Urban Thought Collective

I’d like to talk to the fellas for a moment, if I could. Men, I don’t need to tell you how messed up the economy is right now. A lot of us are out of work, or we’re not working enough. Money’s tight and we’re feeling guilty because we won’t be able to buy our kids all the pricey presents they want for Christmas. What’s more, we don’t know when these economic hard times are going to end, so we worry about providing for our families long after Christmas is over.

I was starting to agonize over my situation when I remembered the soothing words of one of our oldest Christmas carols:

God rest ye merry, gentlemen. Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ our savior was born on Christmas Day
To save us all from Satan’s power, when we were gone astray
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy
Oh tidings of comfort and joy!

This song moves me because it speaks directly to us men. The writer must have known about the anxiety that we feel as we struggle to remain strong, to be providers for our families and examples to the young people in our charge.

This carol empowers us to be brave and confident in the face of adversity. “Let nothing you dismay” because no matter what the world throws at us, we can handle it, we can get through and triumph in difficult days because God is always close by and He will give us comfort and joy even in the worst of times! If you don’t connect with that religious theme, take heart nonetheless! For hope and love form the essence of Christmas.

Remember the lesson learned by the Grinch. He stole everything out of Who-ville. All the presents, all the decorations, even the food. Dr. Seuss tells us that after ransacking that first home, the Grinch went to “all the other Who’s houses, leaving crumbs too small for the other Who’s mouses!” And yet, when the sun came up on Christmas Day, all the Whos down in Who-ville went outside, joined hands and sang anyway!

My favorite line in the song says: “Christmas Day is in our grasp so long as we have hands to clasp.” Holding hands, reaching out and drawing close to one another, sharing love and friendship, offering encouragement, comforting and consoling one another… this is what makes Christmas meaningful. It is what will sustain us and make us smile long after the memories of gifts have faded.

That’s what Stevie Wonder’s singing about in “I Wish,” his musical tribute to childhood. You know the verse I’m talking about, where Stevie says:

Lookin’ back on when I was a little nappy-headed boy
When my only worry was for Christmas what would be my toy
Even though we sometimes would not get a thing
We were happy with the joy the day would bring

The writer Earl Hamner, Jr. captured that spirit in “The Homecoming,” the classic TV movie that inspired the long-running TV series “The Waltons.” Set during the Great Depression, “The Homecoming” recounts an anxious Christmas Eve as a poor farm family awaits the return of the father who has taken work 50 miles away. Tension turns to fear when the mother receives news that a bus has skidded off of an icy road, injuring several men and killing one. When the father finally makes it home after midnight, his wife and children are happy about the simple gifts he has brought, but their greatest joy is at having him home safe and sound.

The epilogue that follows is both simple and profound: “Christmas is a season when we give tokens of love. In that house we gave not tokens but love itself.”

Merry Christmas and thanks for listening. I’m Cameron Turner and that’s my two cents.

THINK! IT AIN’T ILLEGAL…YET!

Cameron Turner is a Los Angeles-area native whose editorials, entertainment news features and audio documentaries have appeared on national radio networks, online and in print for over 20 years.