This Week in The Khuta – Put the Christ back into Christmas

I am done with exams and my mind can again enjoy the freedom of dwelling on random thoughts. No more reciting of chapters when I go to bed. Au revoir to the nightmares of research papers and psychological assessment measures. Ah, the feeling of freedom is awesome, although just for now, before I continue to the ‘next level’ (I borrowed this from Sunny Boy’s song).
With this freedom of mind, I woke up with this specific Christmas song in my head that my Grandma made us sing every Christmas around the fire. And reality hit me. The festive season is here! I had lost track of days with all the studying that occupied my days this past year.
It’s that time of the year again that all of us anxiously look forward to since January. The little ones are preoccupied with anticipation of what is in their boxes under the Christmas tree and look forward to the lovely new outfits and toys, playing with cousins, nieces and nephews, and consuming lots of sweets.
It’s that exciting time when the streets are lit with flickering lights, merry songs play on the radio all day, with many visits from the extended family and lots of laughing.
But this is only the good side of the coin. Flip it over and you might just wish Christmas never came.
While this is the time of the year when some spend quality time with family and acknowledge and praise God more than ever, others shamelessly see it as a reason to party and get wasted, and the villainous ones see it as their ‘God-given’ chance to ‘affirmatively repossess’ from those that spent the whole year sweating for their wealth. They then justify their heinous behaviour with the despicable statement: “God only helps those that help themselves.” Festhieves! Oh, you can add that to your vocabulary to refer to those that idly wait for the festive season to steal other’s hard-earned belongings.
It has gotten so bad that some people have even resorted to sacrificing their holiday trips in fear of leaving their homes behind and coming back, only to find a wreckage. Instead of traveling somewhere for a breather from their normal lifestyles, they are forced to guard their properties, as emergency response security agencies do not seem to be responsive enough. Moreover, some are said to be conspiring with the law-breakers these days. In actual sense, thieves get to enjoy Christmas more than those that spent eleven months saving up for it.
Frankly speaking, Christmas has lost its meaning for many. The Christ has basically been removed from the word, making it meaningless. So perhaps it’s time we placed more emphasis on the Christ.
Originally, Christmas was a time to celebrate the birth of Christ. A time to reflect back to the biblical times when a King came to earth and in the end died for our sins. And the only rightful way to do this is by going to church, connecting with God and spending quality time with our loved ones. By quality time I do not mean drinking non-stop, throwing insults at one another left right and center. No! I know we all love to be away from work, school and other activities that we are forced to do for a living and just live without any major responsibilities for some time, but how about doing this a bit more responsibly and lawfully?
My wish for this festive season is to have a road carnage-free holiday, less crime and a merry time for every family.
And it won’t hurt to show a little affection and share with your neighbours that are less fortunate, in fact, that’ll mean more blessings coming your way.
With this, dear reader, I wave goodbye as my time at the Namibia Economist has come to an end. Keep well and Merry Christmas!