There are lots of things people do that embody the true meaning of Christmas. Caroling is one, but you don’t see much of that anymore. When I was young, I went caroling every year with the same group of people. It was a lot more fun, and much more rewarding, than I thought it would be when I started doing it. I just went because I like to sing those songs.
I don’t think we believed in the same things, exactly, but we didn’t concentrate on our differences. If you accept people as they are, you not only avoid a lot of unresolvable arguments, you form friendships that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to develop.
Another Christmas thing is helping people. I happen to be a big fan of the Salvation Army and have some experience with it. Helping people get through difficult times is a great thing to do all year, but the holiday season sort of brings it into focus and reminds us why we do it.
Although Naperville is known as an affluent town, there are more people here who need help than you would think. The trouble is a lot of them are afraid to ask for it because they believe everybody else is doing so well. They’re not, by the way. And if you run out of people to help locally, just call one of the missions in Aurora. They always need help, and it’s a lot more fun than other holiday activities.
I think toy drives are about Christmas, but not because I think it’s essential that all kids have a toy under the tree. It’s not. Welcome to real life, kid. However, I do think it’s important for kids to know that someone somewhere is thinking about them and might actually care about them. That’s the message kids get when they receive a toy from an unexpected source.
The thing this year that I think embodied the true meaning of Christmas happened a week ago. On Dec. 10, a group calling itself Moms Building Bridges — an association of women of diverse cultural, ethnic and faith backgrounds — along with the Alive Center, the Naperville Interfaith Leaders Association, One Naperville and the Charter for Compassion, organized a large walk from Fredenhagen Park to the Riverwalk.
It wasn’t advertised as a Christmas thing because along with Christians, there were Jews, Muslims, Hindus and probably a couple of Buddhists, Sikhs and who knows what else. However, what better exemplifies the true meaning of Christmas than encouraging compassion, friendship, understanding and good will toward all of mankind?
Anyway, Jesus was probably born about April 17, 6 BC, which is kind of ironic to write, and I’m not sure he would be all that crazy about the craven commercialism and economic disparity of the secular holiday. I suspect he would, however, greatly approve of the walk and the motives of the people on it.
U.S. Rep. Bill Foster was in the group, and he talked about not letting hate propagate. Frankly, I don’t think there’s any more hate now than there has been. It’s just that a small group of haters believe they don’t have to hide it anymore.
Events like the Community Unity Walk show that, at least in Naperville, there are a whole lot more good people than haters. There might be some ignorance, fear and resentment around, and we really do have to find a way of eliminating those. There’s not much you can do about hate.
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I can’t go caroling this year, which is probably a good thing for several reasons. But I have to tell you that even though they didn’t say it had anything to do with Christmas, knowing there are at least a hundred people here who believe in tolerance, understanding and compassion put me in the holiday mood. And I think that’s what the true spirit of Christmas is all about.