Joyeux Noël
I need to be very aware of the transgression of time. Not the transit of time. There’s a specific reason I use the word transgression. Like it’s an assault on the senses. As though time is not an ally but a foe to be revered.
As a writer, I don’t want to venture too deeply into the territory of repeating myself. I feel that this leads to a certain level of incongruence and foreshadows that I don’t have enough original thinking. Let’s go with this, though, and see what happens.
Six days in and this is my first comment on the festive period. I’ve had a good December so far. I’ve met some interesting people and I want to talk about the importance of human experience.
I’ve mustered the idea of stuff. I’ve talked about stuff a lot. I’ve criticized the hedonistic treadmill and the futility of the material world. Experience is king. The king is experience. Things matter not, and spending time with resonating strangers can bring about a powerful realisation that people matter is more important than fulfilling the societal expectation that demands of us to purchase things. For things shall never satiate our hunger.
This Yuletide, beware the need to buy. Forgo the lofty temptations of Black Friday. That new air fryer or MacBook will not bring you joy. Speak to the people. Find a random person with which you find kinship and let slip the dogs of war.
There is nothing more powerful and empowering in this world than the depths of human connection. This is what matters, and this is what we so often forget at this time of year. We must look upon Christmas as a time for coming together as human beings, not what we can offer others in the form of gifts. Our gift must be ourselves, our wisdom, our humanity, our compassion.
Many years ago, I used to work for a company in Piccadilly over in the west end of London. One lunchtime I was out with my colleagues. We all worked for a bank, so finance and material things were our mantra. We went to an old pub nearby and had a few beers, as you do around Christmas. I remember talking with a homeless guy who was sitting outside asking people for spare change. I remember being quite disgusted at how this human being was ignored.
I went into the bar, and I bought two beers. One for myself, and one for the homeless guy seated outside. I brought the beer out to him, and we sat for most of the afternoon talking. I learnt about who he was as a person, why he was there, what took him to the streets. I met him as a man. He showed me the scars of where he self-harmed. He spoke to me not as some homeless guy asking for money. He spoke to me as a real-life human being who existed in the depths of suffering.
When I got back to the office I was swiftly pulled up for my long lunch, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that I had come to understand a fellow person whom I could have easily glossed over with my own prejudices.
Whether you are Christian or not, this time of year is all about compassion. Extend it. Exercise it. Become it. Never judge those around you and open yourself up to the beauty of the human experience. In this, all material things fade into the void.
Much love
David