"A Christmas Carol" ~ Scrooge
215 views · Published 21 December 2010 · 1:49 · Indexed 4 November 2026
Channel: Patrick Knight · 2010 · Entertainment
I LOVE the message of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens! I usually try to read all or part of it at this time of year. The films are great, but nothing does justice to Dickens's wonderful message of humility, generosity and connection with our fellow human beings as the path to opening our OWN lives and hearts as his very, own words! Few of us probably think we are like Scrooge, but I think Dickens's intent was to try to get us to start to consider the limitations we put upon our own connections with others... to try to see the shared humanity in even those from whom we are very different. We care easily about those we love... or who care about us... or whom we are more like,... but... the resistance that comes up in each and every one of us to care and connect beyond our comfortable circle... costs us the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others... and of ourselves! It is not a great thing to have compassion for the victim... that is the least any of us should do, but it is a far greater adventure into our own hearts to extend compassion to the one who does harm. This little book was an early encouragement to try to understand even those I fear... To meet even aggression... with the power of Love, for after all... it's Christmas... who WOULD Jesus bomb? This is the great description of Scrooge at the beginning of the book.. and definitely lets us know what we are up against right off the bat! Just a couple of notes... I LOVE the description of Scrooge as "...secret, and self-contained and (especially) solitary as an oyster." It was one of the first passages that caught my eye and so uniquely conveys the isolation of Scrooge. The word "rime" in "...a frosty rime" that was upon his head, eyebrows and chin was comparing the hair on those parts to light, icy frost. The phrase "...they often "came down..." meant to bestow an act of generosity.
