We could all use a little Scrooge right now

The holiday season blesses us with great wisdom from great writers, from O’Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” and the classic film “It’s a Wonderful Life” to “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “A Christmas Story.”

But the mother of all Christmas tales is Charles Dickens’ classic short novel of redemption, A Christmas Carol.

Every year during this season, I make a mental list of all those people I’d like Ebenezer Scrooge’s ghosts of Christmas past, present and future to visit. There are always folks I think would benefit from reminders about being more loving and charitable. It would be so easy this year to replace Scrooge with any number of officials in our city, state and nation — those who might improve from being reminded of how their insular and self-centered behavior affects others.

But in reality, all of us probably should have visits from Scrooge’s ghostly guests. Maybe, especially in these challenging times, we need to be forced to let our past and our present inform our future.

Scrooge was confronted by his own petty and selfish life that led to his gradual lapse into misanthropy; this confrontation led to his resolution to reclaim his once-happy and charitable life. There has been so much conversation the past several months about how America is becoming more insular and narrow-minded. We need reminders this time of year of how strong our nation is when we treat one another fairly and equally, when we recognize and celebrate the worth of all of us, and when we acknowledge that our differences help give us depth and character as a nation.

Perhaps Ebenezer Scrooge said it best when he told the ghost of Christmas future: “I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been.… I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!"

May we all find a way to help keep the transformational power of charity and love alive and well in ourselves and those who will be our leaders.

This story was originally published December 24, 2016 at 5:00 PM with the headline "We could all use a little Scrooge right now."