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Michael Chen
Michael Chen

Kindness, not commercialism

By  Michael Chen, Youth Speak News
  • December 20, 2013

A friend once told me that we are not only Christians, but we are also a Christmas people. I thought, “How can this be?” We do not flaunt Christmas garlands and holly on our houses year round. But she told me that we are a people that celebrate Christ’s birth and epiphany every year. In doing so, we are called to spread His message of joyful waiting, unconditional love, peace and humility. We are given this wonderful opportunity to tell others about how Christmas came to be and we can share the definitive reason of the holiday with others. We can do this through service to others.

And then recently, I re-discovered a YouTube video called The Advent Conspiracy, which encouraged the viewer to be “conspirers” during the Christmas season. The animated video showed that Christmas is becoming increasingly commercialized with spending time and money on useless gifts rather than relationships. For example, Canadians will each spend on average more than $1,100 this Christmas, according to estimates from a holiday consumer report. That’s close to $42 billion. Americans spend $450 billion every year during Christmas, according to the video. Imagine if we took that money and spent it on poverty relief and life-changing solutions for disadvantaged people in Canada and in Third World countries, how that would improve so many lives.

This Christmas, let’s forget what media and advertising companies tell us about what Christmas is or is not. Let’s all conspire to break the commercialized structure of Christmas and instead act out in ways of kindness towards others.

In his apostolic exhortation Evangelli Gaudium, Pope Francis said that all Christians are called to include the poor in society and respond to their needs: “This demands that we be docile and attentive to the cry of the poor and to come to their aid.”

He also reminds readers that Jesus Himself was born in a state of poverty. Christ was born in a manger surrounded by animals and “children of poor families.” Jesus was one person who was among the poor. He never put Himself above them, but instead cared for them. It is why in our own social teachings there is the option for the poor and vulnerable. If Christmas is for everyone to celebrate, then everyone needs to be included and break bread in dignity.

Instead of giving gifts to ourselves, let’s give ourselves to others. During this school-free period, we can donate our days off to serving the vulnerable in our communities. We can donate our time in Out of the Cold events or at homeless shelters, we can donate gift cards to less fortunate families and we can spend money on global solutions to end global poverty. My own school chaplaincy is distributing socks to the needy. There are many simple yet effective ways to improve the lives of others.

(Chen, 20, is a third-year journalism student at Ryerson University in Toronto.)

More in this category: « Wanted: role model A New Year, a new resolve »

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