortunate. For me, Christmas is seen as just another day....or rather, that's the intention, to see it as just another day. And it is not a premise that is practice by only myself.
 There are a collective of individuals who annually rebel against the established tradition of Christmas in its entirety. They refuse to believe in jolly Saint Nick. They refuse to dress for the occasion. They refuse to sing happy Christmas carols. The list goes on and on.

 When one thinks of such individuals, they envision a multitude of Ebeneezer Scrooges', flocking together like Christmas killing locust, attempting to suck the life out of the holidays and the spirit it infects the masses with. They view them as angry individuals who simply want to ruin everything. However, that's just a load of crap. These folks are not cold or apathetic, they are not mean-spirited or malicious, they are not insensitive or even plain old cranky. In a nutshell, these folks are just sad.
 In the movie, Mixed Nuts (which had an all-star lineup of actors who were, and still are, well known), Steve Martin's character attempted to talk Anthony LaPaglia's character from jumping off a roof, and to his death, with this argument....."YOU'RE NOT ANGRY BECAUSE OF EVERYTHING, YOU'RE ANGRY BECAUSE.....IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!". And he was right. According to Martin, Christmas isn't always that time where we celebrate and rejoice, its not that time where we just exchange gifts and be merry....not for everyone, at least. For some, Christmas is that time of year where we take our lives, put it under one huge microscope and take a look. I mean, really examine it. Like jewelers & diamond experts, we search for flaws, imperfections, deficiencies. And they are never hard to find. Anything that we don't have seems almost overwhelming. Anything missing is missed more so with a passion that rivals the power of the brightest star. Anything that used to be there feels like the business end of an amputated stump. And solitude, to be alone, that's just unbearable.

 This is not a pre-posted obituary for those who intend on "doing something stupid". This is just a call, a request, for those of you reading this, to understand that not everyone is as blessed as you are. We are not all so lucky to be able to spend the holidays with our loved ones. We are not all so blessed to be near the ones we care for or the ones we cherish. And we certainly aren't all fortunate enough to be doing the things we want to do.
 For some, Christmas is just another day because, ultimately, it doesn't change or even affect the 364 other days of the year that we spend in pretty much the same state of mind and being. For some, Christmas is just another day, because if it were to be see as something more, as something special, the realization of this could be catastrophic because it would simply have a "Microsoft Word"-effect on their present situation. It would simply BOLD, ITALIC and UNDERLINE the non-present elements of their own individual lives.
 So, if you really want to spread the Christmas cheer, if you really, truly wish everyone a merry Christmas, then, as they say in hip hop......don't talk about it, BE ABOUT IT!!!! Visit someone less fortunate, help out at local community centers, make an effort to make this holiday better for at least one person that you don't know.
 They say if the haves helped the have-not's at least once in a while, then we would all be equal. Whether or not all of us would agree on the topic of equality amongst all of the almighty's creations, we can all agree on one thing........we all equally deserve to have a merry Christmas. And that's FA-DAMN-SHO (for damn sure)!!!!