pacify - verb - to calm, quell (Oxford Dictionary)
If you grew up a Christian with a taste for British literature, film, or television, most likely you have heard of Charles Dickens's novella A Christmas Carol, a didactic, timeless Victorian masterpiece that has been made into many films and TV specials over the decades. Way before I ever realized it was in book form, I had watched Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol that premiered on network TV in 1962. It can still be found, but most likely, just on DVD. For me and my daughter who is 35, it is a Christmas Eve staple. Albeit a cartoon, it comes the closest to the original, going as far as using some of the actual dialogue from the novella. It does have music, though, so technically, it is a musical. But I digress.
Just to refresh your memory in case you don't know or remember the plot, a miser of a wealthy, old man named Ebenezer Scrooge involuntarily entertains three spirits–the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future–on Christmas Eve. They take him into familiar territory to remind him of his transgressions so that through self-exploration, he can right the wrongs. Which he does in a big way. My favorite of the three apparitions is the Ghost of Christmas Past as it reminds Scrooge of love that was somehow lost in his life, contributing to his present misery and misanthropy. The most tragic moment comes when his affable employer Fezziwig's daughter Belle breaks off the engagement she has with Scrooge as she feels second to his adoration of money, a timeless concept except that it could go both ways today as women can be just as materialistic as men. Annually, the romantic me tears up when I witness rueful Scrooge realizing too late that he lost the one woman who actually loved him.
Although I might have mentioned this in passing, I am a variation of Belle in that romantically, I have come across Scrooges who may or may not have been misers or even Christian, but who are haunted by Ghosts of Christmases past. The Belles of the past have come, but not gone as they are still present in their lives–even if their rights or wrongs occupy only their memories and not their physical realities. They can't let go of the women who took the place of their mothers. As the Belle in the present, I've had to walk away from these Scrooges to preserve my sanity and integrity. But in a sense, these men have stayed with my emotional memory as well, so perhaps I am haunted myself.
Perhaps we are provided with memories so that we can take the hand of the Ghosts of Christmases Past and review what once was in order to learn not to make the same mistakes in the present. The ghost Grief, that is hard to pacify, involves a persistent memory, an inability to allow love to lapse. It forces us to hold onto the memory of the one who has drifted away. Yet as we are human, we are flawed. Often we don't learn from our mistakes and are doomed to repeat them. Usually love is involved. What is perceived as true love is an abstraction that we want to hold onto in the present.
At the close of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is glad that the Spirits did what they had to do in one night so that he doesn't have to miss Christmas, a holiday that he formerly despised. In short, Scrooge learns to take the risk of loving again. By doing so, his reward is joy. He vows to make every day Christmas Day so that he can possess the natural high of ebullience.
Maybe we hold onto the past because it somehow fulfills us? Something to think about.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate and a memorable New Year for all who are human.
#blog, #personal essay, #Christmas, #Ghosts, #A Christmas Carol
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