The SMH Opinion of Christmas

This op-ed in the SMH caused me much consternation. It was so bitterly hate-ridden it seemed to demand an immediate letter (GASP! Not a letter!?). I wanted to point out, in terms as polite and gentle as could be managed, the ridiculous hypocrisy, given the SMH's typical tutt-tutting over such mortal sins against PC-ness, of blatantly stereotyping "The Christians" (all 1bn of them), distorting history and tossing about virtual-swearwords like Fundamentalist with wild abandon.

It seems this sort of thing is always saved for Christmas. Not happy with the constantly deriding 'The Christians' the rest of the year the enlightened cosmopolitan press lash out with special venom around the most important christian celebration of the entire year. The ABC makes a habit of making its most radical pronouncements about the real story behind the Bible every Boxing day. This year we learn that Mary Magdalen was not a poor prostitute generously a second chance by Jesus' radical respect for her in spite of her circumstances, the Truth is she was his squeeze, or to use the wonderfully bland and generic term the latte set tend to prefer "his partner".

But, reflecting on this, it began to seem less oppressive and closer to humorous. The absurd humbuggery of it all began to dawn on me:

As Christmas approached, troops on both sides of the Western Front faced the harsh reality of passing the sacred day as they had for months on end, hunkered down in cold, muddy trenches, waiting for the deadly push that would either end their lives or end the interminable stalemate of the first World War.

But on Christmas Eve, with the generals celebrating the holiday far behind the lines, troops on both sides laid down their weapons to sing and play football together in "no mans land". It was a moment of "brotherly love" and "good will to humankind" that stopped a world war, if only for a small number of days.
-- c/o Your ABC

Christmas is a time that should reminds us, Christians especially, to walk away from the petty squabbles, the point-scoring and even the pressure of not "ruining Christmas". Instead of firing back at our opponents we should be trying to inspire them to something more worthy.

So Merry Christmas Christopher Henning,
and Merry Christmas Geraldine Doogue,
and God Bless us, every one. :)

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