On the surface this year was pretty much like the ones I've spent in Singapore. Didn't go into the big tree thing and did not go into a huge present mode with people. I did send the usual greetings via sms and did go to the Christmas eve gathering of a friend but other than that Christmas remained quite un-Christmas like on the most superficial level.
However, it was a touching Christmas in as much as I got to spend it with Joyce and Yooga (her little boy). It was a quiet day spent at home. Joyce needed to sort a few things out and so I played with the little guy for a bit before we went out for dinner at Vivo City (one of the larger shopping malls in town). The Little Man the proceeded to run around the water body of the mall and when he was not content with that he dragged me into the water. Funny how complicated adults can get at times with the things that we want and try to aspire to. It takes a child to show you that doing something as simple as stomping your way through puddles can make you very happy.
After puddle stomping the Little Man ran down to play on a rocking horse ride that one of the shops was offering and then, when the ride was packing up, he decided that he had to help the shop pack up by ridding the horses back to the shop and that was before he decided that he had to strip down to his pampers and run around a playground.
Mummy and I took him back home and managed to put the happy boy back to bed and then spent our evening chatting away, well into the time when the birth of saviour moved into the day that commemorated the first martyr (St Stephen).
It was a good day for me. In so many ways Christmas has been all about the festival and the trappings of the festival. We need to have a large Christmas meal of certain goodies and we need to go through the ritual of giving and buying presents for each other. I am all for this but sometimes it seems that we lose sight of the real purpose of Christmas.
Speaking as a non-Christian, we need to remember that Christmas is celebrated because of the birth of Christ and whether you believe in the essential doctrine of Christianity, namely that Christ rose from the dead to save mankind, you have to accept that the birth of Christ is worth celebrating. Look at the message that Christ preached and you have to accept it as something so good and divine that you should celebrate it by being with the people that you love. Christ was about bringing God's love to all mankind and stopped essentially racist doctrines of "Chosen People."
Christianity at it's heart is the faith for the downtrodden. Christ himself was not exactly high on any social ladder. In the words of a former divinity teacher, "Jesus is the bastard son of a poor carpenter." I mean think about it, Mary was found to be pregnant before she was married and Joseph couldn't afford a better place for him to be born other than a stable. The modern equivalent is being born in the back of a mechanics garage.
Too often, particularly in materialistic societies like Singapore's, we get too caught up with certain ideas of success. By a certain age you need to own this and that to be someone and it's ironic that to a certain Church has become a bit of a business networking session. Seriously, we don't think enough of those who are downtrodden in society and instead of focusing on giving our stuff to those who don't have enough, we try and accumulate more junk than we actually need. We become bitterly unhappy because somehow we are told that if we don't have things, we are lesser people.
Again, this goes against the Christian message of being Child-like in our desires. We forget that simple things are often the things that make us happiest. I take my favourite Catholic litigator as an example of a guy who seems to have understood the message of Christ correctly. The man cycles to work and gives his time to giving free legal advice to the downtrodden. He tells me that although he's not rich he's comfortable but this has come from keeping his desires simple and giving back. He says, you have to call this "God's sense of humour." For every big case he gets, he does lots of work for the downtrodden.
A disparaging liquidator thought the man was indulging himself in a fantasy and not behaving like lawyer in a big firm. But when I look at the Catholic Liquidator's actions, I understand where he's coming from and why he's successful in every sense of the word. By doing God's work and following the Christian message of simplicity and charity, the litigator is not only commercially successful but has time for things like family.
My father also pointed out something similar to me. He says that he spent his life working for other people like my mother, my stepmother, my brother and myself. Not only did my father support a family, he also made it a point of seeing that his brothers were taken care of. Two of his brothers earned a good living off him for many years.
Now, this admittedly not Bill Gates philanthropy, but it's basic living for something other than yourself. And as my old man says, just when things look dry someone comes and gives him a job. The Buddhist call this Karmic action, the Christians call it God's reward.
Funnily enough, my business prospects look surprisingly bright despite the global economic downturn. I don't know why but I think it a lot of the better fortune I've experienced in recent months comes from the moment I decided that Joyce and Yooga were people I would sacrifice and want to care for.
It's been a three short months with Joyce and Yooga but in that time they have become so much part of my life, it's hard to remember what life was like before them. A few friends have noted that I am now more "adult" in my outlook of life. Joyce was worried that she didn't have anything to give me but truth be told, I've just received more from her that either of us realised. The simple Christmas of 2009 is a Christmas worth remembering.
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