The unidentifiable hope in a Christmas card
“Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”, a phrase that’s so often and easily put on a postcard or as a sincere sentence at the and of a letter or social media post. Without a doubt, it’s meant to be an hounest wish for all. Of course, we do know that just a small part of the world’s population celebrates Christmas and even fewer in the tradition of Christianity, in which “Santa” doesn’t exist and all the commercial overspending on credit cards has no place. We do know that the bearded figure we see as “Jezus” never saw a reindeer and that the whole story, or fairy-tale if you want to put it like that, took place in a society located in Palestine, without decorated Christmas trees, Coca-Cola trucks, Catholic bishops and some red dressed lunatic from the north-pole suffering from obesity. The celebration of Christmas is just a cultural and historical event that combines all kinds of ancient religions and rituals from over the world into one day, well two in some countries after labour unions were granted the request for an extra day off. We all know that there are more people on this planet who will not have a “Merry” Christmas than there are that actually do. There are a lot who will not experience peace and certainly not the food and presents that seem to be a requirement for celebrating a real Christmas.
A few Turkish friends who, themselves obviously don’t celebrate and, are reluctant to put anything on social media because of all the current threats in their country, still used the words Merry Christmas, “Noeliniz Kutlu Olsun”, in private messages and were thrilled about the fact that they live in a white world at the moment, as it snowed for the first time in 30 years down in the south-west of Turkey. And so yes there is a Turkish word for Christmas and they do believe there was some Arab guy called Jezus. I’m not a believer, or maybe a schizophrenic believer, mixing it all up to my own needs, as the churches do for their benefits and commercial businesses for their profits.
A well-meant “Happy New Year” will turn out to be a hollow phrase for many. Oh yes, happy moments will occur even in the worst circumstances, and in that there’s something to be learned from people living thru a war or living in a refugee camp somewhere on this planet. Poor people often have more happy moments than the average millionaire just because they recognize such a lucky minute, while others confuse happiness with wealth. It’s not going to be a “happy” year for care needing elderly in lot’s of “civilized” countries, it’s not going to be a “happy” year for the hundred thousands of children forced to go to school in “rich” countries without a proper breakfast.
It is certainly not going to be a “happy” year for democracy. In the USA the presidential candidate who won the elections with about 3 million votes is declared the loser and the new gouvernment is formed by the top 1 percent of the richest people, led by a lunatic. In Western Europe, the brown boots are marching again and gain more control every day. In the UK there’s a wannabee dictator trying to silence the parliament, the only chosen democratic institution. In the Netherlands there’s a schizophrenic minister who tried to break down social security for the last 4 years, who’s alter-ego now is campaigning for the upcoming elections with criticizing the current gouvernment for breaking down social security and telling voters that he’s the saviour. It must be hard to have two people in the same body. The actions of the political elite drive voters right in the direction of a racist populist, just sentenced by a court for discriminating speeches, and who recently photoshopped a picture of the German Prime-minister Angela Merkel on which her hands are covered in blood, making her responsible for the attack in Berlin. Those people will have to meet in the future when he’s elected and solve problems together? In France, it’s not getting any better and Hungary and Poland are on their way to becoming dictatorships again, all in the “happy” new year.
I can see only one solution. The people themselves solving problems without the interference of politics. If every family supports one other family all will be supported. There’s no room for nationality, skin colour, religion, background, sexual identity or other personal preferences. A neighbour is a neighbour just because of the fact they are living next to you, that’s all. Nothing else matters. In the Netherlands there are some rich people that buy up empty houses to locate refugees, yes, there’s no rich neighbour against poor neighbour in this way either, although there’s a lot of criticism from the “native white angry, so-called, poor” people that are on a waiting list for “social housing”. They’re mostly young people still living at their parents. And yes, there are a lot of homeless people to that need to be helped, the best way to stop the increase of people living on the street is to stop the eviction of homeowners and get a grip on the wallet filling procedures of tax inspectors and bailiff’s who’s fines are often up to a 1000 percent of the original debt. Giving people a fine for not being able to pay their health insurance bill, won’t make it any easier to pay those bills, and often results in a seizure of their goods and finally their home. Yes, in a country like the Netherlands, where health insurance is commercialized because it would make it cheaper, according to politicians, people are getting homeless just because the mandatory monthly payment is not affordable. These people in countries where national health insurance is under attack by greedy commercial companies have something to fight for. In some survey, published in the last few days, it looked like the Portuguese don’t care much about voluntary work, but then again it was all about registered voluntary work. Your neighbour is your neighbour seems to work out fine here though and we don’t need statistics to be aware of that. Maybe people in the north of Europe could take an example in what voluntary work is all about, and should be made aware that it’s not something you’ll get a medal for or some tax reduction or even gratitude. It’s not something that needs to be rewarded with a newspaper article. Taking care of your parents or grandparents should not be punished, the way it is in the Netherlands by raising your tax bill because of your parents' benefits or income, but it is not a special achievement either that needs to be rewarded the same way you would be as an employee. It’s just a matter of humanity and the way it historically works and still does in most other parts of the world.
Still…. We should wish each other all the best, not only at Christmas or at the beginning of a New Year. We could be actually, instead of wishing, doing something to make it better for the one receiving the message. I know, it’s an illusion that we could solve all the problems on a worldwide scale, but helping out a neighbour or a family member at times it’s needed? There can’t be any excuse for not doing that. So, here’s my (our) “Christmas Card” old fashioned, with the same sentence as always and that will probably be on there also in the future….
A few Turkish friends who, themselves obviously don’t celebrate and, are reluctant to put anything on social media because of all the current threats in their country, still used the words Merry Christmas, “Noeliniz Kutlu Olsun”, in private messages and were thrilled about the fact that they live in a white world at the moment, as it snowed for the first time in 30 years down in the south-west of Turkey. And so yes there is a Turkish word for Christmas and they do believe there was some Arab guy called Jezus. I’m not a believer, or maybe a schizophrenic believer, mixing it all up to my own needs, as the churches do for their benefits and commercial businesses for their profits.
A well-meant “Happy New Year” will turn out to be a hollow phrase for many. Oh yes, happy moments will occur even in the worst circumstances, and in that there’s something to be learned from people living thru a war or living in a refugee camp somewhere on this planet. Poor people often have more happy moments than the average millionaire just because they recognize such a lucky minute, while others confuse happiness with wealth. It’s not going to be a “happy” year for care needing elderly in lot’s of “civilized” countries, it’s not going to be a “happy” year for the hundred thousands of children forced to go to school in “rich” countries without a proper breakfast.
It is certainly not going to be a “happy” year for democracy. In the USA the presidential candidate who won the elections with about 3 million votes is declared the loser and the new gouvernment is formed by the top 1 percent of the richest people, led by a lunatic. In Western Europe, the brown boots are marching again and gain more control every day. In the UK there’s a wannabee dictator trying to silence the parliament, the only chosen democratic institution. In the Netherlands there’s a schizophrenic minister who tried to break down social security for the last 4 years, who’s alter-ego now is campaigning for the upcoming elections with criticizing the current gouvernment for breaking down social security and telling voters that he’s the saviour. It must be hard to have two people in the same body. The actions of the political elite drive voters right in the direction of a racist populist, just sentenced by a court for discriminating speeches, and who recently photoshopped a picture of the German Prime-minister Angela Merkel on which her hands are covered in blood, making her responsible for the attack in Berlin. Those people will have to meet in the future when he’s elected and solve problems together? In France, it’s not getting any better and Hungary and Poland are on their way to becoming dictatorships again, all in the “happy” new year.
I can see only one solution. The people themselves solving problems without the interference of politics. If every family supports one other family all will be supported. There’s no room for nationality, skin colour, religion, background, sexual identity or other personal preferences. A neighbour is a neighbour just because of the fact they are living next to you, that’s all. Nothing else matters. In the Netherlands there are some rich people that buy up empty houses to locate refugees, yes, there’s no rich neighbour against poor neighbour in this way either, although there’s a lot of criticism from the “native white angry, so-called, poor” people that are on a waiting list for “social housing”. They’re mostly young people still living at their parents. And yes, there are a lot of homeless people to that need to be helped, the best way to stop the increase of people living on the street is to stop the eviction of homeowners and get a grip on the wallet filling procedures of tax inspectors and bailiff’s who’s fines are often up to a 1000 percent of the original debt. Giving people a fine for not being able to pay their health insurance bill, won’t make it any easier to pay those bills, and often results in a seizure of their goods and finally their home. Yes, in a country like the Netherlands, where health insurance is commercialized because it would make it cheaper, according to politicians, people are getting homeless just because the mandatory monthly payment is not affordable. These people in countries where national health insurance is under attack by greedy commercial companies have something to fight for. In some survey, published in the last few days, it looked like the Portuguese don’t care much about voluntary work, but then again it was all about registered voluntary work. Your neighbour is your neighbour seems to work out fine here though and we don’t need statistics to be aware of that. Maybe people in the north of Europe could take an example in what voluntary work is all about, and should be made aware that it’s not something you’ll get a medal for or some tax reduction or even gratitude. It’s not something that needs to be rewarded with a newspaper article. Taking care of your parents or grandparents should not be punished, the way it is in the Netherlands by raising your tax bill because of your parents' benefits or income, but it is not a special achievement either that needs to be rewarded the same way you would be as an employee. It’s just a matter of humanity and the way it historically works and still does in most other parts of the world.
Still…. We should wish each other all the best, not only at Christmas or at the beginning of a New Year. We could be actually, instead of wishing, doing something to make it better for the one receiving the message. I know, it’s an illusion that we could solve all the problems on a worldwide scale, but helping out a neighbour or a family member at times it’s needed? There can’t be any excuse for not doing that. So, here’s my (our) “Christmas Card” old fashioned, with the same sentence as always and that will probably be on there also in the future….
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