The failure of Christmas

Ma. Ceres P. Doyo Philippine Daily Inquirer Asia News Network Manila

If I were a Muslim, I would wonder why Christmas, the season when millions all over the world commemorate the birth of the Child Jesus -- considered redeemer, messiah, Son of God, founder of Christianity, etcetera -- is celebrated by Christians in so many un-Jesus ways.

And I would wonder why so many Christians become suicidal during this season, why the sad feel saddest, the poor feel poorest, the down and out are tempted to find a bloody way down and out of this world.

A Muslim would say, I thought Christians revere the leader and founder of their faith, so why is their Christmas so unlike the Idulfitri? Why do they act like fools, scurrying and hurrying until they drop dead from exhaustion? Why do many people who call themselves Christians collect, extort, solicit, harass strangers for gifts? It is nowhere near the simplicity that surrounded the birth of the man they call Jesus.

During the recent Miss World contest that was initially hosted by Nigeria, Muslims were so offended by a tactless reference to the prophet Mohammed in relation to the scantily clad contestants that the pageant became one big threatened affair. The cause was one newspaper article saying that the prophet might have even considered marrying one of the beauty contestant, or something to that effect. The Muslims were so incensed that the pageant had to be moved to London.

Such is the Muslims' reverence for those they consider sacred that not a few of them would think nothing of removing the blasphemous from the face of the earth. Christians, in contrast, are the very ones who debase their own sacred feast, turn it into a carnival of fools, into an orgy.

Christmas, in case you don't know, is a cruel season. Because it is the time when the joy of those who have so much contrasts markedly with the misery of those who have little or none. Christmas is supposed to be the great leveler. Now it has become the great divider. Christmas excludes more than it includes. It was not meant to be that way.

How did it come to this? Should Church leaders be blamed for the way Christmas has been allowed to deteriorate into the realm of crass materialism?

A Muslim might ask, where is their Christ in Christmas, why do they allow a cell phone company to remove Christ from Christmas? "Merry Textmas," the ad says.

The media help dictate the ingredients of a happy Christmas. They come up with a stream of images -- tables groaning with food, great clothes, garish lights, gifts galore, complete families -- which are beyond the reach of many. No wonder so many feel morose.

And for many who feel that way, the end of the Christmas season is a relief. For those who have to meet production quotas, for those who have to double their earnings in order to buy the ingredients for a so-called happy Christmas, the end is a relief. Nakaraos din. By the grace of God, they survived the season.

They survived the rush hour, the traffic bottlenecks, the shopping rush, the must-attend parties, the reunions, the obligatory exchange of gifts, and most of all, the emptiness.

The other day I received a cellular-phone text message saying that an avenue in Manila was lined with people waiting for their rich congressman to distribute gifts. It was as if a messiah was coming, the message sender said. I always pass by that place on my way home from the Inquirer office, and this Christmas it has been turned into a mini Champs Elysee. It is dripping with so many lights you don't know where to look. What do you know, the congressman did not show up.