'Tis the season of betterment
By John Mohan

Based on the commercials and flyers it's easy to assume Christmas is one-dimensional -- only about shopping.

But Christmas is a complicated season -- a nostalgic, painful, joyful, greedy, generous, exhausting, complicated season.

We fondly recall family gatherings, school and church concerts (even the bad ones), and sometimes even remember the gifts we gave and received. The old television Christmas specials from the 1960s have made their way back into our living rooms today, making our childhood memories even more alive. Not everybody enthusiastically embraces the season though. Some have lost loved ones and dreading the first Christmas without them.

Some people are dogged by a painful family situation from the past that was augmented at Christmas time -- perhaps alcoholism, broken promises or violence. They go to great measures to mask the painful memories that jump back to life, triggered by the seasonal music and decorations.

And hundreds of our neighbours are living on Winnipeg streets, enduring frigid temperatures. They are people filled with regrets about what they used to have and now survive without -- home, family, health and love. They are acutely aware of the tragic choices they have made or the circumstances forced on them. Christmas acts as a magnifying mirror that highlights every wound and scar of their lives.

If some are enduring the season, others are blinded by it. The November Wal-Mart stampede in Long Island, N.Y., that left an employee dead and four shoppers injured signifies a holiday season and society that have clearly gone off the rails.

While the Christmas season can highlight what's wrong with society, it also reveals what's good about us. This season, like no other time of year draws out our capacity to be charitable and aware of others around us.

Christmas heightens our senses about the less fortunate and gift-giving and donations to friends, strangers and charities are motivated simply by the joy of and need to give without expectation of return.

In the past week, I attended two markedly different events that named Siloam Mission as the beneficiary of their proceeds.

One was in Portage La Prairie where numerous Hutterite colonies (spearheaded by Michael Hofer and the Riverbend Colony) gathered 300 of their friends, family and associates for a benefit dinner and music that featured breathtaking choirs and bluegrass music.

The other was an outstanding Christmas musical called Miracle on Main Street preformed by the Filipino-based Highlights Performing Group under the direction of Joy Lazo and her husband Ramon.

Trained vocalists ages seven to 20 performed three times over the weekend, presenting the true meaning of Christmas and support Siloam's work. Neither group knows each other but are connected by their concern for the less fortunate and a desire to share their talents at this time of year.

Christmas is a complicated, spectacular season and even if its meaning has become convoluted, we're still a better community for celebrating it.

Originally printed in the Winnipeg Sun, Wednesday, December 17, 2008.
Reprinted with the permission of Sun Media Corporation.