The Christmas spirit

As Christians throughout Indonesia prepare to celebrate Christmas under circumstances that could at best be described as less than ideal, millions of Indonesians, regardless of race or creed, no doubt share their hope that the event may bring back the spirit of peace and well-being, those two universal human ideals that are at the heart of every Christmas celebration throughout the world.

Though it is not for the first time that Indonesia's Christians must celebrate the Nativity in difficult conditions -- sadly, Indonesians are no strangers to social and political upheavals -- Christmas this year will, in many respects, be different from any other they have known before.

When things started to go wrong at around the middle of 1997, when the economic crisis first began to make itself felt in this region, few of us could have imagined the grave implications that the economic meltdown would have on this country and nation. As the following months proved, the economic and monetary disaster became merely the trigger that set off more upheavals, both economic and political, the consequences of which no one could have foreseen.

Today, as a result of those events, Indonesians, whatever their persuasion, find themselves engulfed in poverty and hardship. Even the well-to-do are feeling the sting of a multidimensional crisis whose end is still nowhere in sight. An untold number of people have lost their jobs and millions are struggling to survive.

To add to the difficulties, rifts that have become visible in what began as a seemingly concerted drive toward renewal are aggravating existing social frictions that have heretofore been buried under a cover of pseudo-prosperity. Social and religious divisions, accepted in normal times as natural in this pluralist nation, have become accentuated.

Such an environment of discord and want are bound more or less to impose an unfavorable quality on this year's Christmas celebrations. Want may temper the spirit of festivity among many Indonesian Christian families. In some places there may be apprehensions about whether the cherished, traditional Christmas services can be held undisturbed and in the spirit of peace and goodwill that are befitting to the event.

Yet, it is precisely these circumstances of trial and hardship that could lend a special relevance to this year's Christmas celebrations by serving to emphasize the outstanding example set by Christ when he set out to spread the word of God among mankind, regardless of the challenges and hostilities he faced.

Debatable as it may seem to cynics, there can hardly be a more effective way to summon the strength that is necessary to bear the burdens that life presents than by exercising the patience and a forbearance that can only spring from such an unshakable belief.

On a wider scope, by faithfully following in Christ's footsteps as they commemorate his birth tomorrow, Indonesia's Christians can make not only their lives easier to bear, they could contribute substantially to rekindling the old spirit of goodwill and tolerance for which Indonesia has long been praised and envied.

Bringing about a climate of goodwill and well-being, of course, is not a matter than concerns Indonesia's Christians alone. Indonesian society as a whole, too, has a cardinal interest in ensuring that peace and accord are restored as rapidly as is possible so that efforts to rebuild the nation can be made in earnest. Millions of Indonesians are waiting for better times to dawn. May this year's Christmas bring the dawn of such a new era.