What the Dickens?

BAH! HUMBUG!

OR

“THE CAROL PHILOSOPHY”

The modern idea of how to observe the Christmas season has its roots in the mind of one man:

Sketch of Charles Dickens
made in 1842
on an American tour
(That's his sister, Fanny, on the lower left)

Charles Dickens.

But I bet the story’s not quite as cut-and-dried as you think.

So I’m going to give you a little capsule literary history and in the telling try to uncover a useful Yuletide Takeaway or two that you can re-gift in the best spirit of the season.

For starters, at the core, we’re talking USA-style Christmas with the most plentiful points of reference to Great Britain, OK? So first –

A Ghost of Christmas Past: Long past.

Recall those  Thanksgiving Puritan pilgrims we celebrated last month? For a bunch or reasons they and their kin were not much for observing Christmas.

In fact they were quite “Bah! Humbug!” about the celebrate-Christmas concept. And that was the beginning of the end of the pre-Puritan kind of Yuletide days of elaborate feasting and pageantry and royal splendor that we might imagine.

Old big-scale pomp-filled religious traditions gradually faded into history and Christmas became a quiet celebration in individual homes.

Fast forward and by the Age of Dickens the Industrial Revolution contributed further erosion of plum pudding, mince pie, evergreens, mistletoe and such.

“Work!” was the motto of the time. Christmas was essentially another work day. The poor were too oppressed to celebrate. And those who were well off did not want to “waste” the time and money. (Sense the beginnings of a story here?)

However –

The socially conscious Charles Dickens believed that Christmas could be otherwise enlightening. He felt that the spirit of the season did something positive for him personally and so he set about using his power with the written word to do the same for the rest of the world.

His first attempt, in 1835, in Bell’s Life magazine in London, was called “A Christmas Dinner.” This short sketch described the conviviality of a family forgiving and forgetting the past as it gathers around the Christmas table.

Dickens’ next story on the subject will sound even more familiar:

Cliff-Note synopsis: Unpleasant, cranky guy is annoyed by other people’s cheerfulness on Christmas Eve … is taken by supernatural beings to view scenes of family happiness and good … this convinces him to reform when he awakens the next day.

It’s called (get ready to be surprised)–

The Goblins Who Stole a Sexton. It’s an incidental part of the more notable whole of The Pickwick Papers.

Seven more years pass. Dickens has many successes but, by 1843, he had somewhat fallen out of public favor as a writer. Not as good with money as he was with words, his financial situation had become troublesome for him. His social consciousness had him in an ongoing turmoil about the plight of the poor. He spent much time and effort making speeches appealing for aid to the working class. Then --

In October 1843, while he walked the streets, an idea came to him. He modeled it on “The Goblins …” and embellished it with details from his own life.

1843 First Edition
Title page
Illustrations by John Leech

By the second week of November, he completed his story – A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas – and took it to his publisher.

Because he wanted it to be top quality, he worked on the design of the book, the paper and binding himself. He selected the illustrator. He arranged having the illustrations hand-tinted – all the while striving to keep the price as low as possible so it could be affordable for the audience he intended to influence.  

A few days before Christmas the new little book appeared.

Financially it was not a success. Although it sold well, he made very little from its initial sale because he succeeded too well in delivering quality at a bargain price. (True first editions are currently valued in the $10,000+ range.) Cheaply made pirate editions sold on both sides of the Atlantic also kept him from earning his due. Even when he sued one unethical publisher and won his case, Dickens suffered because the publisher’s bankruptcy left him with no settlement and yet he had court costs to pay.

It took Charles Dickens some time to realize just how completely he had succeeded although he had not made much money.

He wrote other Christmas books, one each year. In 1844 he wrote The Chimes and observed, “I believe I have written a tremendous book, and knocked the Carol out of the field.”

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Next to the Nativity itself, A Christmas Carol remains the best-known and best-loved (it’s never been out of print) Christmas story of all in all manner of retelling – movies, stage plays, opera, musicals, cartoons, skits and spoofs, and modernized and futurized versions.

• “Scrooge” has entered the vernacular as a synonym for “miser.”
• The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future have haunted us all, regardless of religious affiliation.
• The spirit of the season has bloomed again as a time to think of one’s fellow man.

Yuletide Takeaway: As in most of his writing about the season, Dickens is not particularly concerned with the religious nature of the holiday but with –

The cheerfulness and good feeling between people. A Christmas Carol is the ultimate embodiment of what Dickens himself called –

The ‘Carol’ Philosophy: Christmastime was “a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of other people below them as if they were really fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”

Dickens gets the last word. Here it is, from the penultimate paragraph of the book:

“Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.”

No humbug. Intending to do it all and more ... be better than my word ... and have laugher in my heart.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square
Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com   

P.S. “... and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.  May that be truly said of us, and all of us!”

Thank Goodness It's Monday #440

GIFT ENCLOSED!

OPEN TODAY!

DO NOT SAVE UNTIL CHRISTMAS

 

Have you seen the Christmastime social-media-distributed “prank” I’m about to describe?

Upon scanning their boarding passes at a special kiosk at the gate, airline travelers are interrogated by a live-but-video-connected blue-suited Santa who smooth talks them into naming a “gift” they would like for themselves for the holiday.

We see some highlights of these conversations and --

 

►   The adult answers run the gamut from “socks and underwear” to the seemingly outrageous giant flat screen TV.

►   The kid answers are, well, typical kid answers, sometimes given with a charming reluctance.

 

Then the video production cuts to great dashing around while, unbeknownst to the high-flying travelers, the gift wishes of the plane full of passengers are acquired by the airline …cheerily wrapped  … ultimately delivered at the flights destination via luggage carousel … to the surprise and delight of the travelers (especially the guy who wanted the flat screen).

 

Bah! Humbug! While the comments of many viewers suggest they find this scenario delightful and full of seasonal brio, the whole thing –

Really ticks me off. At many levels.

To catalog just a few:

·         It’s a commercial, dammit, not much more and intended as such.

·         And I find the whole idea crass.

·         Imagine the cost.

·         Why such generosity for presumably more-affluent-than-many airline travelers?

·         Imagine how, if the airline wanted to endorse the gift-giving spirit of Christmas, that expense might have been more charitably dispersed.

·         And why didn’t we see the Christmas wishes of those who asked for world peace, or for a cure for little Jimmy’s cancer, or to be reunited with absent loved ones, or … 

I think you get the idea.

 

I DO NOT “Like.” While I probably do like a substantive, tangible, material holiday gift as much as the next person, you can’t win my admiration and respect with that kind of twisted representation of holiday goodwill. 

So why this rant, under the guise of a headline about gift giving?

 

Years ago Eric Taylor and I started a business conversation that has evolved into a friendship and more-than-a-few frank discussions of better ways to set and accomplish one’s goals, manage time, interact with others – generally how to live in a fulfilling and meaningful way.

It’s a continuing and evolving conversation. We respectfully sort through positions and points of contention … try to convince and influence one another … keep an open mind … accommodate new input … agree to disagree about some strongly held but not objectionable positions.

And while we are two distinct and different people, there are a number of positions we hold steadfastly in common, one which we find is most easily conveyed at this time of year, using the language of the season:

 

It Is A Season For Giving

 

But unlike the tangible, material, commercial “gifts” featured in the makes-me-angry airline-commercial-in-the-guise-of-holiday-cheer, we agree that one of the best gifts any one can give at this or any time of the year is –

The Gift Of Yourself

 Your love.

Your time.

Your thoughtful involvement.

 

A number of years ago when we shared a holiday message about this gift that keeps on giving Eric pointed out that –

 

This enlightened and enlightening present is –

 

        … something that everyone wants

        … one size fits all

        … requires no last minute shopping or trips to the mall

        ...  is essentially free, and

        … no wrapping is required.

It’s that simple. This “gift” is what those you care most about really want.

TGIM Takeaway: And, when you ponder and understand the fullness of the concept, you’ll know that it’s the only gift of lasting value that you alone can give.

 

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: ‘Tis the season. Give the enlightened and enlightening gift of yourself, your love and your time and your involvement, unconditionally, now and throughout the New Year. You’ll soon realize this cost-free present will yield an abundance of riches for the giver and the receiver far greater than you could ever imagine.

One last cool thing about this gift:

 

It’s a gift that’s sure to be “returned” to you in so many ways.

What more could a giver ask for?

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373

tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S.  Just in case you considered giving us a gift this holiday season … here’s –

HOW TO DO IT:

Re-gift this message.

Thank Goodness It's Monday #439

SEASONS GREETINGS,

HAPPY HOLIDAY

-- AND, PLEASE: LIGHTEN UP

Does that sound– Bah! Humbug! – unseasonably vague and cranky?

TGIM Guy with the Big Guy
 circa 1949
Hey! He knows if you've
been bad or good.
You'd be apprehensive, too.

Perhaps it is.
So let me clear the air by saying upfront --


I’m a Christmas celebrator. Have been for as long as I can remember and expect to continue keeping the season and many of its traditions, especially the English/German ones that are part of my family history.

 

But I also try to “observe” and appreciate and enjoy experiences beyond my roots.

And I’m also more than a bit weary with the increasingly escalating broadcast, print and social media “fuss” over forcing the most doctrinal parts of Christmas front and center in the tangible, material world, especially to the exclusion of others.

In this day and age I can’t help but wonder at the failure to recognize the connectedness of all the belief systems that find reasons to celebrate at this time of the year. 

And I’m pretty confident that, in the best interpretations of those sacred observances, even the most orthodox adherent could find at least one secular, non-dogmatic connection that binds us in celebration to this –

Universal Truth: ‘Tis the season, in the northern hemisphere, of the Winter Solstice.



Actually ... it's NOT
precisely Christmas.
This frequently shared
social media image
from recent days
underlies a bit
of my adamant tone.

It’s science, folks (not just Stonehenge mumbo jumbo). This year December 21 will be the day with the least hours of daylight and, therefore, the longest stretch of night.

Historically solstice celebrations have influenced the lives of many over the centuries, through art, literature, mythology and religion. So, whether you officially “celebrate” or not, you probably will (or recently have) observed the Winter Solstice in some way.

If you care to, you can find doctrine-neutral recaps at sites such as ReligiousTolerance.org/ or Beliefnet.com. There, and elsewhere, you can learn more about the wide range of solstice-related observances across time and cultures both extinct and extant around the globe.

 

Wikipedia lists 40+ that range from contemporary observances at science stations in Antarctica to references in Western Hemisphere cultures that date back to 1800 BCE and further back to Neolithic and Bronze Age practices in Europe.

So, for 12,000 years and maybe longer, the return of the sun and the lengthening days, represent –

The return of hope. Perhaps prehistoric man feared that the sun would keep on sinking until it went away forever.

I'm sure they knew it wouldn't. They were as intelligent as we. (They just didn't know as much.) But it’s only human to fear the darkness. When the sun came back, fear receded and hope returned.

In our bit of the globe the December solstice occurs during the coldest season of the year. Although winter was regarded as the season of dormancy, darkness and cold, the coming of brighter days after the Winter Solstice brought on a more festive mood. To many people, this return of the light was a reason to celebrate that nature’s cycle was continuing.

At this time of the Winter Solstice we all – without confronting the conflicting tenets of particular spiritual or secular beliefs -- can trace the evolution of our seasonal celebrations to origins in ancient nature rituals. We can acknowledge the primeval link to today’s widely practiced religions, monotheistic and otherwise.

And in this 21^st Century we can use all the tech and gathered wisdom and best thinking at our disposal to come to one inevitable –

TGIM TAKEAWAY: It’s still about the light.

►   Beacons of hope.

►   Moments of illumination.

►   Glimmers of insight.

►   The promise of brighter tomorrows.

Miracles of light and enlightenment. Whatever your traditions hold dear and celebrate and commemorate at this time of the year, we are all very much one in spirit.

It IS a very small and very interconnected world after all. Daily it becomes closer still.

 

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Lighten up and be enlightened. Know what you believe and why. Your core beliefs need to be your own, arrived at freely. 

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Like exploring the history of solstice celebrations, look for evidence yourself. Dig down. Get back to the source as you gather facts. Make your decisions based on your informed research and insight. Decide what works for you and use it.

Lighten up. You don’t even have to wait for an “official” holiday to begin.

We wish you an Enlightened Solstice … (belated) Happy Hanukkah … Merry Christmas … Joyous Kwanzaa … 

“Peace toward men of good will.” 

Happy holidays, one and all.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373

tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S.  Deep peace of the winter solstice to you.

        Deep peace of the falling snow to you.

        Deep peace of the love of friends to you.

        Deep peace of the gentle deer to you.

        Deep peace of the moon and stars to you.

 

       Deep peace of the running wave to you.

       Deep peace of the flowing air to you.

       Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.

       Deep peace of the shining stars to you.

       Deep peace of the gentle night to you.

 

       Moon and stars pour their healing light on you.

       Deep peace to you.

       Deep peace to you.

              -- source(s) unknown

Thank Goodness It's Monday #388

 ‘TIS THE TGIM

FOR THE DAY OF

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

"It ain't rocket science." You know the phrase, of course.  Well, I have a social media friend – Randy Cassingham – who actually worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

There, of course, many things really were (and are) “rocket science.” 

So as you might expect, there was a fairly nerdy crowd working around Randy and there was a tradition of sharing a fairly nerdy version of the Christmas classic properly titled “A Visit from St. Nicholas” – the 19^th Century poem historically attributed to New Yorker Clement Clarke Moore. 

A Visit from St. Nicholas
-- one of four known copies
handwritten by
Clement Clarke Moore.Credit: New-York Historical Society
 

Randy takes credit for, back in the day, converting what he calls an Nth-generation photocopy of the JPL-nerd version into an electronically shareable document. And recently he shared it with the wider world via social media.

Here’s the opening of Rocket Scientist version:

'Twas the nocturnal segment of the diurnal period preceding the annual yuletide celebration, and throughout our domicile, kinetic activity was not in evidence among the possessors of this potential, including that species of domestic rodent known as mus musculus.

The additional 663 words (and you thought I was long winded) of the "modernized" classic are HERE.

TGIM Challenge: It’s interesting to think that virtually anyone reading this TGIM message can easily appreciate the Rocket Scientist “translation” because the original is so well known to English-reading folks of all creeds, races or geographic derivations. 

You don’t have to be “Christian” in almost any sense to know and relate to the underlying spirit of the season captured and celebrated in the 1823 poem or, say, Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” which appeared about 20 years later. 

They’re largely secular and about “the Spirit of the Season,” not the religiosity per se.

TGIM Takeaway: And at this time of the year, so should we all be. The specifics of our celebrations may vary. (Or, if you’re like me, you revel in the idea of embracing as much of as many as you can.) But I continue to insist that at the core –

It’s all about the light. Beacons of hope.  Moments of illumination.  Glimmers of insight. The promise of brighter tomorrows. Miracles of light and enlightenment.  Lights fantastic.

►   Christmas with its advent wreaths, trees, and other lighted decorations and –

►   Hanukkah (just past) and its menorah candles are easy to relate to for many of us.

►   Kwanza’s got candles.

►   Diwali, a five-day Hindu festival that usually falls between mid-October and mid-November is popularly known as a Festival of Lights.

►   Winter Solstice observances are certainly all about the light, or lack of it.

►   Mōdraniht or Mothers' Night was the Saxon winter solstice festival.

►   Saturnalia was the Roman winter solstice festival.

►   Yalda is a Persian commemoration, that corresponds with the Solstice, and celebrates the birth of Mithras to a virgin mother.

►   Pancha Ganapati is a December 21–25 festival in honor of Lord Ganesha.

►   Soyal is the winter solstice ceremony of the Zuni and the Hopi in the Americas, the main purpose of which is to ceremonially bring the sun back from its long winter slumber.

►   The Dōngzhì Festival, with origins that can be traced back to the yin and yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos, is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese and other East Asians on or around December 22 when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest.

►   Malkh is a December 25 birthday celebration and Festival of the Sun for the Vainakh people of the North Caucasus which include the modern Chechens and Ingush, who are today predominantly Muslim in religion.

►   Bodhi Day, December 8, is likewise a Day of Enlightenment, celebrating the day that the historical Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) experienced enlightenment. 

Enlightening? I hope so. Tis the season to be enlightened.

 

But enough of this “geeky” factual roundup. 

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Know what you believe and why. Your core beliefs need to be your own, arrived at freely.

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Like exploring the history and traditions of seasonal celebrations, look for evidence yourself. Dig down. Get back to the source as you gather facts. Make your decisions based on your informed research and insight. Decide what works for you and use it.

Then –

Don’t hide your light. It’s also a season for giving -- especially in my neck of the northeast USA in the wake of Superstorm Sandy and the tragic Sandy Hook School events. And in the spirit of transitioning from darkness to light, one of the best gifts you can give at this or any time of the year is –

The gift of yourself --

your love,

your time,

your thoughtful involvement.

Several years ago my friend and “Best Year Ever” program and Life Lessons from Superman partner Eric Taylor and I shared a holiday message about this gift that keeps on giving. We pointed out that –

This enlightened and enlightening gift of yourself is something that everyone wants … one size fits all … requires no last minute shopping or trips to the mall … is essentially free … and, no wrapping is required.

It’s that simple. But the gift of yourself is surely what those you care most about and really want. And, when you ponder and understand the fullness of the concept, you’ll know that it’s the only gift of lasting value that you alone can give.

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Give the enlightened and enlightening gift of yourself, your love and your time and your involvement, unconditionally, now and throughout the New Year. You’ll soon realize this cost-free present will yield an abundance of riches for the giver and the receiver far greater than you could ever imagine.

One last cool thing about this gift: It’s a gift that’s sure to be “returned” to you in so many ways.

What more could a giver ask for?

Citing St. Nick … as cited by Clement Clarke Moore … with added emphasis by me –

“Happy Christmas to ALL,

and to ALL a good night."

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com 

P.S. Or, to close citing the Rocket Scientist version: “Ecstatic yuletides to the planetary constituance, and to that self-same assemblage my sincerest wishes for a salubriously beneficial and gratifyingly pleasurable period between sunset and dawn!”

 

P.P.S. My personal kidhood version of the holiday classic looked like this --

 

 

and featured some "animated" illustration at every turn -- a double-page pop-up Santa, reindeer & sleigh that moved in the sky, sugarplums you could make "dance," hinged shutters that opened to a window that slid up to reveal "The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow." It was a wonder!