“Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.” As best as I can find this is a rephrasing of an aphorism from professor George Santayana. I was stuck trying to figure out how to open up this week’s discussion around last week’s assignment and then this quote popped into my head. I asked you to go back through the journey so far and think about the lessons that you have learned as well as pointing out that if you are not applying what you have learned so far maybe you really didn’t learn it.

Lessons I have learned so far include really being in the present, not just finding but remind myself all that I am grateful for, talking with, and getting comfort and inspiration from the spirits I chose as models, to come to grips with the past and the pain I may have caused, to try to not act out of fear, and to see that sometimes pain and heartache are necessary to move forward. Maybe one of the greatest lessons I learned, as Scrooge did at the very beginning, sometimes you need to think about why you don’t want to do something because doing it may bring about that which you truly want. When you find yourself saying no, or avoiding doing something may tell you as much about yourself and your desires and weaknesses as anything.  Had Scrooge not gone on the journey with the ghost of Christmas past…. Who knows but we can be fairly sure he would not have become as good a man as the good ole city ever knew.   If you cannot state lessons that you learned so far, then stop and redo last week’s exercise. This blog isn’t for tourists. I want you to work and grow. If you need to go back and repeat exercises until you are sure you are not who you were when we started out together.

This Week’s Talk

In the original book, Dickens spends several pages describing the scene around the market and deliciously describing all the treats that are for sale and then continues on describing the shops, the recent snow and the ringing of church bells. The wealth and abundance that was surrounding the Ghost of Christmas present are continued, if not surpassed by those out in the market.  Then we are confronted with the poor bringing their dinners to the bakers for cooking. Among all this abundance we are brought back to a more somber state with the presentation of the state of the poorer among us.  Similarly, we get but only a sentence, of the church and chapels ringing bells and calling all to worship.

I wonder why Dicken’s delighted so in describing all the riches and then, bam, brings us back to the harsh reality that not all are so lucky.  Maybe that was his intention. Don’t know. I am not a British lit’ expert, nor quite frankly, am I about to go research and see what others had to say about this since then this would not be my thoughts but theirs.  I think that Dickens intentionally wants us to get lost in the splendor, and wants to teach us how easy that is to forget that we are not all so blessed. I once complained I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.  As part of my own learnings in developing this blog, I have learned to take a grateful perspective on things.  Instead of getting mad that I can’t find my favorite yard work sweatshirt, I remind myself that I am blessed with enough clothes that finding it is a problem. Instead of me complaining that I “have to” mow the lawn, I remind myself that I am fortunate enough to own a house with a lawn and to own a working lawn mower to mow with. Lesson: have an attitude of gratitude.

This Week’s Assignment

The different movies and the book all treat this scene fairly consistently, as Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present are out on the street and observing the markets, they encounter people quarrelling, and having confrontations with each other in some form. I will have to go back and watch this scene in the movies again to see if the people having these confrontations are noticeably poorer but we can infer they are less fortunate because of what the Spirit eventually says.  As Scrooge and the spirit encounter people having these moments, the spirit takes his torch and sprinkles something onto the people and then things turn around.   Eventually Scrooge asks the spirit “ Is there a peculiar flavor in what you sprinkle from your torch?” The spirit answers “There is.  My own.”  Scrooge then asks “Would it apply to any kind of dinner on this day?”  Spirit answers “To any kindly given. To a poor one most.”

What is it that the spirit is sprinkling on these people and these events? Why is he using a torch? As best as I can figure, he is providing hope. In the midst of the most trying situations, isn’t that what we most want, to have hope. Hope for better health, hope to achieve what we want to achieve, hope for a better day, hope for a second chance. Why a torch? What could more be a light in the darkness, than hope. I did a fast Google search on “beacon of hope” and found page after page of results for Churches and community services. Maybe it is now just a part of our social fabric. Hope… as a beacon.

Your assignment this week is to use the torch that you carry forward every day and look for at least one opportunity every day to sprinkle some hope upon someone less fortunate. It could be that you roll down your window to the beggar at the traffic light, maybe you put some money into the charity collection that is at almost every fast-food cash register, maybe you reach out to a family member you know is struggling and offer some form of support. It does not have to be money. You are providing hope. To whom much is given, much is expected. Give kindly.

See you next week.