In an age of bureaucracy, overcriminalization and militarized police, it often seems as if no good deed goes unpunished. Indeed, although Charles Dickens immortalized the money-loving, Christmas-hating, bah-humbuggiest of humbugs Ebenezer Scrooge in his classic A Christmas Carol, the world has always been plagued by Scrooges so single-minded in their pursuit of money, power and control that they exhibit few qualms about stamping out acts of kindness, compassion and true charity when they arise. We have, in recent years, been plagued with our fair share of Scrooges—and Grinches, for that matter—disguised as government agents, threatening individuals with fines and arrest for such simple acts of kindness and charity as distributing free bottled water to the thirsty, giving away free food to the hungry and destitute, providing shelters to house the homeless during cold winter nights, and giving away Christmas trees in exchange for donations to buy wigs for cancer patients. Still, we must press on, despite the Scrooges of the world. As Dickens reminds us, it’s never too late to make things right in the world and try to be better people and, most importantly of all, pay your blessings forward. Whether you do it by raising money for a charity, standing up against injustice as The Rutherford Institute does, or as Scrooge did it, by repenting of his greed, selfishness and bah humbuggery and looking out for those in need, the point, my friends, is to do it now before it’s too late, not just at Christmastime, but always. As Dickens writes, “And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!”—John W. Whitehead, author of “A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State”
Posted on: Mon, 16 Dec 2013 01:30:01 +0000