A lesson from Marley to Scrooge
“Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business.” – Marley, who was, at the time of his observation, as dead as a doornail.
Scrooge ventures to his window after Marley leaves Scrooge’s chambers. Outside he sees spirits wandering the streets in woe. “The misery with them all was clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power forever.”
During this Christmas season, it is important to learn the lessons that Dickens would impart to us with his story of a hard-driving, skin flint, who had been reduced, by circumstances and nature, to a life in pursuit of wealth to the exclusion of that which makes life worth living. He had doomed himself to a life of hell on Earth, and he would find that same life after he died.
Fortunately, Ebenezer was not beyond saving. In his heart, there remained a bit of the man he once was – a man who had loved, a man who had mentored, a man who had the love of a sister and a significant other. Through the supernatural intervention of his partner and friend, Scrooge was able to avoid the fate that his avarice would have led him to – though his name is still synonymous with those miserly people, who lack the giving spirit.
This Christmas, take advantage of that same magic and use it to the advantage of someone who can use your help. You could play Marley, Scrooge redeemed or even Fred, Scrooge’s nephew who didn’t care what people “laughed at, so that they laughed at any rate, he encouraged them in their merriment.” And as Tiny Tim observed “God bless us everyone.”
Scrooge ventures to his window after Marley leaves Scrooge’s chambers. Outside he sees spirits wandering the streets in woe. “The misery with them all was clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power forever.”
During this Christmas season, it is important to learn the lessons that Dickens would impart to us with his story of a hard-driving, skin flint, who had been reduced, by circumstances and nature, to a life in pursuit of wealth to the exclusion of that which makes life worth living. He had doomed himself to a life of hell on Earth, and he would find that same life after he died.
Fortunately, Ebenezer was not beyond saving. In his heart, there remained a bit of the man he once was – a man who had loved, a man who had mentored, a man who had the love of a sister and a significant other. Through the supernatural intervention of his partner and friend, Scrooge was able to avoid the fate that his avarice would have led him to – though his name is still synonymous with those miserly people, who lack the giving spirit.
This Christmas, take advantage of that same magic and use it to the advantage of someone who can use your help. You could play Marley, Scrooge redeemed or even Fred, Scrooge’s nephew who didn’t care what people “laughed at, so that they laughed at any rate, he encouraged them in their merriment.” And as Tiny Tim observed “God bless us everyone.”