EDITORIAL - A yearning for peace

Christmas means different things to different people but the fact is, whether our experience of the event is positive or negative, nobody ignores it or is neutral about it. This is the view of one of our local religious leaders, Anglican Bishop Alfred Reid, who asserts that no one is untouched by the peculiar mystique of this tremendous worldwide observation.

Reactions can run the gamut from fervent religious belief to contradictions in response to the demands of the season. This is most dramatically illustrated in the economics of Christmas. On the one hand, there is the heightened commercial promotion of goods and services, food and drink, entertainment, etc. The level of expenditure on Christmas shopping has come to be regarded as an indicator of the state of the national economy. In the United States, in particular, this response reaches fever pitch with the rate of spending closely watched and reported on, especially in this time of recession.

It is no surprise that one of that country's satirists created a parody of a well-known Christmas carol, adapting the words to "Angels we have heard on high/Tell us to go out and buy". While the call goes out to spend and keep on spending, there is the other side of the coin. Persons affected by economic strictures are not in a position to do so, they being victims of unemployment brought about by an anaemic economy.

Revivification of the economy

On home territory, our story is no different. We, too, encourage revivification of the economy through spending. This is met with complaints that money is tight, resulting in predictions of a bleak season. Then, as Christmas Day draws nearer, consumer resistance melts. Shoppers throng the marketplaces to satisfy the demands of long-held custom that observance of Christmas means something a little extra, the food and drink, the refurbishing of the household surroundings and fulfilling the expectations of the children. Interest is heightened in the seasonal updates by the Bank of Jamaica of how much money is in circulation. Economic caution is abandoned and, as usual, consumers end up approaching the new year with a sense of fatalism as the bills begin to come in. What else could we do?

A far more painful aspect of celebrating, however, is how easily the world glides over the injunction which lies at the heart of the Christmas message - Peace on earth, goodwill to all. It is bad enough when we learn of wars in distant lands. It is even more disturbing when we appear committed to our own self-destruction. One would have hoped that after the cataclysmic events at mid-year here, we would have come to our senses and restored the peace so desperately yearned for. Unfortunately, the crime and violence are slowly edging back up again.

As the events of criminal brutality in recent days have shown, we have yet to grasp what it means to be keepers of the true peace. It is time to ponder on the message: "Hush your noise, ye men of strife and hear the angels sing". The wider society should also remember that peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict. That is something men and women of goodwill should commit ourselves to amid our varied celebrations and plans for the new year.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.